My Top 15 BBC Micro Games

Going back to my gaming roots here with my top 15 BBC Micro games. Enjoy!
This is my personal top 15, but I'd love to hear what your favourite games were.

[@PaulnJenna]

Amazing memories. I learnt to code on the BBC Micro at age 7. Taught myself from a book. I could code before I could even read lol. At the time I didn’t have any games so had to make my own. Great times.

[@onaretrotip]

Haha Good old days.

[@PaulnJenna]

@@Stray2029 of? games? Loads, platform, space invaders, tried loads of times to make superhero type games where you could fly etc. Even attempted a time travel game, but never got that one down lol

[@thedarkknight1971]

I wanted either a Spectrum or C64, but my Dad said "Nope, you'll get what the schools are using", then we bought the Viglen PC Kit (made it look somewhat like a PC XT/AT, and installed 2 5.25 floppy drives). I also bought every copy of 'Input' magazine and thus the 4 binders to contain them, and lol, semi successfully programed and got working most of the 'input' programs. Games wise? MANY were played... - Thrust: HELL YEAH... excellent game. - Elite: Yeah I did ok, until a friend of mine managed to get the cheat disk that allowed FULL weapons/armour/credits and such, and then spent hundreds of hours exploring, 'Kickin ass' and such... Good times! - Chuckie egg: Hahaha you surely are bringing out the classics here! - Mission Impossible: I played this on a mates C64... I THINK there was creepy speech in it too, "You'll stay foreverrrrr" (or something like that) - Arkanoid: Oh God yeah, MANY hours on that one too! What about Galaga? I chewed through MANY levels on that brilliant game! 😏🤣🤣 🦇😎🦇 🇬🇧

[@onaretrotip]

Great memories :)

[@Xesh001]

As a kid we had a Beeb at home. What made it even better was that my stepdad was a computer science lecturer at Coventry & Lancaster polytechnic. He was able to get the 6502 and Z80 second processors as a part of his equipment for his lectures! Elite is amazing when played with the second processor. Citadel is one of the few games on the Beeb that I actually finished. Palace of Magic is actually the sequel to Citadel, hence the similarity between the two games.

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, that explains it!

[@mikeymike3240]

Hey there, I loved every penny of my £399.99 BBC micro model B. Elite, holy guacamole batman, what a great game on a 32k computer, my all time favourite game, and Repton, played that to the death, along with spitfire and f1. Have to say you're right about collision detection, it was always perfect. All you're game picks are great, I can remember playing them all. Still have my beeb in the loft. 😀 👍 👍 👍

[@onaretrotip]

Hey, Mike! Get it out the loft and get playing it haha. I bought my first ever BBC last year, and I'm playing it a lot, love it! I only ever played my mate's one back in the day so I'm discovering some great new games (it has an SD card mod with every game built-in).

[@syteanric1868]

Repton should be rebooted on modern systems

[@liverush24]

I'm 45 ( nearly 46 ) and a BBC Micro owner, yet I don't think that I've ever come across your number 1 pick. Fascinating.

[@onaretrotip]

+liverush24 That's awesome, glad to hear that! It's such a great game, definitely worth checking out. Thanks for watching.

[@ScoopDogg]

nearly 50 now mate , as am I lol, a fellow Beeb User from the 70's

[@jester6856]

Same here, I built up my old computer collection, BBC , C64 , Spectrum...and now Amiga A500. Enjoying reliving my teens again..🤩 . Never played your number 1 choice...but I will.😊

[@barrierichards6580]

I’m still amazed by how much fun can be had with 32k when you know no better. It also shows how wasteful programmers are today with seemingly endless memory.

[@onaretrotip]

Couldn't agree more.

[@daishi5571]

Elite TNK, a faithful (so I read) reversed engineered version of BBC Elite has a combined file size of almost 4MB, I didn't even bother looking up memory usage. BBC disk version is 52 KB so about 80 time larger. The sound effects (which are copies of the BBC sound) alone take up ~1.5 MB.

[@ecernosoft3096]

I agree, though when memory is in such great quantity, use it to it's best extent right????

[@pappachook]

That was an emotional rollercoaster down memory lane there.

[@onaretrotip]

Great memories.

[@finnbedell3178]

I absolutely loved this, haven't seen these games since I was a kid in the 80s. Almost wept when I saw Citadel, Chuckie Egg and Repton, the screens are so familiar, even tho it's 30 years at least since I saw them. Thanks you.

[@onaretrotip]

That's great to hear. Thank you!

[@RetroJack]

I remember the hardest game I ever played on the Beeb back on the day was called "Frak!" - it was a platformer where you played as a caveman with random missiles appearing from the sides of the screen. I'm pretty sure it was my first rage-quit!

