Super Mutt
A caped, superhero dog battles his way across a city skyline, with a soundtrack that borrows shamelessly from Rossini.
Chuckie Egg
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Written by teenager Nigel Alderton and published by A&F Software in 1983, Chuckie Egg casts you as Henhouse Harry, tasked with collecting every egg on a level before the clock runs out, while a flock of hens do their best to get in the way. It's one of the earliest Spectrum platformers, and one of the very best.
Gameplay
Climb ladders and girders, grab feed to freeze the hens in place, and don't fall too far or you'll lose precious seconds recovering. Later levels introduce moving platforms and a memorable bonus round, Duck Shoot, where falling eggs must be caught rather than avoided. The core loop is simple; mastering its timing is not.
Technical notes
What sets Chuckie Egg apart even today is how responsive it feels — jump and ladder controls that do exactly what you ask, instantly, at a time when many contemporaries felt distinctly sluggish. The graphics are simple and bright rather than showy, but the game never needed spectacle; it needed precision, and it has plenty.
Verdict
Famous enough in its day to be referenced in a BBC documentary about computer game addiction, Chuckie Egg has aged better than almost any other 1983 Spectrum title thanks to controls that still feel genuinely good under the thumb.
Score breakdown
Play & download
- Chuckie Egg at Spectrum Computing — full credits, magazine reviews and history at Spectrum Computing.
Nothing is hosted on this site — the links go to the external sites credited above. See the Downloads page for more archives and emulators.
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