My Favourite BBC Microcomputer Games

There are hundreds of great games for the BBC Microcomputer system. These are some of my personal favourites from when I actually owned a Beeb back in the early 1980s. Whilst it's not list of the 'best' games for the system, it's a list of the ones I enjoyed owning and playing the most.
Let me know what your favourites are.
Don't forget to check out my website for more retro gaming info.
bytesnbits.co.uk

[@meropealcyone]

The jumps in FRAK required pixel precision, but the hit detection sure didn't. Those daggers killed you from a foot away.

[@BytesNBits]

The joys of mid eighties game coding

[@trickysoft]

The original author of Frak! has just released a version of Frak! for the pc on stream. It is what he originally wanted the beeb version to be.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi Richard. I hadn't seen that one before. Looks great on the video. Thanks.

[@goodfodder]

Still amazes me how they managed to create Elite with only 32k ram, when most of that was the frame buffer

[@BytesNBits]

Same here. Especially when even simple games these days use megabytes.

[@ColaSpandex]

Am I missing something? I make it 8k for the screen. 😕

[@javelinXH992]

Elite, Elite, Elite, Elite, Elite. If you were a kid at the time, you will understand why this game was so rightfully iconic. The Starfield of the day, without Bethesda bugs.

[@BytesNBits]

It was mind blowing when it first came out on the Beeb.

[@brucethen]

Lol you mean the "Elite Dangerous" of the day

[@virtuafighter3]

Your choices are excellent. These are some of the best games too. For a time the BBC was the best games machine until more expansive games came out and people worked out how to program the C64. On original hardware if you see the smooth scrolling of Planetoid and Rocket Raid they are really smooth. (Emulators do not capture that I think).

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. Glad you like the games. There are loads of other great Beeb games but these are the ones I owned and played.

[@tc-2000]

Starship command's main ship looks suspiciously like the Liberator of Blake's 7! Ah, in the days when you just took what you wanted to use in a game and to hell with licensing it!

[@BytesNBits]

Life was much simpler (and less litigious) in the 80's.

[@charliejade8959]

The Beeb/Electron had the 'best' early 80s arcade conversions on any system, bar none, point blank, period! Meteors is the best Asteroids conversion. Planetoid the best Defender. Rocket Raid is the best Scramble. Snapper, the best Pacman conversion. I could go on and on!

[@BytesNBits]

I totally agree.

[@jkdsteve]

The BBC had so many great arcade conversions......and Elite was just sublime, way ahed of its time. Who can forget Revs too...even though it was hard to drive!

[@BytesNBits]

Probably my favourite 80's computer. But I guess you always love the one you owned best.

[@rovingenglishman]

No text adventure games? Twin Kingdom Valley, Colossal Adventure, The Hobbit.. a ton I’ve forgotten..

[@BytesNBits]

Some great games. All worth a look.

[@rickreeder1137]

My favourites were Repton, Qwak and The Last Ninja. We also endured Steve Davis snooker via our black and white TV. They were great times : )

[@BytesNBits]

Fantastic games. When gameplay mattered more than fancy graphics.

[@nathanaelsmith3553]

Eric the Viking

[@madcommodore]

Acornsoft, and some others, did some great knock-offs of those classic early arcade games. Used to play games on the school BBCs (teacher was a serious pirate with 100s of games crammed onto 100s of disks!). The fast screen memory access and 2mhz 6502 was more than adequate in those early days.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. It was always great fun trying to get hold of some games. Loads of fun with just some simple, intuitive gameplay.

[@madcommodore]

@@BytesNBits Few people realise what a great machine the BBC was for porting those classic games. Some of them were so good Atari held off the lawyers and just rebranded the BBC games, I think Defender was the one I am thinking of. Eagle Empire was a brilliant Phoenix clone, played it on the BBC at school and on my C64 at home. We all got blank disks as well to save our progress on Elite. Our teacher was great.