[@onaretrotip]

Cool game! I never played it back in the day, but I have since.

[@richretrotech9426]

Absolutely love the bbc micro. Grew up with it in school and watched them on the bbc with the computer programme and micro live. Thanks for the video.

[@onaretrotip]

Me too, it's very dear to me indeed. Thank you!

[@TheRetroShed]

Never had a Beeb back in the day but I do now. Love the system to bits. Just iconic! Great vid.

[@onaretrotip]

Sorry for the late reply, must have missed this comment. Yeah, I never owned my own until a few years ago, but it was the system I first really fell in love with as a kid.

[@TheRetroShed]

@Al Masih Ad Dajjal We've collected them all over the years. You also can't beat the Saturn for some of the obscure Japanese shooters! Dreamcast is no slouch either!

[@FunkinBuz]

Thanks for the video. Brought back some good memories!

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks mate, you're welcome. It's great to see that this video is bringing back fond memories for people, just as making it did for me.

[@electricadventures]

Excellent top 15, a couple there that I didn't know about that definitely look worthwhile to try out.

[@onaretrotip]

+electricadventures Thanks Tony, glad to hear there were some that you haven't tried! Some real gems in this list.

[@slopesgameroom]

wicked video mate :) not heard of imogen before but looks quite interesting and unique. really enjoyed this video, keep em coming

[@onaretrotip]

+Daniel “Slope's Game Room” Ibbertson Thanks Dan! Imogen was such a novel idea for the time, I think it may surprise a few people how high it placed on the list. It's the first game that I know of to use that sort of mechanic. I'll definitely be doing more in the future, I was pleased with how this turned out.

[@SoulFunkRetro]

Ace video Pete. I had an acorn electron back in the day so a lot of these games I've played at some time or another. Awesome stuff :-)

[@onaretrotip]

+SoulFunkRetro Thanks Matt! Good to hear that someone has played a lot of these. Great memories.

[@GameSoftNews]

So great to hear your story, brings back all the fond memories

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Glad I could stir your memory.

[@geoffreyjohnstone5465]

I had just 2 games for my BBC Micro....Elite and Swoop. Loved them both.

[@onaretrotip]

If you're only going to have two games, you can't really go wrong if one of them is Elite.

[@Tetlee]

Wow Imogen!!!! I'd comletely forgotten about hat game until this video, used to play that game at school in my lunch breaks all the time! What memories! I've just purchased a BBC Master so this game will ne a must when I get it. Thank you so much for thi vid.

[@onaretrotip]

Awesome! Enjoy. Love Imogen.

[@Bangkokian1967]

Fantastic video Pete I had a model B when I was a kid Loved the Superior Soft and Acornsoft games BTW Strykers Run was programmed by Chris Roberts who later made the Wing Commander games Lots of great memories there mate

[@onaretrotip]

+Bangkokian1967 Thanks Ian! Oh, didn't know that Stryker's Run was made by the same guy as Wing Commander, that's interesting! Lots of great memories indeed, doing this video took me right back.

[@PussJohnson]

What a great reverie! Loved Repton and Arkanoid, so many other cool games too like Cylon Attack, Star Striker, Jet Pac, Maze, Kix, Pengo, Eagle Empire and Block Blitz were some of my favourites.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! So many great games on the BBC.

[@GamerGeekWorld]

Great vid mate and thanks for the memories , remember there was always a que at school to play chuckie egg, and arkanoid.

[@onaretrotip]

+gamergeekworld Thanks! Haha, that's awesome, glad it brought back good memories.

[@merkaba48]

I'm happy to see Imogen take top spot, looking back it is definitely for me one of the most well-rounded and unique games on the system, and still a lot of fun to play today with its many simple puzzles and charming puns. Citadel would have taken next spot for me at #2 (though if I ranked them at the time it would likely have taken first place!), that was an amazing adventure; it's a shame the late-game solution was so obtuse, requiring travelling through fake walls with no hints of their existence. A bizarre design choice there among an otherwise excellently put together challenge. Number #3 for me would probably have been Castle Quest. Similar to Citadel, but smaller in scope and with more interesting interactions with enemies. But again, a ridiculously difficult, nay impossible, final puzzle to solve as you had to shoot a random brick with a wand to get the treasure. Another bizarre design choice, it's like these developers never wanted people to finish their games!

[@onaretrotip]

Yes, I feel like Imogen was quite ahead of its time, and a charming little game.

[@sixteenstringjack]

Happy memories of a lot of these, and almost feel sad for my younger self for missing out on the ones here that I never got to play. Loved Repton and Commando. Frak was also good fun. Thx for the vid 🙂

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah Repton and Commando were great, although in hindsight Commando is an absolutely terrible port. Still, I loved it.

