West Bank

West Bank from 1985 puts the player behind the counter of a bank in the Wild West. The card lists the names Dinamic and Gremlin, a pairing of the Spanish development scene with British distribution that was standard practice on the Spectrum in the mid eighties.

The premise is simple and addictive: doors swing open in front of the banker, revealing either honest customers or bandits. A client carries a deposit, a bandit carries a revolver, and you have a split second to decide whether to draw. Shooting a customer means trouble; hesitating before a bandit means death. It is essentially a reaction test dressed in western scenery.

Games of precision and reflex like this grew out of arcade tradition and thrived on home computers, because they needed neither elaborate graphics nor long sessions; one well-designed loop that keeps accelerating was enough. Spanish studios were especially prolific in the genre, and the eighties are remembered there as the golden age of the country's software.

The Spectrum version benefits from bold staging: large figures in the doorways, a clear layout and instantly readable situations, exactly what a reflex game needs. Western settings were grateful material for European 8-bit games in general: saloons, hold-ups and quick-draw duels required no explanation, because everyone knew them from the movies.

You can draw your revolver right now, OldGame.cz boots this western classic straight in the browser, with screenshots and release details on its card.