The Snowball 9 was eqipped with robots which were to prepare Eridani A for colonization. But being suddenly awakened from hibernation, you realize something has gone wrong...
In 1983, Tang produced the third title in the series, Horace and the Spiders. This was primarily a platform game with the Horace sprite retained from the first two games. The first level sees Horace climbing a hill while jumping over spiders. The second level involves crossing a bridge by swinging on spider threads. The third level is the final confrontation with the spiders – he must create holes in the web, luring the spiders into the holes to fix them and consequently jumping on them.
Unlike the earlier two titles, this game was only released for the ZX Spectrum. The first stage of this game shared similarities with both Pitfall and the Colecovision game Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, whilst the third platform stage is essentially a Space Panic clone.
"This is probably the best version yet of the well known arcade original ‘Battle Zone’ and is, of course, similar to Artic’s ‘3D Combat Zone’. In one sense it’s much better — the flat plain is well landscaped and teeming with buildings, radar towers and telegraph poles. The missiles, once fired, seemed to travel at a realistic speed. In another sense it’s not so good — the enemy tanks don’t appear as frequently and there aren’t any flying saucers to contend with. On the other hand the enemy tanks aren’t so over-intelligent at avoiding your fire, so you get a better sense of achievement! Rather poor sound and the hollow 3D graphics are colourless, but it’s fun just wandering round looking at the buildings. Watch out for the special loader routine which makes it look as though the program isn’t loading properly."[2]
Eight invaded areas must be brought back under your control in this Commando-style shoot 'em up, which progresses vertically using a flick-screen system. You are armed with a rifle (activated by a short tap of the fire button) and five grenades (used via a longer press), and must not only kill off the enemy forces, but also rescue your comrades who are being lead away.
The game is set on a castle wall. The player must cross the screen from left to right avoiding obstacles in order to ring the bell at the far right. Obstacles include pits which must be swung over on a long rope, ramparts which must be jumped (some of which contain knights with spears) and flying fireballs and arrows (to be ducked or jumped). Eventually, after completing a number of screens, the player must rescue Esmeralda. If this final screen is completed, the game begins again at a faster speed.