[@AyratHungryStudent]

I've never even heard about this console before. The games look amazing for their age and I am planning on checking them out on an emulator. Thanks!

[@onaretrotip]

Great! They were popular home computers in the '80s, and every school in England had them, so we would learn basic programming on them, etc.

[@Letstalkretro]

Great video mate. So many memories especially school ones. Used to spend school lunch hours playing many of these games.

[@Letstalkretro]

Oh and if you haven't seen it the BBC TV drama Micro Men which can be found here on KZbin is worth a watch for some Acorn, Spectrum & BBC Micro background.

[@onaretrotip]

+Let's Talk Retro Thanks, glad it brought back some fond memories. I'll check out that Micro Men, nice one!

[@thediamonddust]

Interesting video. I got here having seen a snake (Nokia '97 style) game on the Android store, before googling the origins of the original where this machine was mentioned. Funny where you end up. Great video. Old new things ;)

[@onaretrotip]

+Diamond Dust Ha, what an interesting route you took to get here! Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching.

[@acidgecko72]

What a great video!! I think you should definitely do another one for sure but a lot longer! ;) Love the citadel bit with the cheat (get to see more screens that way) I used to love programming graphics routines using vdu commands, got them to play alongside all the 80s music! Them were the days! Please, keep up the good work! Subscribing! 😊😊😊♥️

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you very much! Definitely planning to do some more videos on the BBC Micro at some point soon.

[@amigacherished5002]

Very well presented great video thank you

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, thank you so much, that's very kind. Appreciate you watching!

[@andyd1287]

Great list. Loved Imogen and was pleased to see it was in top spot, I spent ages on my BBC as a kid. Personal favourites for me were Ravenskull which was so frustrating and the Repton games. Thanks for bringing back some good old memories. As cool as my PS4 is, it'll never be as cool as my old BBC. Thanks

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, I'm so pleased to hear that it brought back some fond memories. It's great to hear from someone else who enjoyed Imogen, it was such a fantastic game for the time but one that sadly many seem to have missed. Thanks for watching and the comments!

[@andyd1287]

+onaretrotip Managed to find a PC version of Imogen a few years back. Exactly the same but with more colours obviously. Good stuff.

[@onaretrotip]

Andy D Oh wow. I'll look that up, thanks!

[@andyd1287]

+onaretrotip Just had a look mate. m.squakenet.com/download/imogen/13686/

[@onaretrotip]

Andy D Thanks dude!!!

[@jamesaitchison9478]

Very interesting list of games. Cool video bro 👍

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you very much!

[@mikeymike3240]

Every one a gem 💎, not a bad game in the mix. 👍👍👍👀

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks!

[@devastator200]

Ahhh mate!!! The memories!! I would do anything to avoid written work at primary to get a ride on the BBC computer in class!! Really enjoyed the vid bud..if I'm honest I hadn't realise how many great games there were on the system!! Well done boss!!!

[@onaretrotip]

Cheers Luke! Glad you enjoyed it mate, it brought back great memories for me making this video. I did play a few games at school, but I was lucky that my mate had one so we'd play tons of games at his house. Good times.

[@johnsnowden110]

Way back in the day I spent many an hour programming until 0400 in the morning on games we put out there at the time. Sad to say mine were text adventures, no graphical, when that happened I started to get left behind, and decided to follow another route. I still have a BBC32 and Master in the loft somewhere with the 5.5 floppy drive (dual, I was posh lol) along with some of the productions, Horror Castle, Shrinking Professor, were two, sold them through a company in Manchester at the time, might have been A&F software, not to sure. Great days long gone.

[@onaretrotip]

Good times :)

[@doctorcrankyflaps1724]

Excellent video. Cheers.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks for watching!

[@simonparker14]

Nice trip down memory lane. BBC Micro was the first computer I had. Out of the games in the video Exile was one of my favourites.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Simon! I actually just bought my first one ever haha (as I only ever used my friend's one or the ones at school). It has an SD card mod so has all the games on, so I'll be exploring the library of games that I never got to play. Exile blew me away back in the day, so impressive.

[@ojbeez5260]

The BBC is 40 years old this year. I have a NEW really good BBC competition pro style Joysticks on eBay that are only £50! (not like £100 like old BBC competition pros go for) - celebrate in style. Works great - I just completed Airwolf with it after 40 years! Really responsive. My BBC Master is even more cherished now I can really get good with games!!:)))

[@onaretrotip]

Where did that time go? I've just turned 40 and can't believe it.