[@BytesNBits]

@@madcommodore You should check out Richard Broadhursts channel and games on statdot. kzbin.info He's created some amazing arcade ports on the beeb.

[@aengberg1]

Oh wow, this brings back very happy memories! Subbed.

[@BytesNBits]

Thanks for the sub! Great computers!

[@sullycliftona]

U 4 you got. Sim

[@Hologhoul]

I love how the BBC, Spectrum and C64 have such recognisable colour schemes. Great video! I do remember at school there was a buzz around the BBC because of the arcade conversions. The fact it was expensive added to the sense of interest as it felt out of reach, though we loved our Spectrums and Commodores anyway.

[@BytesNBits]

All great computers, each with their dedicated fans.

[@Dragonblaster1]

Starship Command was written by Peter Irvin and Jeremy Smith, two schoolfriends of mine at St Albans School. And Ian Bell, co-author of Elite, was my best friend at school.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. That's a great connection. Are you still in touch with any of them?

[@Dragonblaster1]

@@BytesNBits Alas, not much after leaving school. I did meet up with Ian and David Braben a few times, and they were mulling over what to do with a few spare bytes. I suggested the Thargoids.

[@MrRhar75]

Imogen was the best game on the beeb

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. I've only ever had a quick go with that in the emulator. I'll give it a longer play. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@VikingSimon2503]

Strykers Run, Repton and Chuckie Egg. 😁

[@BytesNBits]

Great games!

[@VikingSimon2503]

@@BytesNBits I get games from here, www.bbcmicro.co.uk

[@BytesNBits]

@@VikingSimon2503 Thanks for the link. Great site.

[@VikingSimon2503]

@@BytesNBits No problem.

[@j0ju]

Thank you for this ... I was fond of Starship Command, my BBC was a model A with 16k, later upgraded, this was one of the few greats that would run on it. Can you tell me about the colour version of the game in your title sequence?

[@BytesNBits]

Glad you enjoyed it. The colour version is one I created for a coding course - kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5Koq4upgs6Ig80

[@SeamusMcNeil]

I still remember how expensive Elite was but seeing all the double page ads for it I had to get it. I never made it past 'Dangerous' but it truly was an outstanding game. When I upgraded to the disk version, which had the additional missions, I was in awe of the story that was unfolding on a 32k game. Thanks for the memories. Time to get out my beebEm more often me thinks. Both to play some retro games and also to follow along with learning (re-learning) BBC Basic. It truly would not have been the same had the ITV done this. 'ITV Micro' Hmm! Just does not sound the same does it. Cheers for now. JIm

[@BytesNBits]

Hi Jim. I didn't make it past dangerous either. I think it took real dedication to get to the higher statuses. You're right about the ITV Micro. Sounds very wrong!

[@thecloudtherapist]

Yeah, I hit Dangerous as well but then the Archimedes and Zarch hit the scene. ;-)

[@jellynozzle5040]

I was poor, but my mate Pete bought it and lent me his kit. Fantastic game! I even read the novel that came with it. This game was not expensive, as it was miles better than any other, and longer-lasting than a Fruit Gum.

[@pierceyy]

Wow, so many memories! The graphics, the sounds, it brings it all back.

[@BytesNBits]

Great to hear from a fellow Beeb user. Enjoy the nostaglia!

[@AcornElectron]

Yie Ar Kung Fu was graphically nothing like the arcade version really but I loved it.

[@BytesNBits]

I agree. Some of the games had a special charm to them on the Beeb.

[@mattprentice4347]

Great choices, I would only add Chucky egg, daredevil Dennis, pole position, football manager, and Vortexx

[@BytesNBits]

Good call!

[@moogthedog2816]

Ooooh. What's the full-colour Starship-command-esque that plays in your intro?

[@BytesNBits]

That's a coding project - kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5Koq4upgs6Ig80

[@mattvjmeasures]

An excellent choice, so many happy memories. I'd include Mr.Ee! & Citadel in my list.

