Dynamite Dan

One of the greatest things about 1980s gaming and especially when it came to the speccy, were the sound effects.

I remember laughing relentlessly at the sound of Mr Dan falling from one platform to anotherMatthew Romano

None of this fancy dolby stuff or Hollywood's finest lending their vocals to games. Back in our day, bleeps were good enough. Which brings me to my latest review.

Dynamite Dan was released in 1985 when I was just three years old. Yet a few years later when I played it for the first time, I remember laughing relentlessly at the sound of Mr Dan falling from one platform to another.

I'm sure I described it as what the speccy would sound like if it was having a wee. Anyway, I digress. Our titular character is Dan. He has to find a load of dynamite (as you may have already guessed), which he's hoping to use to cause an explosion and steal the plans for the evil Dr Blitzen's death ray.

The game itself plays in a similar fashion to the other major platformers of the time but one of the things I love most about it even now is just how much is going on at any point of the game.

The screen is constantly full of all kinds of weird and wonderful foes such as scissors, snowflakes, birds and snails to name but a few and the game NEVER comes up for air. I also love the fact that it's one of few games in which falling off the edge of the screen doesn't actually kill you every time.

It's actually worth jumping off the edge of the screen just to hear Dan's falling noise. The game spawned a sequel the following year which is often described as the superior of the two. I like originality though. For a game to have so much going on at any point really made the game stand out and I'd take it over the sequel any day. Here's to the underdog and all of its superiority.

Review by Matthew Romano - @baldandboring

Dynamite Dan - GameplayCLICK the carousel below to see the gaming pics and videos:

Dynamite Dan - Quick run