In those glory days of a booming software market, there was always one thing that I envied my Spectrum-owning friends of having. Arcade conversions. Whilst I was making do with yet another Repton game, they were enjoying the thrills of Operation Wolf and R-Type, two of my favourite arcade games. Imagine how I felt when Robocop was also brilliantly converted to the Spectrum and us Elk owners never got a look in! Superior promised us a release of it at one point (towards the end of the Elk's gaming life) - as well as Outrun - but it wasn't to be. Neither made it to the Elk and I contented myself with yet another Repton game in the guise of Repton Infinity.

Looking back on it now, I don't really know why I was all that bothered about such arcade conversions. The Elk had some superb games and many of these were very similar to those arcade classics. I don't just mean the obvious copies like Snapper and Skirmish but later titles like E-Type (Outrun) and Cyborg Warriors (Side Arms). Not only were all hugely enjoyable to play; they also proved the Elk completely capable of emulating its arcade counterparts. [Although we never did get an R-Type clone! - Ed]

However, the best arcade conversions that ever graced the Electron were the ones from its early days. Games like Gauntlet (the best Defender clone ever!), Tempest (Just too addictive!) and Death Star (which I found even more playable on the Elk than a real Sinistar machine) relied on superb playability over graphical features.

Speaking of Death Star, I've included a rather nifty little cheat for this arcade classic in this issue. But if it's not your thing, there's also pokes for Dare Devil Dennis, now given a stonking new palette by ElectrEm fans (I'm still completely hopeless at playing it though!) and Jet Power Jack, probably the second fastest game after Syncron. I've also chucked in the passwords for far-too-hard Condition Red for good measure. But first it's time to turn spy with a complete walkthrough to Rick Hanson.

The ten levels can be accessed with the following passwords:

      >LOAD"DDDENIS2"
      >120END
      >GO.52
      >*LOAD DDDENIS3
      >?&151A=&EA:REM Immortal
      >CALL &F00

      >PAGE=&3000
      >LOAD"DEATH"
      >155END
      >RUN

Wait until the > cursor appears again, then type:

      >LOAD"DEATH3"
      >8?&1397=0:?&1A21=0:?&1386=0:?&1BF3=0
      >RUN

      >LOAD"POWER"
      >PROCCHARS
      >LOAD"JACK"
      >66L%=x:REM x=no. of lives
      >RUN

Well, that's your bumper lot for this issue so dig those classics out and remind yourselves what real playability is all about!