[@BytesNBits]

Those are some fantastic titles too. There are just so many great games to choose from.

[@jellynozzle5040]

Mr E had me hooked from A to Zee. Being daft, it took me ages to realize that the screens were letters of the ABC.

[@goweresque]

I think the ultimate arcade style shoot em up for the BBC was Zalaga (from the same source as Frak), very fast paced, great graphics and game play. Surprised you missed out Chuckie Egg, I must have spent weeks playing that one. Then there was the Ultimate Play The Game range of games which were often very unique, Jetpac, Transam, Atic Atac, SabreWulf etc etc. Tho they did seem to fall into a '3D world' rut towards the end. Another game that I spent a very long time playing was Citadel, a multiple rooms game that incorporated both problem solving, strategy and arcade action game play.

[@BytesNBits]

There are so many great games. These are a selection of the ones I bought and owned so missing out a big chunk of titles.

[@dna9838]

Just realised that while the SN sound chip couldn't hold a candle to the SID of the c64 or even the YM of the amstrad when it came to music, it was actually better for SFX in arcade conversions... Such a clean and sometimes mesmerising sound, such as the lives bonus in Planetoid, UFO in meteors, or shields being stripped in starship command. Something odd going on with the framerate in Planetoids in this vid though

[@BytesNBits]

Thanks for the comments. This is one of my earlier videos. Hopefully better quality these days.

[@djGreenALERT]

That Monsters Game.. I thought there was one almost identical to that called 'Wild Strawberries ' although I have never been able to find it, or speak to anyone who remembers it, which leads me to the fact I could have imagined it!

[@BytesNBits]

Dreams vs reality ???

[@djGreenALERT]

@@BytesNBits Back in the very early 80's, there was an event at the Royal Horticultural Society in South West London featuring several BBC Micros anyone could play on. I could swear to it that game existed, but for the fact nobody else remembers it. It was very similar to that monsters game although I think it was more like Mr Do! If you can remember that one?

[@VolJoe]

Great video - in the states we had no exposure to this machine. The defender clone is fantastic. I just started playing around with the machine on my MIsTER . This is a great starter list - thank you.

[@BytesNBits]

Thanks for sharing!

[@michaeljohnson3396]

I remember elite very well. My brother had it on the spectrum, it was brilliant! As with the comments about piracy, elite came with a special lens you had to hold near your screen and input the "decoded" characters to play the game. It was fiddly and, if you got it wrong a couple of times, the game would crash leaving you having to load it again!

[@BytesNBits]

The joys of 80's piracy protection. Great game though. I've never tried it on the Spectrum.

[@TheUKMikey]

My dad who bought me my Model B wasn't a gamer but astutely pointed out that Acornsoft head Chris Curry had no business complaining about the high piracy rate of his company's software when so many of those titles were (admittedly excellent) unlicensed clones of then current arcade games

[@BytesNBits]

Good point. I don't think software piracy had been invented back then. It was just borrowing a good idea.

[@keithjohnson6510]

ELITE: Not only the best game for the BBC, goes down in my books as the best game ever. Can still remember the first time seeing the game in a computer shop window, I knew at that point it had to be mine. Didn't know I'd end up been a drug dealer.. (virtually of course).. :)

[@BytesNBits]

I guess the great thing about these games is that it lets our true selves run free. Best to keep your super villain alert ego quiet.

[@edjack1993]

Great video. Lots of great memories from childhood. There really were some great games on the BBC Micro.

[@BytesNBits]

The best!

[@andrewfarrow4699]

Sabre Wulf, Alien 8. All those Ultimate games were my favourites.

[@BytesNBits]

Great games.

