80s classic ZX Spectrum game making an unexpected but welcome return

One of the most celebrated British video games of all time is getting a new remake, with a physical edition aimed at retro fans with long memories.

As we’ve always said, the problem with video game nostalgia is that remasters and reboots are almost always aimed solely at American and Japanese gamers. Video game preservation may be relatively easy for older games, on a technical level, but next to no effort is ever made to promote or re-release games that were only popular in Europe.

You do get the occasional exception, such as last year’s Monty Mole Collection, but too many groundbreaking video games are being forgotten simply because they aren’t well known in the US or Japan.

Ask any British gamer in the 80s what the best game ever made was and they were just as likely to say Head Over Heels as Super Mario Bros., but today the classic isometric action adventure has been all but forgotten – or so we thought.

Although technically a remake, this new version of the classic Head Over Heels sticks very close to the original visuals and sound, as if it was some sort of long lost SNES version.

While it was ported to many different formats at the time, including the Commodore 64 and the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST (and the 64-bit Jaguar), Head Over Heels is best remembered as a ZX Spectrum game.

First released in 1987, it was an evolution of the style of action adventure games Ultimate Play the Game (now known as Rare) popularised with titles like Knight Lore and Alien 8.

These were a style of game peculiar to Europe and inspired by the technical limitations of the home computer formats of the time, mixing both standard arcade action with complex puzzle-solving and platforming.

Head Over Heels puts you in control of two characters – one a head that can glide and the other a pair of legs with a head that can run fast – who you can switch control between at any time and team-up into one conjoined being if you can get them to touch.

It really is a genuine classic and this new remake, named Head Over Heels: Deluxe, adds a new world, with new enemies and objects, as well as chickens. It’s not clear what these do but we’d guess they work as some sort of power-up if you collect them.

The game has a listing on Steam, with a release date of March 6 but no price. However, it seems to already be available for £12.99 from co-developer Rusty Pixels. It’s also a free download if you were a backer for the Spectrum Next retro computer.

To be honest though, none of this will likely help with the game’s visibility. There don’t seem to be any console versions planned and there was already one remake back in 2019, that opted for a slightly more sterile and less pixelated style for its visuals.

That went largely unnoticed by most and this new remake is likely to go the same way, although there is a physical edition you can buy, including a deluxe edition that includes a signed A6 postcard, a pin badge, and a CD of the game’s soundtrack.

Unfortunately though, original creator Jon Ritman does not seem to be involved. Ritman was quite the celebrity programmer back in the 80s, known for other isometric titles such as Batman and Monster Max on the Game Boy.

He also made the Match Day series for Ocean and his last recorded game was PlayStation era title Super Match Soccer in 1998, which was published by… Acclaim, who by coincidence have also announced their return this week.

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