[@ojbeez5260]

@@onaretrotip You're as old as the BBC! ...or the BBC is as old as you?

[@Idiotatwork]

My memory of bbc micro games were mostly type in adventures and really was what got me into gaming. Once i got a speccy i was straight after the level 9 stuff as reminded me of the bbc games library at school

[@onaretrotip]

I loved the text adventures on the BBC!

[@pjgathergood6987]

Very interesting list, nice selection - I'd probably put quite a few of them on my on such list. In fact, If I ever do get some spare time I might have to knock my own list up. Magic Mushrooms, Castle Quest, Frak!, ....quite a few other titles that might make my Top 15. By the way, I'm guessing the screen-shots of Citadel are from a cheat version, as the character is walking through many enemies and dangerous without losing any enemies :)

[@onaretrotip]

+Pj Gathergood Thank you! If you do ever get time please let me know, as I'd love to see your list. There are so many great BBC Micro games that it was hard to choose just 15. Yes, well noticed on Citadel!

[@AdiSneakerFreak]

What a great video Pete, yes Exile is the very same game I loved so much on my Amiga, tho the graphics and scrolling were somewhat better obviously. Also Impossible Mission and I think the sequel I had on my Amstrad and loved. The only experience I had of the BBC Micro was in school I think playing an adventure game called Grannies Garden?

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks Steve! I haven't tried Exile on the Amiga but definitely will, I always wondered if it was the same series/game. Yeah, I know Impossible Mission got quite a few conversions, such as C64, so I'm sure Amstrad got one. Cracking game! Haha, I know Grannie's Garden, that was really popular.

[@martjevans]

Great list. I got out of the BBC scene early so a lot of these are new to me. Personal favourites were Frak!, Caste of Riddles, Aviator, Lords of Time and the early Acornsoft arcade clones (Snapper, Planetoid!, Monsters! etc.)

[@onaretrotip]

+Martin Evans Thanks Martin! Glad to hear that there were some that you weren't aware of. I've not heard of Castle of Riddles, and don't think I've played Lords of Time, so I'll check those out. Some of the early clones were great!

[@martjevans]

Lords of Time was published by Level 9 who saw themselves as a Brit Infocom. All their titles are worth checking out.

[@Ndlanding]

I had Frak!, and while it looked fantastic, it was no fun at all. (IMHO)

[@insanimal2]

awesome! I loved Imogen. Still remember the level where you have to get the dog to salivate by ringing the bell

[@onaretrotip]

Such an innovative game.

[@1msx2go]

Excellent vídeo mate. really enjoyed this. :)

[@onaretrotip]

+1msx2go Thank you very much!

[@BlipITcom]

Starship Command (Acornsoft). Just about the right amount of predictability before the aliens attack, and that genius 'escape capsule' feature to add to the suspense.

[@onaretrotip]

Is that the one with the ship that looks like the Liberator from Blake's 7?

[@BlipITcom]

Exactly. Get yourself Beebem www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/ and a copy of Starship Command from www.stairwaytohell.com/

[@robbyxp1]

Fav as well

[@pitmatix1457]

That's the one!

[@rovingenglishman]

Superb game. Acornsoft set the bar with all their games back in the day

[@danielgower3309]

Great video, brought back some fond memories! We were lucky enough to have a BBC back in the early/mid 80s. Do you remember Frak and Escape from Moonbase Alpha? Played those two a lot.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Don't think I played those two back in the day; I was quite limited to what my friend had.

[@rg-web-design]

Wow! Thanks for some great memories. My favourite was the flight simulator (not mentioned in this video). As a kid, you could use your imagination to 'paint' the scenery in.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Don't think I ever played that.

[@Matropolis]

Wow, Commando looks slightly different from the arcade version we played in the THSC! Great vid dude, have little knowledge of the BBC Mirco! Now, I have a little bit more :)

[@Matropolis]

+Matropolis Ah...Arkanoid too! Fun game :)

[@onaretrotip]

+Matropolis Glad it was informative Mat, thanks. Yeah, Commando looks very different doesn't it, haha. Plays similarly though, used to love it back in the day, and that was way before I played it in the arcade. And Arkanoid, what a game!

[@Discombobulated1]

Wow that takes me back to my childhood

[@onaretrotip]

Good times :)

[@syteanric1868]

My dad bought a bbc micro model b 32k when I was 3. I loved it, so many happy memories. Football manager by Kevin Toms was my favourite game... even all these years later it sits behind Red Dead Redemption and The Last of us in my top 3 favourite games of all time. Code name Droid. Barbarian 1 and 2. The last ninja, the Bbc gave us some incredible games. Many of which have influenced todays titles. I had many in the list. I got rid of the computer when i was 18. In 1999. 15 long years later.... i had a nes, Mega Drive and PS1 growing up... the beeb took them all on and beat 2 of them! I should really get an emulator, i miss the computer sometimes even now.

