Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Joe Blade

Joe Blade is the title of a series of budget-price platform games written by Colin Swinbourne and published by Players. All three titles were flick-screen adventures, in which the player controls the title character through a number of rooms, dispatching enemies and rescuing innocent people. The manner of this varies between the three games. The first Joe Blade title portrayed Blade as a lone commando sent into an evil mastermind's complex to release a number of diplomats. It was one of the earliest video games to be placed on the Index in Germany due to accusations that it "glorified" war and that the villains resembled SS troopers. While the game was still legally obtainable, it effectively banned the game from distribution, as technologies such as the Internet were not available at the time and German publications were not permitted to advertise the titles.