Electroplankton is not a game. Each of the stages provides a different way of making natural music by playing with various sound-generating creatures. The effect is not dissimilar to an electronic windchime capable of creating a variety of unusual ambient tunes.

You must pilot your ship through some 10 or so levels, shooting the enemies and collecting the powerups. That's not terribly original, but Eliminator has a trick up its sleeve. It is almost 3D. Your view is from above and behind your ship as it races along a grid-based track that vanishes off into the distance. The engine can cope with bends, dips, hills, and even tunnels, but don't expect graphical miracles; this is the CPC.

Released on just about every system at the time, Elite is still considered by many to be the best of its kind. You start off on a space station orbiting one of many planets in a vast 3D wireframe galaxy, with a Cobra Mk III ship, a handful of credits, and a clean record. From there, you are free to make your own way to the rank of Elite. By buying cargo at the right prices and selling it to the right places, you can make enough money to arm yourself against the Thargoids. Or maybe you'll take to the dark side, and become a pirate. You'll meet a few of those on your travels, too. Add to that special missions, and you have a game that invented a genre.

You control a Thrust-style space ship that's approximately the size of an atom. Your only controls are to turn and to accelerate, and there is no friction, so just getting around is tricky enough. That's not were the puzzle lies, though. On each of the 50 or so single-screen wraparound levels, there are a collection of atoms, and some walls. You must clear the level before the atoms reach critical mass and explode. You do this by bumping into them and trying to get similar atoms to collide with each other. If two unlike atoms collide, another is produced. To make life even more difficult, sometimes the atoms will be bonded together via an elastic string. Sometimes, you will even be connected to a string.

Against a pulsing, animated backdrop of trippy visuals drifts an endless swarm of tiny enemies and laser-emitting minibosses, the slightest touch threatening to destroy your ship. The only solution is to destroy your ship yourself, detonating it and hoping to cause a chain reaction of exploding targets. Collect the quickens they drop to increase the swarm, allowing for bigger chains. However, the supply of ships is limited so care must be taken to hit high scoring chains and earn Extends for new ships.

You play Vitorc, and you must work your way through five levels of a difficult shooter. Each level is split into a number of "zones", or screens, and viewed from the side. Stopping your progress are a collection of nasties. Flying things that shoot at you, stationary gun emplacements that shoot at you, walking things that shoot at you, and things of that nature. To help, your suit offers you a limited-ammo laser cannon, and an even more limited collection of high-explosive grenades.