Shadow of the Beast (1990)

Shadow of the Beast was released in 1990 for the ZX Spectrum. The game was published by Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd, with coding handled by Steve Marsden and David Cooke, and music composed by David Whittaker. Roger Dean contributed the inlay and poster art.

This single-player arcade action game utilizes AY sound and supports Kempston and Interface 2 joysticks. The game employs a multi-loader system for both 48K and 128K modes. The Spectrum +3 disk version features additional imagery displayed between game sections.

The cassette version retailed for £12.99, while the disk version cost £15.99. The title was also released on several other platforms, including Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Sega Master System, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive, and Atari ST.

The game holds an average magazine score of 81.33%. It received the Crash Smash award from Crash magazine on two separate occasions, and it maintains a weighted user score of 8.22.

In Russia, the game became known as a graphical benchmark for the ZX Spectrum. It saw over a dozen TR-DOS adaptations from various groups and was featured in the Spectrofon magazine. Cracked cassette versions were also distributed by crackers such as Kicia and Vasily Antonov.