To any gamer who went to school in the 1980s, Skool Daze and its sequel Back to Skool were computer game equivalents of Grange Hill: a TV show that was an unerringly accurate portrayal of contemporary school life.
However, Grange Hill itself was given its own lesser-known multiformat title at the height of the show's popularity - a sort of action-adventure, featuring several of the show's then-characters.
Here is a look at why it might just have been the most depressing game of all time.
However, Grange Hill itself was given its own lesser-known multiformat title at the height of the show's popularity - a sort of action-adventure, featuring several of the show's then-characters.
Here is a look at why it might just have been the most depressing game of all time.
"WINDOWING SYSTEM PROGRAMMED BY JOHN PICKFORD..." And we're already off to a desolate start.
'GONCH'... a nickname as meaningless as the character was slightly annoying. He is joined on his adventure by 'Hollo' - the partners-in-crime attempting to retrieve a confiscated Walkman from the staff room. This image does a fair job of evoking the bleakness which follows.
This is no false threat. Gonch's mother does literally kill him, should he return home without the expensive gift: just one of many ways the game can come to a brusque conclusion.
One of the less depressing locations: an old sewage tank.
"PICK UP DEAD CAT"
In keeping with the show from which it is derived, the Grange Hill computer game features a powerful anti-drugs message in the form of a "Shifty Man"...
...A Shifty Man who proceeds to die abruptly in front of Gonch and Hollo, but not before sowing the seeds of Gonch's own imminent death.
It's alright: it looks like the dog isn't going to bite Gonch's hand at least. He's going to be able to make it to the Pensioners' Flats as planned...
Oh. Oh dear. And adding insult to literal injury, the dog is called "Rolf".
"DRINK WATER"
Well, at least Gonch didn't die from dysentry.
And this might be the most austere death in the game - trapped in a wall, as a cannibal pensioner approaches. It's precisely the sort of scene that was strangely uncommon in the TV show...
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