Joe Blade
Encyclopedia
Joe Blade is the title of a series of budget-price platform games written by Colin Swinbourne and published by Players.
All three titles were flick-screen
adventures, in which the player controls the titular character through a number of rooms, dispatching enemies and rescuing innocent people. The manner of this varies between the three games.
in Germany due to accusations that it "glorified" war and that the villains resembled SS troopers. While the game was still legally obtainable, it effectively banned the game from distribution, as technologies such as the Internet were not available at the time and German publications were not permitted to advertise the titles.
instructions in its inlay, but no Commodore 64 version was ever released.
A 1991 Players game, Prison Riot plays very similarly to the Joe Blade titles and a hacked version that identifies itself as Joe Blade 4 has been distributed on the internet.
All three titles were flick-screen
Flip-screen
In video games, flip-screen is a principle whereby the playing environment is divided into single-screen portions...
adventures, in which the player controls the titular character through a number of rooms, dispatching enemies and rescuing innocent people. The manner of this varies between the three games.
Joe Blade
The first Joe Blade title portrayed Blade as a lone commando sent into an evil mastermind's complex to release a number of diplomats. It was one of the earliest video games to be placed on the IndexBundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
The Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons is an upper-level German federal agency subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is responsible for examining media works allegedly harmful to young people and entering these onto an...
in Germany due to accusations that it "glorified" war and that the villains resembled SS troopers. While the game was still legally obtainable, it effectively banned the game from distribution, as technologies such as the Internet were not available at the time and German publications were not permitted to advertise the titles.
Joe Blade 2
Joe Blade 2 took a rather different approach to the first game. Instead of being a soldier, Blade was this time a vigilante taking to the city to rid the streets of criminals, rescuing old-age pensioners along the way. Blade was no longer armed with a gun, and had to jump over villains, just touching them with his feet, to dispatch them. This almost surreal take on the game was in stark contrast to the comparatively more gritty realism of the first installment. The game was also known for being considerably easier than the first title, almost to the point where many players managed to complete the game in one hour-long sitting. It was the only title in the trilogy to be released for 16-bit systems (Amiga and Atari ST).Joe Blade 3
Joe Blade 3 returned to the first title's formula, arming Blade with a machine gun. Exclusively released for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, it included Commodore 64Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
instructions in its inlay, but no Commodore 64 version was ever released.
A 1991 Players game, Prison Riot plays very similarly to the Joe Blade titles and a hacked version that identifies itself as Joe Blade 4 has been distributed on the internet.
External links
- Joe Blade 2 Review from CRASHCRASH (magazine)Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
- Joe Blade Review from Your SinclairYour SinclairYour Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
- Atari 8-bit fan review of Joe Blade
- [ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/j/JoeBlade_2.png Complete map of Joe Blade]
- [ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/j/JoeBlade2_2.png Complete map of Joe Blade 2]
- [ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/j/JoeBlade3_2.png Complete map of Joe Blade 3]
- Complete map of Joe Blade (Atari 8-bit version)
- Complete map of Joe Blade 2 (Atari 8-bit version)