[@onaretrotip]

That's awesome! So many fond memories of those days.

[@mikehill9806]

Fantastic collection. I never came across Imogen but wish I had.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Mike! Yeah, Imogen was a lucky random find for us back in the day. Great game!

[@zetandpeligaming]

Awesome. I used to play on the Acorn back in school between 1996-1999. I remember a game which was a cross between a text adventure and a Zelda clone. The intro had you choose from two paths either in the West or East, in the 'Zelda style'. The input from the keyboard was cumulative too. So every time you pressed left the character would move one step left, and if you hammered it too quickly you'd be walking into the wall for ages. I'd love to know what the game was :)

[@onaretrotip]

Doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid.

[@AndyHugRetro]

Really interesting watch. My primary school had one of these in each class room. They were really strict with us playing games though annoyingly. Some of these titles look great

[@onaretrotip]

+8-bit Andy Cheers Andy! That's a shame they were strict, although I only played a few games on the ones in school. I was lucky that a mate had one, so I got to play a whole bunch of great games.

[@gjwestonable]

Fantastic list, Imogen number 1 definitely I loved that game. I would add Cholo, Labyrinth and Ravenskull :)

[@onaretrotip]

Sorry for the delayed reply; must've missed this comment. Thank you! I will check those out.

[@robinwilliams1751]

Great video. Thanks dude. I'd add Zalaga which seems to be mostly unmentioned so far. Far and away the best 8 bit port of Galaga, coed by Orlando who also did Frak. Please please please - put me out of my misery - which game is the music that you're using as your 'sting' from? I recognise it and I know I had it but I just can't place it! hahaha (Not the opening one, which is Pole Position - the one you use to introduce each game)

[@onaretrotip]

Hahaha you're going to kick yourself mate. It's from Zalaga!

[@robinwilliams1751]

Paahahahahahahaha! Yes of course! LMAO! Thanks! :D

[@onaretrotip]

PMSL no problem mate.

[@slimofbonar1978]

absolutely love Daredevil Dennis, spent many a hour playing this back in the late 80s early 90s

[@onaretrotip]

What a game.

[@matthewiles5714]

05:43 - I had 2 different versions of Killer Gorilla. One version was that you couldn't go up ladders with the mallet in your hand and the other version is that you could. The version where you could go up the ladder with the mallet in your hand also gave you an extra life after the completion of each level.

[@onaretrotip]

Hmm, interesting. Can't remember which version we used to play back in the day.

[@peterainsworth8026]

I was unwell for about a year so couldn't play outside in my school. I remember Chuckie Egg and Repton as a teacher was kind enough to set them up for me as something to do.

[@onaretrotip]

That was nice of them.

[@peterainsworth8026]

@@onaretrotip Certainly was. Mr Foster. Very kind man.

[@EvilKris]

talk about a trip down memory lane. I'd completely forgotten about DareDevil Denis and Imogen, but as soon as I saw them I instantly remembered how much fun I used to have playing those games. I guess the brain really does store everything in there somewhere. Thanks for a great vid.

[@onaretrotip]

Funny how seeing an image or even just hearing a game's music can bring those memories flooding back, of games we'd long since forgotten. So glad the video brought back some fond memories for you. Thank you!

[@BikerBytes]

Don’t forget classics like Defender, Rocket Raid and my favourite Monsters 💪

[@onaretrotip]

Don't think I've played the latter two, will check them out! ;)

[@YouTuber-wi7oc]

Excellent piece of nostalgia. I thought I knew most of the games on the bbc, but a few surprises here! Shame banjax wasn't on the list tho! :)

[@onaretrotip]

+You Tuber Thanks! It seems that a few people are surprised by the number of quality titles on the system. Not played Banjax, I'll look it up. Great username by the way hahaha!

[@danniantagonist]

YES, IMOGEN!! I didn't think that would be in the list, since it's pretty rather than smashy smashy, but so enjoyable... More about the experience than the winning. :-) Thank you for this joyous list!

[@onaretrotip]

Glad you're a fellow fan of Imogen, Danni. I love that game, it was so enjoyable and way ahead of its time. I've just picked up a BBC Micro with an SD card mod, so Imogen will be my first stop. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@noiseworks]

some of my favourites were Plan B, Meteors, Starship Command, Quest, Frak, & Defender

[@onaretrotip]

Starship Command I've discovered in recent years, it's great. Frak is decent too. Don't think I've played Plan B, will have to check that out.

