Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 video game released by Electric Dreams Software for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC. The game is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name.
Also recorded as 1985 Back to the Future
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Back to the Future. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q91419
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Back to the Future • Developer — Software Images (Mark Eyles, Martin Walker, Herv Jones, Mike Saxby) • Publisher — Electric Dreams Software • Series — Back to the Future • Released — Commodore 64: Amstrad CPC: ZX Spectrum: • Genre — Adventure • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Gameplay
Gameplay
The game is a side view arcade adventure. The aim of the game is to get George McFly to spend as much time as possible with Lorraine Baines. The more time George and Lorraine spend together, the more they will fall in love, and thus more segments will be added to the family photograph in the bottom right corner. The photograph in the bottom right and left of the screen gradually disappear if the player does nothing, thus setting a time limit on the game. The player can find various object to help him such as love poems, a cup of coffee, alien suit and a guitar. He also has a skateboard to move around quickly.
Rerelease
Rerelease
Virgin included the game in their 1987 compilation Now Games 4, along with Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future, Mission Omega, Hacker and Jonah Barrington Squash. The game was also included in The Story So Far Volume IV compilation in 1989, along with Wonder Boy, Quartet, Aliens, The Eidolon and Ghostbusters. On this occasion, the game achieved the lowest score on the compilation from YS magazine, who concluded that it was "a total waste of tape".
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Named but not plotted · 1
Back to the Future is associated with United Kingdom.
Country
Reception
Max Phillips, reviewer for YS magazine, summarised the game as "not a bad conversion of the plot. Nice to see an original game concept. It may even be very clever. But I can't say it's very much fun to play". ZX Computing magazine said it was "overpriced and over-hyped", and Computer Gamer added, "buy this at your peril". Mark Eyles, one of the developers, commented: Back to the Future was a bit of a rush. We knocked it out in about two months flat. We really wanted about twice as long to do the film justice, but the deadline was pressing...
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Back to the Future (1985 video game), revision 1354226492 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Commodore 64 release information at GameFAQs
- 2.Amstrad CPC release information at GameFAQs
- 3.ZX Spectrum release information at GameFAQs
- 4.Archived copy.
- 5.Crash magazine review
- 6.Sinclair User review
- 7.MicroHobby issue 91 page 15
- 8.ZX Computing magazine, issue 8606 page 11
- 9.Computer Gamer magazine issue 15 page 63
- 10.Sinclair User, December 1986
- 11.Archived copy.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Back to BaghdadWork
- Back to BedWork
- Back to SkoolWork
- Back to StoneWork
- Back to the Future Part IIWork
- Back TrackWork
- BackbreakerWork
- Backfirewall_Work
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a copy of Back to the Future?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.