Spectrum games charts

Part 9 - Spectrum games charts

TOP TEN SELLING SPECTRUM GAMES
November 1984

TM LM Name           Company     HCP CR IS
==========================================
1  1 SABRE WULF      Ultimate      1 92  6
2  - FULL THROTTLE   Micromega     2 91  7
3  2 MATCHPOINT      Psion         2 89  8
4  - D.T. DECATHLON  Ocean         1 82 10
5  - MONTY MOLE      Gremlin Gr.   5 == ==
6  - MICRO OLYMPICS  DATAbase      6 77  8
7  8 JET SET WILLY   Soft.Projects 1 95  4
8  5 LORDSofMIDNIGHT Beyond        5 10  7
9  3 TLL             Vortex        3 81  7
10 6 MUGSY           Melbourne H.  1 73  6

Back in the bygone days, the top ten chart was home to many a classic game, this chart being no exception. Sabre Wulf made a nest for itself on the top of the charts for three months at the end of 1984, but a hot new contender for the gold medal was Daley Thompson, who would soon reign supreme. Further down the list are appearances from Monty Mole, in his first incarnation, as well as the ever-popular Jet Set Willy. Those of you worrying about the low mark for Lords of Midnight, the score was actually 10/10 ie, 100%!

TOP TEN SELLING SPECTRUM GAMES
November 1987

TM LM Name        Company        HCP CR IS
1  - EXOLON       Hewson           1 90 43
2  - ROAD RUNNER  US Gold          2 73 43
3  - GAME OVER    Imagine          3 55 44
4  7 GAUNTLET     US Gold          2 92 37
5  1 BARBARIAN    Palace           1 85 41
6  8 PAPERBOY     Elite            5 88 33
7  2 ENDURO RACER Activision       2 92 40
8  5 ARMY MOVES   Imagine          5 54 41
9  4 SIX PAK      Hit Pak          4 == ==
10 9 LEADERBOARD  Access-US Gold   9 80 39

Three new entries take over the top positions of the chart, with Exolon, the first game from Raf Cecco, coming out on top. A good chart for US Gold, who take three out of the five positions, with a surprise abscence of Ocean games, especially with the run up to Christmas.

TOP TEN SELLING SPECTRUM GAMES
November 1989

TM LM Name             Company   HCP CR IS
==========================================
1  - RICK DANGEROUS    Rainbird   1
2  - NEW ZEALAND STORY Ocean      2
3  - LICENCE TO KILL   Domark     3
4  - INDIANA JONES     US Gold    4
5  1 ROBOCOP           Ocean      1
6  4 FORGOTTEN WORLDS  US Gold    2
7  3 SILKWORM          Virgin     3
8  - APB               Tengen     8
9  2 DRAGON NINJA      Ocean      2
10 - BATMAN            Ocean      1

Every so often in the charts, especially at the end of the eighties, there would be chart "clear-outs" where a rush of new entries would take over the top-ten. Nov 1989 was an example of such a rush. Rick Dangerous storms to the top, breaking the stranglehold of Robocop, which had been top of the pile for six out of the last seven months. But the Ocean game wasn't going down quite yet - it would return to number one the following month. As usual, most of the top ten is occupied by Ocean and US Gold releases. Lower down, Batman the Movie begins a laborious ascent of the charts, taking some months to reach pole position.