[@ForViewingOnly]

Excellent and unexpected choice with Imogen. It's such a unique idea for a game. You can complete it, wait a few years to forget the gameplay and solutions, and then enjoy it all over again!

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! It's one that seemingly few people have played, but what a gem of a game. Way ahead of its time!

[@leelangley3705]

The best thing about this video is the various music you play ;)

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, it's great. Check out his channel, he has loads more!

[@adamgmoney2605]

Chaos and Lazer squad on spectrum pure class

[@onaretrotip]

👌

[@wombra8314]

cool thanks, I never heard of this system before! 📺🐛

[@onaretrotip]

Glad you enjoyed it! They were in every school back in the 80s here in the UK, and I was lucky in that my mate down the road had one.

[@markzpartz8732]

Imogen was definitely 1 of my favourites but would have to say Repton as you could create your own levels and characters so that was probably my favourite but bringing back nostalgia just watching these. I forgot about that stunt man game.

[@onaretrotip]

Great games. I played Dare Devil Dennis recently - still so hard haha, but fun.

[@inubis1]

On Blagger level 1, if you ran left against the pink moving platform and quickly ran right you could walk through the wall ! Lol ! loved that game

[@onaretrotip]

Haha brilliant!

[@cdrain68]

Dug out my old BBC Micro and all the text adventures I had, great fun even though they took ages to load from Cassette. You would be surprised how collectable they are now

[@onaretrotip]

Oh, I know. Trying to get original floppies is so difficult.

[@trickysoft]

You might like an "MMC" solution, they are about £15 and pretend to be a couple of double sided floppy drives. I have written a games menu for them and GOTEKs with nearly everything from BBC micro.co.uk, download it here stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16070

[@CuriosityRocks]

We had one at home and there was one at school. Brilliant games :D

[@onaretrotip]

+CuriosityRocks Awesome! Judging by what others are saying, I think you were lucky to have one at home. It was great that my friend had one. Brilliant games indeed, I have such fond memories of them.

[@Acerkool]

Granny’s garden theme tune is burnt in my brain. Loved chuckle egg and repton

[@onaretrotip]

Haha everyone remembers Granny's Garden.

[@savedbyjesusblood]

Interesting the song that is playing in the introduction (Rydeen by Yellow Magic Orchestra) is from a BBC Master as the Enhanced Version of Stryker's Run didn't work on a normal 32K BBC Model B (or maybe it was just my BBC even though it had sideways RAM).

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, the version of Stryker's Run that I played as a kid didn't have that. Love YMO though!

[@shaunbowen]

Daredevil Dennis! I had totally forgotten that one, having not played it since I was about 8. I was never great at Thrust, but I did love the spiritual sequel Oids, on the Atari ST. Worth a go if you've never played it

[@onaretrotip]

Daredevil Dennis is great, I was playing it recently actually. Still damn hard! Don't remember playing Oids, will have a look. Thanks!

[@dandominare]

I was fortunate enough to have one of these at home when I was a kid, with both a tape deck and a 5 1/4" disk drive. I remember most of these games as well as a good couple dozen that didn't make your list like Frak!, Way of the Exploding Fist, Vortex, Cylon Attack, etc etc. Good times.

[@onaretrotip]

That's awesome, always nice to hear from people who actually owned a Micro. It's such a shame that the extent of many peoples' interaction with it is through Granny's Garden played briefly at school. There were so many great games for the system, it was hard narrowing it down to a mere fifteen. Good times indeed :)

[@matthewiles5714]

I remember that I had two different versions of Killer Gorilla on my BBC Master. One version is that you cannot go up ladders with the hammer in your hand but the other version (which is the on I played on almost all the time) is the version where you can go up ladders with the hammer

[@onaretrotip]

Oh yeah? That's interesting. I'm not sure which one I played now you mention it.

[@beachlife2968]

The first ever home computer games I played were Frak and Daredevil Denis on the BBC Micro and have been hooked ever since haha.

[@onaretrotip]

Good times!

[@kyberhai]

Great video. Interesting pick for #2 - I would never have put Arkanoid up there! It was a great conversion & looked wonderful, but there were dozens of clones of it out there. Impact, Hyperball & Krakout were a few of the better ones that I spent time with. In fact I may just have to do so again right now! :>

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, glad you liked it! Yeah, the list is more of a personal top 15 for me - the games I played the most as a kid and those I enjoyed. Arkanoid got played to death, great game!

[@steve-parkinson]

Hey @kyberhai just found this - thanks for the kind words ;). One of the main motivations behind hyperball was to get far better collision detection. Honestly it was surprisingly lazy on some of those other big budget versions! Loved Krakout too. Ever play that on the C64? Cool sound track!

