Quartet (1987)

Quartet is an arcade shoot-em-up released in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum 48K. Published by Activision Inc, the game was developed by Antony R. Lill and Nick Bruty. It serves as an official conversion of the original arcade coin-op by Sega Enterprises Ltd.

The game features side-view 2D graphics with horizontal scrolling. It supports up to four players simultaneously and utilizes Kempston joystick controls for navigation and combat. Players progress through levels while engaging in intense shoot-em-up action.

The original retail price for the cassette version was £9.99. The title was also made available on the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and Sega Master System platforms.

The game holds an average magazine score of 52%. Critical reception varied significantly over time; while early reviews in Sinclair User and Your Sinclair awarded scores as high as 8/10 and 9/10, later assessments in publications like C&VG and Crash were much less favourable, with scores dropping as low as 30%.

In the Soviet Union, the game was frequently found on cassette compilations cracked by groups like KYV and Diamondsoft. Later, numerous TR-DOS versions were released by teams such as The Boss and Triumph, and the game was occasionally mentioned in the On-Line magazine.