So happy to see this! I have so much love for Rob Hubbard and a Retro Gamer coverdisc with SID music is what started my love of the home computer era. Thing On A Spring was the first track on the disc and I’ve been humming it ever since.
I've only heard of this game because im obsessed with rob hubbard. being an american born in the 90s, there's no way i would have ever gotten to play this game.
As always, Daniel tackling a series I've never even heard of makes me smile and learn new things. And seeing as how when you were showing off the teaser thumbnail on Twitter I thought that thing (on a spring) was James Pond, I'm gonna suggest James Pond for a future video :P
I don’t think we had Thing on a Spring but I remember playing Thing bounces back on the C64. When I could get my parents off Boulderdash. 80s gaming at its best.
Love to see the Dizzy teaser at the end there. It's a game I didn't know about when I was younger but have come to love as an adult looking back on the classics.
I loved this game as a kid. Much like you, I've never finished it, but I just loved bouncing my way around the levels with that AMAZING SID tune playing in the background.
Daniel Ibbertson - great Complete History as always (rare free afternoon for me so catching up on a few of them I've missed); next time you're in lesser-known games mode... could you consider the Repton series of games for the BBC Micro? A true "coded by a schoolboy in his bedroom" classic that spawned multiple titles on the Beeb and beyond. As a boy the BBC B was my home computer (from an "it's educational from him" stance)... and with fairly limited big-name game ports (and some that we did get but were often rubbish) Repton was easily the BBC's mascot character; I LOVED him. But being a BBC Acorn character, despite being a "if in the know" classic, he's so under-represented in these kinda things. (Either that, or maybe an overview of Superior Software, the company that produced Repton and some of the BBC's most quality titles).
I'm in Michigan and we had commodore 64's in our computer science class in early grade school. We had a shareware tape of this(bootleg for sure had no idea this was gremlin, it had a duck and was called quacked soft.) My public school I went to had the heating systems ran by commodore 64's still love that computer.
That ACE II music at 00:05 though... I used to leave the C64 title screen on just so I could listen to it. A bunch of really good remixes have been made since, actually: www.remix64.com/find.php?find=ACE+II Rob Hubbard is still a very popular composer amongst retro fans.
Those were the days....I used to love going to the local shop to drool over the games on cassettes. Especially when a few were sold and they restocked.
So happy to see this one. Love learning about games I've never heard of. Now, get TCH done for LOADED! That game had such a huge impact on me when I played it at an age far younger than recommened.
I wasn't aware that this was an actual game; I remember being a kid in the 90's, finally getting the internet and hearing the main song from a game on Kid's Domain(I think??) called Urbanoidz. I thought "Thing On A Spring" was "Spring On a Thing", and the name of one of the songs you could pick in Urbanoidz. Thanks, man.
The thing on the spring mascot is such a creative design for a character, it’s really a shame they never saw the potential in this character and made a whole series out of it.
Man, Thing on a Spring. That's a deep dive. i remember the game being around when I was a kid but never played it. I think my obscure platformer from that era would be CJ's Elephant Antics. i do like these ones covering the obscure stuff. Like cataloguing the forgotten corners of gaming history.
So, Dizzy is on your list there? I have to say I was wondering when the Egg Adventurer would arrive. I'm already looking forward to what you have to say on that one! :D
Feel free to scratch your childhood, I thrill at learning of new things. I don't really need or care to hear about how super mario bros is a game that is generally accepted as good for a billionth time, I'd rather hear about springs and things.
"I had no idea what i was doing, and still kept playing all the time" ah yes, the good old day's when we were young and stuff didn't matter. As a Dutch 8 year old my english was none excistant, and yet for some strange reason i kept ending up playing old school adventure games on the pc. You know.....the early Space Quest ones were you had to type what you wanted your character to do. My english was limited to words like "door" "Open" and "stop". I think we had Space Quest 3 it was, were you start out sweeping a space station with a broom. As kid i couldn't even get passed the very first begining when you had to enter the station. And yet for some reason, i came back to it over and over again. Same with Police Quest 3, no idea what i was doing but i was a police officer so fuck it that there was a whole game, the first 5 minutes was all the game i knew off and had a blast time and time again! Same with some gameboy games that were freaking hard so i never really got far nor had any clue what i was doing, but i could play as Arnold in the Last Action Hero and kick ass in the first level that i couldn't even finish (and yes i know now that that game sucks monkeyballs!). Thing is, as a kid i have no idea about time. 5 minutes felt like a hour. If i played for 15 minutes on a computer it would have been a long long time for me. So that i got stuck at games didn't matter cause to me it felt like i had hours of gameplay experience happening. While in reallity it was mostly 15 minutes before my attention was drawn to lego or playing outside again.