[@hungryhog1]

Nice video - used to play Mr EE in my IT "lessons" at school. What is the music in the background at the start of the video? Sounds like an old Commodore 64 tune?

[@onaretrotip]

+hungryhog1 Thanks mate. Haha, those good old "IT lessons". The music at the start is from Pole Position on the BBC Micro. Thanks for watching!

[@zawtowers]

If hungryhog1 meant the tune at 0:09, it's a cover of Rydeen by Yellow Magic Orchestra, with the well known game composer Martin Galway composing two conversions: Stryker's Run on the BBC B and Daley Thompson's Decathlon (loading theme) on the Commodore 64.

[@MattandJaelon]

Very cool sir! I dont know if I've played any of these

[@onaretrotip]

+Matt and Jaelon Thanks! If you get the chance to try a few, I'd recommend any of these. Arkanoid and Commando are also great arcade games if you have MAME.

[@8ballphoenix]

Excellent video mate, and probably close to my top 15 too, although with over 500 games available it's hard to pick a top 15! Commentary was great too. Any chance of some 'longplays'?

[@onaretrotip]

+Julian Potter Thank you very much! Yes indeed, it was very hard to choose 15. I just went for the 15 that I have the fondest memories of, and played the most. I may look at doing some longplays in the future, could be fun! Thanks for watching.

[@caffeinated-pixels]

I remember a lot of these games. There was a pensioner who lived across the street from me when I was a kid. He used to invite kids around to play games on his BBC Micro. In retrospect, it sounds a bit creepy, but it was all totally innocent. We also had a computer lab full of BBC Micros at school. But most of the games at school were "educational", but at least they had Sim City 😀

[@onaretrotip]

Hahaha.

[@SEGASaturnLad]

We had one at secondary school, crazy to think they were still around in the late 90s.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, mad isn't it.

[@ftwwwales7698]

I still have my BBC B (from 1983) in its polystyrene packaging, with cassette player, joysticks, and a huge box of games up in the loft! My mate, Lisa and I used to spend HOURS on the thing: Oblivion; Daredevil Dennis; Hunchback; Jet Power Jack were favourites - but what was the 3-D one featuring aeroplanes which you had to accurately sight before shooting down? The farther away they were, the higher your points - I remember the detail as they grew closer was really impressive.

[@onaretrotip]

Hmm, not sure on the 3D aeroplane game. That's amazing that you still have all that stuff still in its packaging! I'm so jealous.

[@ftwwwales7698]

I found the game - actually, seeing it again on YT showed that the 'impressive' graphics were clearly a figment of my youthful imagination! It was 3D Bomb Alley, if you're interested!

[@onaretrotip]

Hahaha. A case of rose-tinted glasses there. I've never played it but it actually looks really fun.

[@sheffieldstag3520]

Just found this video. We were lucky enough to get a hand me down BBC micro from my Dad's friend but tonnes of games on disc and tape. My favourites were Repton, Citadel, Dare Devis Dennis and Chuckie egg amongst this list. We also played Mr EE, Revs, Hostages and many others to death. Loved our BBC and even took it to University in the 90's to play on. Sadly, I think parents threw it out a number of years ago.

[@onaretrotip]

Sounds like we played a lot of the same games. Good times!

[@ScoopDogg]

I remember waiting for my copy of Acorn User coming out, amazing magazine I think you can download them all on pdf free. Must read if into beebs

[@onaretrotip]

I have a stack of those at home actually. They were my mate's brother's back in the day.

[@ACWells13]

Oh! I'd forgotten about Palace of Magic. Oh, the nostalgia... my Mom and I are both gamers- she'd have been about my age now back when she played through Palace of Magic and various Repton games and I was allowed to stay up late to watch her play! My favourite game was Cuthbert had a Cold, I think, or the other very similar one I forget the name of. I used to adventure for hours!

[@onaretrotip]

Palace of Magic is one game that I always think of when I think of the Micro. Great game. Glad I could remind you of it. That's great that you used to watch your mum play, sounds like you have some fond memories there. Don't think I ever played Cuthbert had a Cold. Thanks for watching/commenting!

[@madmatts9010]

A great list, and some fantastic memories right there BUT have a word!! Elite is without doubt number one and the reason I didn’t pass all my exams! Defender, missile command, frak! (And the rude version!) should also be on the list. Still have my bbc in the loft-needs repairing though. Will get it done one day!

[@onaretrotip]

Well this was pretty much my list of childhood favourites. Elite is obviously a fantastic achievement, but it was far from my favourite game. It's "MY top 15 BBC Micro games", not *the* top 15. Now get yourself up into that loft!

