Ancipital is a typical Jeff Minter game with no storyline and an unusual setting. You play the role of what looks like a yak which can walk on two legs and shoots at enemies with bananas. At least in the first screen; the projectiles change in different levels. You can jump and flip upside down onto the ceiling to attack your foes.
The gameplay involves you shooting at enemies until the floor or walls change to let you move to the next screen which can be seen on the map in the corner of the screen. Each level has different themes ranging from skull and crossbones to cigarette papers and lighters.
2005 A.D. A deadly virus has infected the Supertank's ultrasophisticated computer systems, turning these mighty weapons of destruction against their creators. Humankind is on the brink of extinction. Free the battle zones from this robotic plague!
Warnings, S.O.S.’s and stories of total planet annihilation had been banded around a terrified solar system for some time but had been conveniently ‘overlooked’ by spineless, so called Leaders.
And now it was too late. This was incomprehensible. This was immense!
It’s vast appetite was closing in on Earth and the putrid stench of partly digested World’s hung ominously in space, above a society that had refused to believe that it’s very existence would ever again be in question.
Who could fight?
Who would dare venture inside this mutant horror and battle against it’s bodily defence mechanisms, to obliterate its sustaining organs, to finally put a stop to its crazed, hunger induced stampede across the Universe?
Mankind needs you, the Dominator…You need to fight…IT NEEDS TO FEED!
Mekon, the arch-enemy of humanity with an insatiable lust for power, is back. He’s created the SuperTreens, a genetically engineered species bent on destruction, as well as a new spaceship. As Dan Dare, you must stop him.
You have gained access to Mekon’s spaceship, which is packed with SuperTreens. When you find each one you must disable each control box before the time limit, and then reach the next level. Mekon will be trying to reach and activate each one, with the help of his existing race of Treens. Although Dan has six lives, being caught in an blast triggered by the destruction of a level without appropriate shielding is Game Over. Extra lives are scored incrementally after 50,000 points, while energy recharges can be obtained around the game.
Your country is at war and as a Captain of a Battleship you must patrol an inner sea to find and destroy aircraft, missiles, ships and submarines. The main playing screen gives you various options and these include three radars, a map screen, status screen and three types of mini-game icons. The three radars are to track either aircraft, ships or submarines and these are represented by a white dot when they are within range.
The map screen has two maps, one a map of the whole area and the other one showing a closer look at your location. On this screen you can control the speed of your ship and steer it with black dots showing the enemy forces. The status screen shows a profile of your ship and any damage is shown as red and if the whole ship is red then it is damaged and the game is over.
When an attack is imminent then a gauge besides one of the mini-game icons turns yellow before turning red and that game can be played. If an aircraft is attacking then the game has you controlling a gun to shoot down the p
Beach-Head II features the player pursuing the eponymous Dictator in several ways. There are four levels in the game. In the first level, called Attack, the player deploys soldiers along a path with walls to cover him from the dictator's gun. The objective is to destroy the gun. The second level involves rescuing the prisoners from deadly obstacles by clearing them with a gun. The third level's objective is to escape from the area by flying a helicopter with the prisoners out of the dictator's fortress. Finally the player and the dictator face off, on opposite cliffs, separated by water. To defeat him, the player must make him fall in the water by throwing knives at him. The Dictator tries to do the same to the player.