Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (Alternative Software)

Thomas the Tank Engine was the first video game developed by Alternative Software. The game was first released in 1990 for ZX Spectrum/Amstrad but had poor graphics. It was then released for Commodore 64 with improved colours followed by a final release for DOS/Amiga in 1992.

Gameplay
The gameplay is to complete seven jobs over a week with Thomas. In the bonus stages on some of the later games, James, Harold and Bertie challenged Thomas to a race.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Bill and Ben
 * Diesel
 * BoCo
 * Terence
 * Bertie
 * Harold
 * The Fat Controller

Difficulty (Commodore 64 game)
The are two modes. The harder of the two is "Normal". Several of the things that result in a negative effect include trees on the line, losing control if going at a high speed, and colliding with either Duck or Diesel.

Scoring (Commodore 64 Game)
The scoring system is as follows: It is possible to trick the score system by repeatedly going back and forth between two frames and waiting for bouncing bonus'.
 * Passing through a frame: 5 points
 * Bouncing bonus': 200-800 points
 * Station bonus': 1000 points
 * Picking up the truck: 1000 points.

DOS/Amiga Game

 * Ringo Starr played the voice of Sir Topham Hatt whenever he said: "Hurry up, Thomas!".
 * The cover for all the releases featured an illustration from the annual story Thomas and the Cricketers.
 * The DOS/Amiga version was re-released as part of The Collection.

DOS/Amiga Game

 * Gordon and James are missing their tenders.
 * Bill and Ben are missing their nameplates.
 * Certain cargo gets wrong carriages. Logs and Oil are taken in a coach while children going to the seaside are taken in boxcars.
 * Certain cargo is taken to the wrong places. Medical supplies are taken to the next town while the mail is taken to the hospital.
 * Certain levels can have two to three of the same engine at a time.
 * The "Take the Crude Oil to the Refinery" level has two Percy's and two James's.