Friday, November 02, 2012

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 13 : Formula 1 Simulator (Commodore Plus 4)

Long before the Need for Speed and Ridge Racer series of games, I had Formula 1 Simulator, another classic £1.99 game by Mastertronic for the Commodore Plus 4.

Overtaking on the straight

The game features just one car, and one track which you must race around over, and over again until you run out of time.  You are awarded with more time with each lap you complete.  There are other cars on the track which you must avoid, but whether you pass them or not, it does not affect your score or overall position in the race because... well...  there are no positions in the race!  You just keep on driving on, and on, and on, and on, and... you get the idea.

Catching up

Back in 1985/6 when I first played this game, I marvelled at the incredible graphics, and 'realistic' handling.  Hey, it even has an animated steering wheel which actually turns when you move the joystick left or right.  Wow!

Oh bugger...  I've crashed!

Your car has two gears - 'lo' and 'hi' gear.  No automatic here. 

Not much more can be said about this game, other than it has not aged very well.  For a racing game, it is very simple, and obviously can get rather repetitive after a few laps.  I'll always have fond memories of the countless hours spent playing this with my Dad, and I managed to clock up the rather impressive score of 228530 - 9 laps (well, I was only 8/9 years old at the time).  I can't even complete 2 laps now!

The original cover (click the enlarge)

Instructions (click to enlarge)

The tape


The course - naff 3D map made by me!


For most of the games we had on our Commodore Plus 4, my family kept a score sheet for each one of us.  Most of these are from the mid 1980's, and are in a fragile state.  Where possible, I will include them with my posts for preservation purposes.
My dads score sheet.

My Mums score sheet - she didn't play it very much!

My sisters score sheet

My score sheet - one of the few games where I was actually better than my Dad!

No comments:

Post a Comment