[@chessoc7799]

Starship comand was my Favorite :) Frack just looked great too but I was never good at it. one day I am setting up a emulator just to play Starship command again :)

[@BytesNBits]

You should do it now. Only takes about half an hour to get BeebEm installed. Or just go to the JSBeeb website and play online - bbc.godbolt.org/

[@neilthomas8070]

The only game in your list I played was Frak! Can't remember if it was on the Beeb or the Commodore 64. I played a football manager game with my friend on a training scheme. We put in rude words for the players' names and when you got to the 1st division, the game would put out say 5 scorers. The resulting created sentences that were very rude and funny. Very puerile I know, but hilarious.

[@BytesNBits]

That's the best way to have fun 😃

[@PussJohnson]

I loved playing Monsters as a kid, and also Magic Mushrooms! I think my all time favourite game was Cylon Attack, I still play it on beebem!

[@BytesNBits]

Some great games there. Great to hear you're still enjoying the classics.

[@pitmatix1457]

If I remember correctly Magic Mushrooms had a level editor so you could design your own stages.

[@PussJohnson]

@@pitmatix1457 yes it did!

[@comacuma2869]

Nasty noises

[@lanzecki]

What was the game at 11:40? That's the one I've been looking for for several days now.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. That's Thrust. Great game!

[@comacuma2869]

Nozzled dhaug of yookei

[@puregd]

Anyone remember the rude version of Frak, when he extended his todger ? !

[@BytesNBits]

You can find it online if you search!

[@GMT439]

The BBC did have the closest to the arcade versions of all games at that time.

[@BytesNBits]

It was, and still is, a great computer. If you want some unbelievably good arcade ports look at these ones from Richard Broadhurst - www.bbcmicro.co.uk/index.php?rt_R=&rt_B=&rt_M=&rt_P=&rt_U=&rt_W=&rt_L=&search=trickysoft&on_T=on&on_Y=on&on_P=on&on_A=on&on_G=on&on_S=on&on_Z=on&on_C=on&sort=b

[@Mr.1.i]

repton was the best allrounder.mum could play it and it had great play ability,thrust nemisis theres to many to choose from the best seller was chuckie egg

[@BytesNBits]

Some great games in your list. Thanks.

[@Mr.1.i]

@@BytesNBits when I was young dad got me a commodore plus4 with 10games and a joystick.a couple of years later dad picked up an acorn electron for£50 it was a programming revelation compared to the commodore acorns programme guide knocked the spots off the commodore brand its almost as if they didn't want you to learn anything.there was no definable graphics in the commodere book which was 1 of the first things in acorns book .commodore made the better computer looking back but it was useless without refrence

[@javelinXH992]

I remember that advert at the beginning!

[@BytesNBits]

Happy days. A lot simpler than adverts now. Probably a lot less PC as well!

[@volo870]

I've just bought a Beeb. Do I require a floppy emulator, or cassettes shall do quite fine?

[@BytesNBits]

Great purchase! I guess it's down to what you want to do. Original software is harder to get hold of, costs more and you'll need the hardware components to use it. But it does give the true Beeb experience. Some sort of SD card solution will give you access to the full catalogue but without the effort and thrill of hunting down the titles you want. No right or wrong answer. I guess most people end up with a mixture of both.

[@volo870]

@@BytesNBits While waiting for my Beed to arrive, I am looking for TLC that the thing shall require after two decades at the loft. I found that BBC Micro has analog joystick input. Is analogue input reasonable? I am torn between making a digital Atari joystick adapter, or hacking up an old Game-Port analog PC joystick. What would you recommend?

[@andybaker8472]

Frak and dare devil denis

[@BytesNBits]

two great games!

[@a8converterman]

Tetrapod a favourite of mine

[@BytesNBits]

Great game!

[@TChighbury]

Snapper looks different in this video, for some reason

[@BytesNBits]

There are two versions of Snapper. The first version looked too much like the arcade game so had to be changed to the characters with legs and arms.

[@TChighbury]

@@BytesNBits ohhh thanks never knew that! Subscribed.

[@wolfeflambe]

The BBC B computer was the first computer I owned. Fantastic machine and some brilliant games. Elite is easily my favourite from back then. I first owned it on cassette then a copy on floppy disk. Even managed to get to Elite in the game.

