Lunar Jetman

It was met with critical acclaim upon release for its addictive gameplay and range of colours. The game was followed by a sequel, Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship, developed by Rare and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. It was later included in Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation, Rare Replay.

• Title — Lunar Jetman • Developer — Ultimate Play the Game • Publisher — Ultimate Play the Game • Platforms — ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro • Released — ZX Spectrum BBC Micro 1985 • Genre — Scrolling shooter • Modes — Single-player • Designer — Tim and Chris Stamper

• Illustration — Jetman must collect bombs and destroy alien bases to advance to the next level. Once again taking on the role of Jetman, players find themselves on the surface of a small purple planet. Similarly to its predecessor, the player can move around slowly on foot, or use a jetpack to leave the ground and navigate the planet faster. However, unlike Jetpac, Jetman's jetpack has limited fuel and must be topped up regularly. In addition to the jetpack, the player has a lunar rover for ground travel, inside of which they are invulnerable to damage. However, the rover can only negotiate smooth terrain, and Jetman may need to use bridging kits obtained from the rover to fill in craters on the planet's surface. The rover doubles as a refuelling point for Jetman's jetpack. Aside from the rover and its bridging kits, Jetman has access to three other pieces of equipment, all of which can be carried on the rear of the rover, albeit one at a time. Bombs must be used to destroy alien bases when they are encountered, which can only be accomplished when Jetman is flying above them. Another piece of equipment is a cannon that may be mounted onto the rear side of the moon rover. The final piece of equipment is a pair of teleporters which can be used to instantaneously transport the player to the teleporter's twin, thus allowing rapid transport around the planet. Gameplay itself requires Jetman to locate and destroy a series of alien bases on the surface of the planet. Each new base appears with the destruction of the previous one. To accomplish this task, Jetman must take the bomb to the alien base—either in his space suit or using the rover—and then fly over the base and drop the bomb. After several bases have been destroyed in succession, new and increasingly hazardous varieties of flying aliens assault the player. Each base must be destroyed within a strict time limit. If this limit expires before the base is destroyed, two missiles are launched from the base—one for Earth, the other for Jetman's rover. The player will be given a limited time to intercept and destroy the missile aimed at the rover, thus preventing a game over.

Ultimate Play the Game was founded by brothers Tim and Chris Stamper, along with Tim's wife, Carol, from their headquarters in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1982. They began producing video games for the ZX Spectrum throughout the early 1980s. The company were known for their reluctance to reveal details about their operations and then-upcoming projects. Little was known about their development process except that they used to work in "separate teams": one team would work on development whilst the other would concentrate on other aspects such as sound or graphics. Lunar Jetman was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and later on the BBC Micro. It was re-released in August 2015 as part of the Xbox One compilation of 30 Rare titles, Rare Replay, after Microsoft purchased the rights to the game through their purchase of Rare.