I have been playing alot of Binding of Isaac since it became available on Linux, it is now my goto 30 minute game but one thing that stuck me was how it felt like a game I had played before right down to the gothic dungeons and caverns. It took a while to figure it out and it looks like I am not the only one having searched the web and I finally remembered a game I had on my Sinclair Spectrum. It was Atic Atac by Ultimate now none as Rare.

However back then there was no twin stick gaming, you had to lock your fire in a certain direction and then you could move around in another direction. However all games back then are what would be called a collectors edition as you usually got a large box and a lovely well illustrated booklet.

Binding of Isaac rooms do seem so far more rectangular in nature, I have not seen rooms in different sizes or in different shapes such as caverns. But take a look below and see if you can see some visual similarity.

And going down that track looking at Super Meat Boy does anyone thing there is a certain similarity to a certain game by Matthew Smith ;). I have thought about going through a Spectrum collection to look for some inspiration for a Gamemaker title though its not as easy as you think. It does seem to take a certain amount of talent to find the correct title and update it in a hip and current way.

Take the below selection of games

• Tir Na Nog
• Lords of Midnight
• UnderWurlde
• Pyjamarama

Most of these games nowadays seem rather slow, UnderWurlde does seem similar to Spelunky with its ropes, platforming and water areas but the other games definitely would to too slow for todays audience.

Spelunky is a bit more busy and as you can see it has multiplayer functionality which you would not get in the pre internet days.

It does make me wonder if there aren’t some more missing gems hidden in the Sinclair Spectrum vault. Some genres have disappeared such as straightforward maze games like Sabrewulf and Ant Attack. I can see the Meat Boy team doing a high paced Maze game or maybe Vlambeer can do a new Lunar Jetman spin …. maybe something like Lufthasers…

Maybe it’s time to brush off Gamemaker and seek some Sinclair Inspiration