Haha, this sounds all too familiar to me as well. Until my later years around 10+ (when I started becoming very good at games, and now today I can get good at ANY game I decide to play, mostly), I also just hopped on like Super Mario World or Yoshis Island and literally did nothing lol. I'd go get a Yoshi in SMW, and then a cape, and that would keep me happy for hours and hours lol.
I remember this game being a bit of a turning point for the 64. Up to this point, myself and most of my friends would often wish we had a spectrum, since a lot of the games on that platform were a lot better than anything the 64 had seen to date. Suddenly this appeared, we'd never heard or seen anything like it beyond the arcades. Then came the likes of sanxion, thrust, turrican and countless others - full price and £1.99. Decent games driven by more often than not awesome sound tracks. Suddenly the table was flipped and most of my speccy owning friends stopped banging on about 'chunky graphics' and wanted to come round and play on the 64. The spectrum still had a few cards up its sleeve though. I fixed one that was going to be thrown out back in the day purely so i could play the awesome star strike II and the numerous isometric games by ultimate that never made it to the 64.
Had this on my amstrad I I was also captivated by the box art and character. For some reason it was an incredibly fussy load, only working about 1 in 10 attempts so didn't get to play much!
I think the concept of a spring frog platformer would be interesting to do with modern devices, with more resolution and power the gameplay and animations could be quite good
I knew of the games but the only reason i knew about Thing on a Spring was the fact he and his pals appeared in the borders of ZZAP64 for a few years. They always added to the fun of the magazine and i would have liked to known more as to why they were there and if permission was granted for this
never heard of this before but the music seems pretty good. Id love to see one on Gex. I thought for sure we would have a Gex game before a Bubsy game but I was wrong.
Any change you could a similar expose on the Creatures series on the C64, Amiga and ST by Apex, or anything else created by the Rowland brothers. These games were so awesome!
I've been looking for the last 30 years for a game that was very similar to Thing on a Spring on the C64, it had a little creature with spring like legs, it looked like a robot with a red head, it jumped very slowly and as I remember it was set on some sort of alien world. A lot of exploring to do. Anyone got anything?
Kim has done a full history of Gremlin - ties in with my book that has a full chapter on Actua and some images from the prototype. www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-gremlin-in-the-works
who would even pay the asking price of £8 for it? it's worse than many budget titles.. it might be worth £1.99 for the music alone, but yeah, super naff game.
I miss the old intro with the dancing mega man. It made it seem like a TV show from the G4 days. Does anyone know why it changed? Copyright stuff, I assume?
Ever since the Bounder video, I’ve wanted a C64. Unfortunately, it isn’t the easiest system to get I the U.S. I wanna play this game, Bounder, Creatures, Wizball, and Cauldron so bad. Guess I’ll just stick to my N64 instead
SEE EXCLUSIVE STUFFS ON PATREON: goo.gl/xzXRFc
Daniel Ibbertson Lol... my dad still has that exact lawn mower!
So happy to see this! I have so much love for Rob Hubbard and a Retro Gamer coverdisc with SID music is what started my love of the home computer era. Thing On A Spring was the first track on the disc and I’ve been humming it ever since.
I've only heard of this game because im obsessed with rob hubbard. being an american born in the 90s, there's no way i would have ever gotten to play this game.
Had this on my Commodore 64. Hard as could be and never beat it. But I kept coming back to it over and over.
As always, Daniel tackling a series I've never even heard of makes me smile and learn new things.
And seeing as how when you were showing off the teaser thumbnail on Twitter I thought that thing (on a spring) was James Pond, I'm gonna suggest James Pond for a future video :P
Ha, I actually just came from the James Pond video to this one.
I don’t think we had Thing on a Spring but I remember playing Thing bounces back on the C64. When I could get my parents off Boulderdash. 80s gaming at its best.
+Reyvon J boulderdash was probably the better game lol
Love to see the Dizzy teaser at the end there. It's a game I didn't know about when I was younger but have come to love as an adult looking back on the classics.
I loved this game as a kid. Much like you, I've never finished it, but I just loved bouncing my way around the levels with that AMAZING SID tune playing in the background.
