Iain Mew
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superchartisland.com
Iain Mew
@superchartisland.com
1.2K followers 810 following 2.2K posts
Writing a British history of popular video games one UK sales chart #1 at a time. Now in 1988. Also into pop music and writing on The Singles Jukebox. He/him.
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superchartisland.com
Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · Aug 31
Over the summer, I've written histories of 13 computer games which reached #1 in the UK charts during 1987: superchartisland.com/timeline/#1987

Here is a thread on what the British public was buying that year, with links
An edited screenshot of Barbarian for the ZX Spectrum. A goblin carries away a headless body. Barbarian Palace 1987 Various Gallup combined #1 W/E 13 June 1987 An edited screenshot of The Last Ninja for the Commodore 64. A ninja stands near a canal with stepping stones. The Last Ninja System 3 1987 Commodore 64 Gallup combined #1 W/E 20 June 1987 An edited screenshot of Grand Prix Simulator for Amstrad CPC. A top down view of a twisting racing track, with art of two F1 cars at the top (a McLaren and a Ferrari) Grand Prix Simulator Code Masters 1987 Various #1 in Gallup combined W/E 03 October 1987 An edited screenshot of Out Run for Atari ST. A red Ferrari drives along a road with water on one side and palm trees on the other, under a blue blue sky. Out Run U.S. Gold 1987 Various #1 combined W/E 12 Dec 1987
Reposted by Iain Mew
zawtowers.bsky.social
1988, and Last Ninja 2 on the C64 was a huge hit. But also what was important was the development of the ZX Spectrum version and all the controversy with the mask and shuriken included with the game - I got mine from Microbyte to ensure I got it. Here's @superchartisland.com with the rundown:
superchartisland.com Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 20h
System 3 struggled to port The Last Ninja to the Spectrum and brought in Mev Dinc. He preferred to give up and join the sequel team. And with the help of some rubber ninja weapon controversy, it all went very well.

New post on The Last Ninja 2:

www.superchartisland.com/the-last-ninja-2
The Last Ninja 2 – “City streets”
“I hope they choke on an AI-generated fishbone.” Those were the recent words of developer Chris Sorrell about publisher System 3, in reference to their treatment of the James Pond games Sorrell had…
www.superchartisland.com
November 2, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
superchartisland.com
System 3 struggled to port The Last Ninja to the Spectrum and brought in Mev Dinc. He preferred to give up and join the sequel team. And with the help of some rubber ninja weapon controversy, it all went very well.

New post on The Last Ninja 2:

www.superchartisland.com/the-last-ninja-2
The Last Ninja 2 – “City streets”
“I hope they choke on an AI-generated fishbone.” Those were the recent words of developer Chris Sorrell about publisher System 3, in reference to their treatment of the James Pond games Sorrell had…
www.superchartisland.com
November 2, 2026 at 6:56 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
ohfivepro.bsky.social
Don't forget, if you have a diorama but no models, a young chicken makes an excellent substitute

Follow me for more exciting 'how to use a small but real chicken in videogame related things' facts🐤
Jp final fantasy tactics guide book - a diorama of the 1st scene of the game outside the church but there's a small yellow chick stood on it. Ramza & co are nowhere to be seen, possibly killed by said chick? No one knows for sure
November 2, 2026 at 2:38 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
enikofox.com
i am once again pointing out that the #1 asset pack on your site right now is a no AI notice/splash screen that i made. you can just ban the slop. in fact, this would be a very popular thing to do
itch browsing top game assets by most popular, with our made by humans fox no AI splash screen sitting at #1
November 1, 2026 at 3:29 PM
superchartisland.com
System 3 struggled to port The Last Ninja to the Spectrum and brought in Mev Dinc. He preferred to give up and join the sequel team. And with the help of some rubber ninja weapon controversy, it all went very well.

New post on The Last Ninja 2:

www.superchartisland.com/the-last-ninja-2
The Last Ninja 2 – “City streets”
“I hope they choke on an AI-generated fishbone.” Those were the recent words of developer Chris Sorrell about publisher System 3, in reference to their treatment of the James Pond games Sorrell had…
www.superchartisland.com
November 2, 2026 at 6:56 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
critdistance.bsky.social
This week: Danchi Days, Mother and faerie, Metroid and transition, and lots more:

critical-distance.com/2026/11/01/n...
November 1st
Welcome back readers. Two agenda items before we jump in to the weekly. The first is that Kaile’s monthly is live! Go check that out–it’s over on our Patreon. I wonder if they cam…
critical-distance.com
November 2, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
superchartisland.com
ICYMI, this week I wrote about 1988 exploration/puzzle budget hit Joe Blade II. Featuring the shortest preview in the world, Die Hard inspirations, and a modern Game Boy port:

www.superchartisland.com/joe-blade-2
October 30, 2026 at 7:05 AM
superchartisland.com
ICYMI, this week I wrote about 1988 exploration/puzzle budget hit Joe Blade II. Featuring the shortest preview in the world, Die Hard inspirations, and a modern Game Boy port:

www.superchartisland.com/joe-blade-2
October 30, 2026 at 7:05 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
shammountebank.bsky.social
Microdeal. A new blog post about this St Austell based games company and a chance for me to stick a map pin into Cornwall.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2026/10/micr...
#RetroGaming #RetroComputing #Dragon32 #AtariSt #Amiga
Microdeal
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com
October 25, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Iain Mew
superchartisland.com
www.superchartisland.com/joe-blade-2
Not everyone saw Joe Blade II as having long-term appeal. Gordon Houghton in Zzap! wrote that “the game’s far too easy — and that’s not really on — not even at this price”. A reader wrote into Your Sinclair to say that “after three goes at Joe Blade II I had completed the game”, providing the end-game message as proof. Over in Sinclair User, Tony Dillon expressed disappointment with “our mate Colin Swinbourne” in much more colourful (not to mention psychotic) terms: “Joe Blade II is a bit like watching a ballet: it’s all very pretty and artistic, but you soon end up wishing someone would cut loose with a machine gun”. [Screenshot of Joe Blade II (Players, 1988, Commodore 64)] For Joe Blade III, which followed a year later, Joe Blade did get his gun back. He also got much of the structure and narrative of the first game back, except this time he was rescuing hostages from baddie Crax Bloodfinger’s new lair, a tower called Crax Plaza. Crash’s reaction to this was much the same as mine: “If you’ve ever seen the film Die Hard starring Bruce Willis you will know the sort of story line (I wonder where Players got the idea from?)”.
October 26, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
superchartisland.com
Yet another sequel! After the success of Joe Blade, Colin Swinbourne and Interceptor applied its formula to a dystopian future London of punks and self-destructing citizens. The result was an even bigger hit in the budget charts.

New post on Joe Blade 2:
www.superchartisland.com/joe-blade-2
Joe Blade 2 – “Yer dead meat mate!”
1988’s chart-topping games in the UK included an unprecedented number of sequels, accounting for more than half of the games I’m writing about, and six of them in a row. Some of that was a coincide…
www.superchartisland.com
October 26, 2026 at 6:50 AM
superchartisland.com
Yet another sequel! After the success of Joe Blade, Colin Swinbourne and Interceptor applied its formula to a dystopian future London of punks and self-destructing citizens. The result was an even bigger hit in the budget charts.

New post on Joe Blade 2:
www.superchartisland.com/joe-blade-2
Joe Blade 2 – “Yer dead meat mate!”
1988’s chart-topping games in the UK included an unprecedented number of sequels, accounting for more than half of the games I’m writing about, and six of them in a row. Some of that was a coincide…
www.superchartisland.com
October 26, 2026 at 6:50 AM
superchartisland.com
I think this is my first time appearing in Further Reading! @mathewkumar.com's piece here on Palace Software's Evil Dead is a great read, as are many others here
October 25, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Iain Mew
kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com
The original Tomb Raider's a great Halloween game! Everything Atlantean in it is fantastically unsettling, and their existence in a game that's "supposed" to be about Cool Gun Lady only makes it even more disturbing:

kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com/2019/10/23/t...
Tomb Raider: The mystery of Atlantis
Stories usually describe the legendary city of Atlantis as a wondrous place – imagine a fantasy version of ancient Greece but with more ornate fountains, fish, and the casual use of technolog…
kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com
October 25, 2026 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
jeremyoduber.com
Remember the 90s Schwarzenegger movie Eraser?
Or the Charlie Sheen alien conspiracy thriller The Arrival?
Or Keanu as Johnny Mnemonic?

Well all three of these received FMV adventure games that CRUSHED MY ENTIRE SOUL IN UNIQUE AND HELLISH WAYS.

My suffering distilled into 90 minutes, just for you:
Erase(r) the Arrival of Johnny Mnemonic: Only on CD-ROM
YouTube video by Alien Bob
youtu.be
October 24, 2026 at 7:41 AM
superchartisland.com
Yesterday evening I travelled from Canterbury to London by train and it took me four hours, thanks to assorted trees on assorted lines. From hearing other people's stories at Ashford International I had it comparatively lucky!
October 24, 2026 at 7:37 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
superchartisland.com
This week I wrote about the making of Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge. Featuring Lucozade adverts, Serious Arm Lock-Up, and advertised gameplay features which didn't exist:

superchartisland.com/daley-thompsons-olympic-challenge
October 23, 2026 at 6:24 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
oddthisday.bsky.social
According to legend, it’s 31 years to the day since the Financial Times killed one of Britain’s finest poets? They didn’t mean to. It’s just that Gavin Ewart was 79, and the day before they’d bought him a lunch that involved enough booze to fell an ox. A glorious story, but is it true...?
The menus were not printed until 2003, so we cannot be sure of the all-time record for the most expensive lunch. It may have been achieved when Spivey met the 79-year-old poet Gavin Ewart at the Café Royal in October 1995. The exact cost is lost somewhere in the bowels of the FT accounts department. But the bill was somewhat overshadowed by the aftermath. The main item on the agenda was alcohol, not food. Ewart began with several negronis (gin, vermouth, Campari), which is not an amateur’s drink, and carried on from there. “We departed the Café Royal in a moderately straight line,” Spivey said in the article. He put Ewart on a bus home then lurched off himself. The following day he received a call from Mrs Ewart. “There are two things you need to know,” she said. “The first is that Gavin came home yesterday happier than I have seen him in a long time. The second – and you are not to feel bad about this – is that he died this morning.”
October 23, 2026 at 8:51 AM
superchartisland.com
This week I wrote about the making of Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge. Featuring Lucozade adverts, Serious Arm Lock-Up, and advertised gameplay features which didn't exist:

superchartisland.com/daley-thompsons-olympic-challenge
October 23, 2026 at 6:24 AM
superchartisland.com
An interesting note in this story from midway through RoboCop's ridiculously long run as UK games chart #1 in 1989: "Ocean doesn't think it will be the biggest selling game of all time, however, as game titles sold more two years ago than they do now."

archive.org/details/NH20...
ROBOCOP BLASTS CHART RECORD Ocean's extraordinary game Robocop has smashed the record for longest consequetive weeks at number one. Robocop has been sitting pretty at the top of the charts since it became the surprise Christmas питber one. That's a total of eighteen weeks. Previous record holder was Soft Aid which lasted 17 weeks. However, that was a charity compilation costing only £5.99. Out Run sold brilliantly but only lasted eight consequtive weeks on top of the pile. Ocean scooped up the rights to the film tie up when it was only at script stage. At that time nobody knew if the story of a half man, half machine cop would catch on. "It was all uncertain. The film could have been a cheap and tacky affair. I'm sure we didn't think it would be so successful at the time,” said Ocean's Gary Bracey when Express broke the news to him. Whilst the big name tie up elevated the game straight to the top its gameplay has also been commended. It received warm reviews throughout the press and has since been turned into a successful coin-op machine. Ocean doesn't think it will be the biggest selling game of all time, however, as game titles sold more two years ago than they do now. Meanwhile, Amiga owners will be pleased to learn that their version is coming out in a couple of weeks.
October 22, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Iain Mew
centuriesofsound.bsky.social
I'm hopefully taking a six-month work sabbatical to write a book about Pulp! But only if I can hit my goal on Kickstarter.

So, please consider backing, or even better share with people who love Pulp as much as I do.
pulpsongs-book.bsky.social Freaks, Mis-shapes, Weeds @pulpsongs-book.bsky.social · 11d
Just launched!

Freaks, Mis-shapes, Weeds: A song-by-song exploration of every known Pulp recording, and life.

30 days left to make this happen!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/jam...
October 22, 2026 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
smadseli.northsky.social
it cannot actually be ignored or danced around that the closure of BioWare came so soon after the Saudi and Jared Kushner acquisition of EA. they absolutely did take the studio making EA’s broadly queerest games out back and shoot it old yeller style. do not let yourself or colleagues ignore that
October 21, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Iain Mew
superchartisland.com
Fed up with the modern mainstream games scene full of remakes and brand tie-ins? Let me take you back to the good old days of 1988... when Ocean remade Daley Thompson's Decathlon 4 years later, with added product placement.

New post on the making of Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge:
Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge – “Select your Adidas trainers”
So far in 2026, out of sixteen games released this year which have reached #1 in UK sales charts, five have been some form of remake, remaster or repackage, from Star Fox to Metal Gear Solid: Maste…
superchartisland.com
October 19, 2026 at 6:04 AM
Reposted by Iain Mew
zawtowers.bsky.social
There was also "The Challenge" audio tape soundtrack which came with the game too. Cue "Challenge!" voiceover from Gary Bracey throughout. Here it is:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VlP...
Jonathan Dunn - The Challenge (from Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge OST)
YouTube video by StuAA78
www.youtube.com
October 19, 2026 at 9:06 AM
superchartisland.com
Fed up with the modern mainstream games scene full of remakes and brand tie-ins? Let me take you back to the good old days of 1988... when Ocean remade Daley Thompson's Decathlon 4 years later, with added product placement.

New post on the making of Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge:
Daley Thompson’s Olympic Challenge – “Select your Adidas trainers”
So far in 2026, out of sixteen games released this year which have reached #1 in UK sales charts, five have been some form of remake, remaster or repackage, from Star Fox to Metal Gear Solid: Maste…
superchartisland.com
October 19, 2026 at 6:04 AM