[@BytesNBits]

Elite was a great game. I didn't have the staying power to get to Elite. Respect!

[@xyzzy3000]

My 10 must-haves for the BBC Micro would be (in no particular order): Imogen, Palace of Magic, Exile, Elite, Repton 3, Bonecruncher, Codename: Droid, Pipeline, Ricochet and Plan B. As a kid I really enjoyed the genre which was then known as 'arcade adventures', although I don't know what the modern equivalent would be called. The games on my list are the ones I remember playing the most. Most of my list would probably be considered quite late releases relative to the Acornsoft arcade ports that others tend to go for. Honourable mention to the Fourth Dimension releases very late on, which were fairly good but not in my top 10.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. Great choice of games. I guess the arcade adventures would sort of cover Legend of Zelda etc.

[@neilthomas6042]

I played Frak but didn't play the others. The graphics were better compared to the Spectrum legacy but it has lasted longer the the Beeb. PS I will have watch the drama documentry Micro Men which is showed rivalry between Sinclair and Acorn.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. Enjoy the film.

[@zaikoji]

Some great picks here, sir! Thanks! So many good memories from the pioneer days of gaming.. Starship command and Monsters 😭😭

[@BytesNBits]

Just my favs. Loads more to explore!

[@babylemonade2868]

Defender on the exidy sorcerer was awesome. That was my first computer and friends had a bbc. Killer gorilla was a good one and dogfight

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. Some great games! Hope you're having fun with the emulator.

[@Ray-ej3jb]

PLEASE more C programming techniques

[@BytesNBits]

Hi Ray. Watch out for C++ (and Python) object orientated programming the the next week or so!

[@philjones2561]

Loved Frak !!

[@BytesNBits]

Great game.

[@terraspent]

BBC Micro vids are certainly fewer than other 8bit systems but i do enjoy them, to this day never played a game on them just used them at primary school in the eighties

[@BytesNBits]

It's a great system to play with, even if it's just to bring back some memories of your first computer experiences.

[@markcumbriauk]

This was My first school pc that I used, I was hooked for life.

[@BytesNBits]

A great way to start computing

[@RedFoxRoaming]

What about Revs !?

[@BytesNBits]

I never actually owned that game. I've played it briefly on an emulator but I think it needs a bit of time to get it set up correctly.

[@RedFoxRoaming]

@@BytesNBits I had Revs+ on C64, but like Elite, I think it ran better on the BBC due to the faster processor. Revs+ was surpringly playable even with a joystick. Very good racing Sim considering it was the first of it's kind, and running on such limited hardware. Remarkable accomplishment by Geoff Crammomd.

[@rossalexander9598]

Great vid, loads of good memories therein!

[@BytesNBits]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

I had Star Ship Command in a ROM cartridge for the BBC Electron... When you only had a tape for game loading, one of the best features of the BBC and Electron was, the ability to just rewind a bit and try again if the game stopped loading, most other Comps of the day had you re-winding back to the begining.... I have a friend who worked at a University in the 80's and they wanted to use a BBC B to monitor neurological impulses from the brain using the A-D inputs. We decided BASIC wouldn't cut it so between us we thumbed the Acorn manual and worked out the Assembly coding. Our program was loaded in 2 parts because of the lack of memory, the credits aknowlegement first then the program propper. It used almost every bit of memory and displayed a scrolling timeline employing 1 second vertical lines at the bottom on the x axis and the A-D values above as contiguous lines on the y axis, the whole display would scroll left to right.... It took us a couple of weeks to code but I hadn't enjoyed myself and loved the challenge so much......It's still one of the highlights for me as neither of us had used Assembly language before that.......or after for that matter.... I continued with Electronics and recently have dabbled with Python and he carried on and programs regulary in a few languages including C++ and Python. We both play Elite Dangerous on-line which if you don't know already is one of the most believable space faring games out there, so improved on the 84 version as you could imagine. Good times.....