Daniel Ibbertson - great Complete History as always (rare free afternoon for me so catching up on a few of them I've missed); next time you're in lesser-known games mode... could you consider the Repton series of games for the BBC Micro? A true "coded by a schoolboy in his bedroom" classic that spawned multiple titles on the Beeb and beyond.
As a boy the BBC B was my home computer (from an "it's educational from him" stance)... and with fairly limited big-name game ports (and some that we did get but were often rubbish) Repton was easily the BBC's mascot character; I LOVED him. But being a BBC Acorn character, despite being a "if in the know" classic, he's so under-represented in these kinda things. (Either that, or maybe an overview of Superior Software, the company that produced Repton and some of the BBC's most quality titles).
I'm in Michigan and we had commodore 64's in our computer science class in early grade school. We had a shareware tape of this(bootleg for sure had no idea this was gremlin, it had a duck and was called quacked soft.) My public school I went to had the heating systems ran by commodore 64's still love that computer.
That ACE II music at 00:05 though...
I used to leave the C64 title screen on just so I could listen to it. A bunch of really good remixes have been made since, actually:
www.remix64.com/find.php?find=ACE+II
Rob Hubbard is still a very popular composer amongst retro fans.
He did stuff for that via kickstarter if im not mistaken
Those were the days....I used to love going to the local shop to drool over the games on cassettes. Especially when a few were sold and they restocked.
I was like you. I played this all the time back in the day, and had no idea of what to actually do.
How's about a complete history on Vectorman games? I think they're pretty underrated
Carl Bloke I couldn't agree more
That Spring sure did have a Thing on it
My God this takes me back. Thanks, Daniel. I had completely forgotten about Thing on a Spring. :)
Thing on a spring... Damn I'm old. Also Robocod keeps springing to mind.
The freakin' music!
This game sold itself with the music IMHO and was a great platformer
Thing On A Spring for Smash Bros!
+Yakov confirmed
So happy to see this one. Love learning about games I've never heard of. Now, get TCH done for LOADED! That game had such a huge impact on me when I played it at an age far younger than recommened.
Great ep, loved it. Vintage computer mascots make great interesting ep's. Keep up the great work.
Great video as usual. I played the Thing Bounces back many times on the MSX to which it was ported. It was a fun game to play.
I wasn't aware that this was an actual game; I remember being a kid in the 90's, finally getting the internet and hearing the main song from a game on Kid's Domain(I think??) called Urbanoidz. I thought "Thing On A Spring" was "Spring On a Thing", and the name of one of the songs you could pick in Urbanoidz. Thanks, man.
The thing on the spring mascot is such a creative design for a character, it’s really a shame they never saw the potential in this character and made a whole series out of it.
I was _aware_ of Thing on a Spring back in the day, but never actually played it.
Thanks for the show'n'tell.
"Original Artwork" - Oliver Frey's sketches for Zzap64 made after the game.
Really can't wait for that loaded complete history. Great hidden gem. If we were about 15 years back it wouldn't be so hidden.
I didn’t have a clue what to do in this game when I was a kid either. That music has stuck with me since however.
+n1ck2k the music is ace
Brilliant. One of Rob Hubbard's first commercial hits!
Mark Hardisty I had no idea it was one of his first pieces of work. So catchy!
Daniel Ibbertson It's also stuck in my head again!
His first I think was Razzmatazz -> www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/razzmatazz/
4:03 The song is from Druid II: Enlightenment (1987).
Man, Thing on a Spring. That's a deep dive. i remember the game being around when I was a kid but never played it. I think my obscure platformer from that era would be CJ's Elephant Antics. i do like these ones covering the obscure stuff. Like cataloguing the forgotten corners of gaming history.
Great video !
Just yesterday my son saw a picture of this titular character in Retro Gamer magazine. I told him that it was a thing on a spring.
I remember finding Retro Gamer at a newsagents(a dying breed) here in 🇨🇦 and those five issues are still better than most vid mags.
Spring Bounces Back was released for the MSX (and ZX Spectrum) as well. I have fond memories of that game. Never beaten it, though.
I too have great memories playing that game on my MSX but I could never quite figure out what to do.
So, Dizzy is on your list there? I have to say I was wondering when the Egg Adventurer would arrive. I'm already looking forward to what you have to say on that one! :D
Dizzy isn't Gremlin.
Feel free to scratch your childhood, I thrill at learning of new things. I don't really need or care to hear about how super mario bros is a game that is generally accepted as good for a billionth time, I'd rather hear about springs and things.
