Taken from http://commodore-16.110mb.com with permission

Anco were a software house who published some of the best looking C16 games to be released. Not only did they have great graphic’s, sound and music, game play was also great. Many of the best games were written by Udo Gertz with sound and music by Bridget Gertz. They seemed to be able to push the C16 further than anyone else. Below is my top 5 from this great company..

Winter Events

 First up has to be Winter Events. This was a great game to play and the aim being to compete in six winter events and win the gold medal. The events you had to work your way through were the Biathlon, Bobsled, Ski Jump, Slalom, Downhill and Speed Skating. The graphic’s were outstanding through out and very detailed and a lot larger than other C16 Games and everything moved along smoothly, although why you character had a green face I have no idea. Sound on this game was great too. From the music in the opening ceremony to the music in the closing ceremony, each event had music playing through it as well as sound effect’s so this all added to the play of the game. Game play was good and as skill was the key to winning rather than just going crazy with your joystick it made for a lasting game, this wasn’t a joystick basher. This was also the first four player game on the C16 so you could play against your mates which made it all the more interesting and fun to play. The only downside was that each event had to be loaded separately which was a pain but a small price to pay for such a great game and each level was a turbo load so you didn’t have to wait long. How Udo managed to cram this into 16k I still wonder today.

Summer Events

 Summer Events has to be my number two. Again written by the great Udo and Bridget Gertz this was the follow up to Winter Events. The aim again was to compete in seven events this time in the hope of winning the gold medal. The events you took part in were Butterfly, Pole Vault, Javelin, Skeet Shooting, Platform Diving, Cycling, and Weight Lifting. The graphics in this game surpassed any C16 game released on the humble 16K machine they were both colourful and detailed and moved very smoothly. The sound and music were again very good with music playing from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony while in game sound was also of high standard. It was a four player game again so you could play against your mates to make it even more interesting to play. Control of your character was again more about skill rather than just thrashing your joystick which made for a more challenging game to play. Sadly it was once again a multi load game which was a small price to pay as it was worth the wait to play the next event. The only downside to this game was that it was the last C16 game to be written by Udo and Bridget Gertz which was a great loss to the C16 community.

Bongo

 Bongo was a strange little single screen platform game with scary looking characters. Once again it was written by Udo and Bridget Gertz which has to be a good thing. The aim from what I remember was to collect a certain amount a pearls to present to your girlfriend at the end of the level whilst avoiding a strange looking guy who followed you around the screen. To avoid him you could use various means like going sliding down slides or over travelators or stand over one of the letters that spell BONGO scattered throughout the level and with a quick press of the fire button you moved to the next letter in the name BONGO. Sounds strange but well worth playing. Graphics were of a good standard being not only colourful and detailed but also large so you didn’t get eye strange like on some C16 games. The sound was good with in game music playing in the background and spot effects as you collected your pearl or jumped over a platform and the like. Another great one from ANCO.

Demolition

 Demolition is one of the best Arknoid type game to appear on the C16. This game didn’t actually get released as a stand alone game it was released on a compilation towards the end of Anco’s C16 Game making. If I remember right it was released with Summer Event’s, Winter Events and the last one slips my memory anyways back to the game. The object is simple destroy the blocks then move onto the next level simple. It had the normal power ups that come with this type of game when you destroy certain blocks. Graphics for the game were colourful and as detailed as you can get for a breakout game with the main graphics being blocks and balls. Sound was kept to a minimum but was more than adequate will pings and pops when the ball struck the bat or the blocks a nice jingle playing in the background would have been nice though. Playability was quite good with it playing more like Krakout than Arknoid but was still enjoyable to play. It wasn’t a game that you wouldn’t spend hours at a time playing though as the one more go factor was very low. It was more of a game to fill five or ten minute when you felt like a change having said that it was still a fun game to play. On the downside when you completed one level and went to the next if you died after just a few blocks the game sometimes shot back to the previous level. Maybe it was just in my version I’m not completely sure. Seems strange that it never got released on its own merits though.   

Terra Nova

Anco Catalogue

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