[@trickysoft]

The beeb certainly helped to launch many an it related career

[@BytesNBits]

Hi Richard and Michael. The Beeb was a great way to start coding and the expansions slots made it very easy to interface to the outside world. My first projects at school were all based on the BBC Micro before heading off to study electronics.

[@trickysoft]

I make all of my games so that they can be burnt to ROM and put in a cartridge for the master - they will not at power on if they are in slot 0 :)

[@Ray-ej3jb]

The Atari800/800XL beats the BBC version hands down

[@BytesNBits]

(Asteroids?) Oooooh! I'd have to be loyal to my Beeb and disagree. Close second place though :)

[@trickysoft]

Send that my reply was taken down. Try my recent port for the beeb from the collection in my other post

[@BytesNBits]

Hi Richard. Which collection is that?

[@goonerlee]

Does anyone else remember a text based game on the BBC called Kingdom? You had to run a farm or something and grow wheat, oats etc and sell them. Me and my mates played this for hours on the school BBC machine and I've not been able to find out any information about this game anywhere.

[@BytesNBits]

Hi. I think you're talking about the demo game on the Welcome Disk / Tape.

[@goonerlee]

@@BytesNBits Oh nice one. Thanks a lot. I've have a look now I know that. I'm sure you're right as we weren't allowed games but if it came on a demo then that explains it. Thanks again.

[@BytesNBits]

@@goonerlee Great. Have fun!

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

I just watched the video of installing the Beeb emulator 'Beebem' Worked great. I remember the Beeb having a 'Copy' button to save having to write out programming lines all the time to make a single correction....do you know if this is implemented as I can't see any button combination that does this...... EDIT..... Just found it........ the 'End' key is the 'Copy' key equivalent. Also, is assembly simulated too ? Edit 2....... Calls seem to be handled so yes

[@trickysoft]

On Windows, you can copy and paste into and out of beebem

[@BytesNBits]

Hi Michael. If you're interested in coding for the Beeb have a look at @ChibiAkumas, kzbin.info/aero/PLp_QNRIYljFobMbfxNFGhWKgDgsIaySwU. This guy does some great in depth coding tutorials on the retro systems.

[@trickysoft]

@@BytesNBits You might also like the ABUG, free and open to all, dev nights stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=313492#p313492 My problem with the ChibiAkumas stuff is it all looks like z80 which as I stopped programming in that 40 years ago and have been 6502 mainly since, it just looks very wrong on the beeb. Still not a bad way to learn though. He also has a forum, but the beeb part is a little quiet.

[@BytesNBits]

Thanks. That looks interesting. I'll have a closer look.

[@umutkayacan7659]

Please do more videos about retro games!(maybe some snes or gba?) Btw nice video

[@BytesNBits]

Thanks Efe'nin. More to come!

[@umutkayacan7659]

@@BytesNBits my name actually translates to Efe's mother (Efe is a turkish name). Nice try tho :)

[@BytesNBits]

I'll admit my Turkish is a bit rusty! Sorry.

[@umutkayacan7659]

@@BytesNBits no problem. Happens to best of us

[@womble1981]

One thing that programmers of this era seemingly did not grasp is that people enjoy games that make them feel powerful. Frak is a prime offender. A protagonist that dies whenever they twist their ankle by falling a few feet is just irritating - and I like a lot of the design of that game. I just think there is so much untapped scope for more enjoyable 8 bit games.

[@BytesNBits]

I think you've got to look at the 8 bit era games as the beginning of the gaming industry. Ideas were being developed from scratch, quite often by lone programmers without a great back catalogue of software for inspiration. Games like Frak and Manic Miner with their pixel perfect jumps were new and innovative at the time. These developed into the Super Mario and Sonic games where the characters were able to survive more complex situations and then onwards from there. So I agree that there was a lot of untapped scope, it's just no one was aware of the full range of possibilities at the time.