"I had no idea what i was doing, and still kept playing all the time" ah yes, the good old day's when we were young and stuff didn't matter. As a Dutch 8 year old my english was none excistant, and yet for some strange reason i kept ending up playing old school adventure games on the pc. You know.....the early Space Quest ones were you had to type what you wanted your character to do. My english was limited to words like "door" "Open" and "stop". I think we had Space Quest 3 it was, were you start out sweeping a space station with a broom. As kid i couldn't even get passed the very first begining when you had to enter the station. And yet for some reason, i came back to it over and over again. Same with Police Quest 3, no idea what i was doing but i was a police officer so fuck it that there was a whole game, the first 5 minutes was all the game i knew off and had a blast time and time again!
Same with some gameboy games that were freaking hard so i never really got far nor had any clue what i was doing, but i could play as Arnold in the Last Action Hero and kick ass in the first level that i couldn't even finish (and yes i know now that that game sucks monkeyballs!).
Thing is, as a kid i have no idea about time. 5 minutes felt like a hour. If i played for 15 minutes on a computer it would have been a long long time for me. So that i got stuck at games didn't matter cause to me it felt like i had hours of gameplay experience happening. While in reallity it was mostly 15 minutes before my attention was drawn to lego or playing outside again.
Haha, this sounds all too familiar to me as well. Until my later years around 10+ (when I started becoming very good at games, and now today I can get good at ANY game I decide to play, mostly), I also just hopped on like Super Mario World or Yoshis Island and literally did nothing lol. I'd go get a Yoshi in SMW, and then a cape, and that would keep me happy for hours and hours lol.
2:47 is that Master of Magic?
EDIT: ah, it's crazy comets.
(can anyone help me with my C64 tracks?)
What an obscure choice! Still, great vid as usual.
You should do the Panzer Dragoon series next! :p
Perfect timing I was in the mood for some quality content while I chill.
+Mike Berg thats awesome to read
This really made me think of The Incredible Machines for some reason. Good stuff.
I remember this game being a bit of a turning point for the 64. Up to this point, myself and most of my friends would often wish we had a spectrum, since a lot of the games on that platform were a lot better than anything the 64 had seen to date. Suddenly this appeared, we'd never heard or seen anything like it beyond the arcades. Then came the likes of sanxion, thrust, turrican and countless others - full price and £1.99. Decent games driven by more often than not awesome sound tracks. Suddenly the table was flipped and most of my speccy owning friends stopped banging on about 'chunky graphics' and wanted to come round and play on the 64. The spectrum still had a few cards up its sleeve though. I fixed one that was going to be thrown out back in the day purely so i could play the awesome star strike II and the numerous isometric games by ultimate that never made it to the 64.
Complete History of The Neverhood.
Lol... my dad still has that exact lawn mower!
I used to love this game, it was one of a handful available to us at school on the C64s... That music. Couldn't get anywhere in it though :(
Had this on my amstrad I I was also captivated by the box art and character. For some reason it was an incredibly fussy load, only working about 1 in 10 attempts so didn't get to play much!
So wotz next, Dizzy? Sonic? The Great Giana Sisters?
I'd like to see you do a Complete History video on the Gradius/Parodius series or the Bubble Bobble series.
I think the concept of a spring frog platformer would be interesting to do with modern devices, with more resolution and power the gameplay and animations could be quite good
HAVEN'T HEARD IT YET SINCE I JUST OPENED IT 15 FUCKING MINUTES LATE
Rob Hubbard deserves a nobel prize for music 😀👍
I knew of the games but the only reason i knew about Thing on a Spring was the fact he and his pals appeared in the borders of ZZAP64 for a few years. They always added to the fun of the magazine and i would have liked to known more as to why they were there and if permission was granted for this
I've written about this in my A Gremlin in the Works book - the history of Gremlin! www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-gremlin-in-the-works
Oh, and some hand-drawn "Thingees" by Gary Penn ... www.gremlinarchive.com/index.php/2016/05/27/gary-penns-thing-on-a-spring-doodles/
I would loved to play this game on the gameboy like i did with zool
Cool vid, never knew the video game crash only affected the U.S.. how about leisure suit Larry? That pushes my nostalgia button
Never even heard of this series and now I know its complete history haha
I played this game on Commodore 64...kicked my ass as a kid.
I don't understand why the TARDIS from the Capaldi titles was in there, but I like it.
never heard of this before but the music seems pretty good. Id love to see one on Gex. I thought for sure we would have a Gex game before a Bubsy game but I was wrong.