[@daviddr2d2]

Top video, thanks. :) My favs were: Chuckie Egg Sim Sabre Wulf Citadel Frak Killer Gorilla Son of Blagger Knight Lore Alien 8 Rocket Raid Meteors Planetoid Felix and the evil weevils Twin Kingdom Valley Elite Boffin Commando Ravenskull Strikers Run Spy vs Spy

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! A few I've not played there, but you obviously have good taste.

[@savedbyjesusblood]

I loved playing Contraption. A very good high res game for 1984. Icon Software also produced Drain Mania and Flip!. I only wish Drain Mania had a proper ending. In the game description it says that no one has ever made it out alive. Will you be the first? Sadly the last level just repeats in an endless cycle. It would have been nice to see a congratulatory screen.

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, never played Contraption. I'll have to look it up!

[@gavlatennis2824]

Elite and Exile were my favourites. Amazing games at the time. Imogen was incredibly charming with some very amusing elements. I remember squashing the rabbits!

[@onaretrotip]

Oh yes, those two were so far ahead of anything else it was crazy. The first time I played Exile I was absolutely blown away. Imogen again was pretty advanced, and holds up pretty well today.

[@brucethen]

I remember playing elite on the Amstrad CpC, and you can still play it today, all be it a much upgraded version called "Elite Dangerous "

[@onaretrotip]

Indeed!

[@RealTimeZone]

Ah this takes me back. Incredible that these were made with just a handful of k's . I'd also have Sentinel, Castle Quest, Revs, and Cholo.

[@onaretrotip]

+Nick White Good choices! This brought back so many fond memories for me too. It really is mind blowing that these were produced with just a few kilobytes, as you say, when modern games are tens of GB! For example, each cutscene of Day of the Tentacle was 64k, which could have house several of these games.

[@rickmoronic8905]

I persuaded my mum to mail order a copy of Exile from a gaming magazine when I was maybe 7, after seeing my cousin playing it. I remember it came with an accompanying novella. I couldn't figure out how to equip a weapon and didn't get very far but it still blew my tiny mind.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, that game blew me away back then!

[@mhgbu]

What's the jaunty game tune you used between the games? I recognise it.

[@onaretrotip]

It's from Zalaga.

[@stephenderry9488]

Most played: Elite (by a country parsec), then Cylon Attack, Repton, Mr Ee, Castle Quest, Hunchback (that scream when he falls!), Chuckie Egg, Spyhunter, Starship Command and Jet Pac. Probably forgotten a bunch. Dunjunz was good for multi players. EDIT: Oh, Sinistar!

[@onaretrotip]

So many great BBC Micro games!

[@ayudatengopiedrasenlosrino3786]

Ñ

[@scottbreon9448]

Some of the more recent homebrew titles have blown my mind, especially the arcade conversions by Richard Broadhurst, and of course, White Light, Prince of Persia, and Stunt Car Racer (the latter two require a BBC Master though...or running an emulator in BBC Master mode)

[@onaretrotip]

Richard's games are incredible! I only learned of them when I met him earlier this year.

[@trickysoft]

Thanks Scott :)

[@trickysoft]

@@onaretrotip Thanks, I don't know how I missed your channel.

[@deepblue8081]

I used to write games in BASIC on the BBC Micro, and on the Commodore PET before that!

[@onaretrotip]

That's great! I never had the patience, sadly.

[@rickreeder1137]

Great video!!! Thanks for the memories I Loved "Qwak" "3D Dotty" "The Last Ninja" "Repton Thru Time" "Spycat" "Bonecruncher" "Steve Davies Snooker" "Barbarian"

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Really glad you enjoyed it. Some great games on that list - The Last Ninja was brilliant, but I played it much more on the Commodore 64. Barbarian was a classic! Never played Steve Davies snooker, but sounds interesting, I'll have to look it up.

[@rickreeder1137]

We used to play Snooker on a black and white TV .

[@onaretrotip]

Rick Reeder Hahahahahahahaha!

[@bomberaustychunksbruv4119]

Thrust and Chuckie Egg for me - I'm still playing them on my BBC Micro at age 49. My kids who are all iPad and PS4 fans cant even get near my scores, even after a lot of practice !!! :)

[@onaretrotip]

Two absolutely fantastic games there. I still play and enjoy them.

[@TheCentreforComputingHistory]

Great video! Strykers Run was pretty cool. But Chuckie Egg had to be the most addictive. Or maybe Frak!

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Chuckie Egg is really addictive, I was playing it a few weeks ago. It seems so simple, but the difficulty ramps up very quickly, and then you come back again and again to beat one more level. Classic!

[@DrJRMCFC]

Great conclusion, it's the gameplay that counts.

[@onaretrotip]

Absolutely!