Any change you could a similar expose on the Creatures series on the C64, Amiga and ST by Apex, or anything else created by the Rowland brothers. These games were so awesome!
You should do a complete history of Tetrisphere someday :-)
I've been looking for the last 30 years for a game that was very similar to Thing on a Spring on the C64, it had a little creature with spring like legs, it looked like a robot with a red head, it jumped very slowly and as I remember it was set on some sort of alien world. A lot of exploring to do. Anyone got anything?
great work as always dj slopes im glad im one of your early subscribers
Thing Bounces Back is the hardest game ever made.
Hey Daniel Ibberson - How about complete story of Gremlins' most famous sport title - Actua Soccer?
I'm afraid that far more of a Kim Justice piece lol
I'm afraid that far more of a Kim Justice piece lol
Kim has done a full history of Gremlin - ties in with my book that has a full chapter on Actua and some images from the prototype. www.bitmapbooks.co.uk/products/a-gremlin-in-the-works
It looks like Thing on a Spring Knows the Screw Attack
Nintendo stole something...yet again...
Great video
I'd love to see a Complete History for the Oddworld series.
I wish the playlist went from oldest to newest since you make references to older videos in newer videos.
Just watch them in order?
Good ol Slopes
"Grab a bowl of member berries "
Only if I can put them in a blender
Best C64 platformer? Whoever thought that must have had a brain malfunction. Creatures 2 and the great Gianna sisters were a lot better.
19822andy games sucked
who would even pay the asking price of £8 for it? it's worse than many budget titles.. it might be worth £1.99 for the music alone, but yeah, super naff game.
Giana Sisters? that Mario ripoff?
they did mario better than mario
@@MephProduction Very true! Ahahahahaha!
I loved this game on the C64
I would love to see a complete history of the Legacy of Kain series.
had it on speecy loved it.
I miss the old intro with the dancing mega man. It made it seem like a TV show from the G4 days. Does anyone know why it changed? Copyright stuff, I assume?
"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that spring." ✌️😛
I feel like a Gex video from you would be interesting
Thing on a Spring had his ass kicked by Cool Spot. I remember that match back in '92
When you said, "obscure" I had no idea you meant, "WTF is that?".
Fing on a sprinn
Is Thing on a Spring the King of Swing, that will Sling a Wing at some Ming?
Wow, never heard of this game. Looks way too difficult for me but looks interesting.
I like to do the odd obscure game from time to time
@@slopesgameroom I had a ZX Spectrum but this one passed me by. Thanks for the education.
thought It was going to be 'Jazz Jack-Rabbit' , with that little teaser. worth doing?
HRinc
Loved Jazz Jackrabbit
History of Heroes Of Might and Magic... pleeeease!
No mention of the infinite oil cheat?? I literally could not get past level 2 without it :)
Fing on a Spwing is a cwassic!
Old School Pen and Paper... You mean... Pen and Paper?
Ever since the Bounder video, I’ve wanted a C64. Unfortunately, it isn’t the easiest system to get I the U.S. I wanna play this game, Bounder, Creatures, Wizball, and Cauldron so bad. Guess I’ll just stick to my N64 instead
Keep on covering these European goodness!
Do Oilswell!
Power Stone?
+MetalSonic1993 nope. Its thing on a spring
Daniel Ibbertson are you ever going to do Power Stone?
I want too, but cannot find anything interesting about its development. believe me I have looked bloody hard
Dizzy next!
hahaha Not next, but defo SOON :D
Thing on a spring for smash ult!!!
Umm... You forgot to mention Coil Cop.
I totally did!!!!! DAMN! Massive thanks for pointing that out
US version of the sequel!
Imported and rebranded under Epyx's MAXX Out! line.
Honestly never heard of this game
+Nathaniel Foga ya have now :D
Daniel Ibbertson We Americans especially didn't know!
@@ChristopherSobieniak You Americans don't know that much about Euro gaming from what I understand.
@@pferreira1983 No, we don't! I suppose it's pretty much the way for us finding out what Japan liked as well.
@@pferreira1983 Things were just isolated back then.
Stevenage!!!
Love the video, Dan. But i swear if i hear thing on a spring ever again after this i will kill someone.
Fing on a spring ??
The whorizon is my favorite band
I hope you mention the NES game that ripped off Thing sprite lol
What is the game? Though the Thing sprite is ripped from another Gremlin game ...
Nintendo, yeah that makes sense...