8bit publishers CRL weren't renowned for their blockbusters in the early and mid '80s. In fact, they weren't synonymous with quality for most of their relatively short life, but they did find themselves in 1985 - more through luck than judgement, one would assume - with a cracking game on their hands.

Pete Cooke's Tau Ceti put the player at the controls of a Galcorp spaceship in a vast universe full of baddies. The depth, the quality of the programming and the sheer difficulty of the game ensured it had a massive following as thousands began skimming around the planets in the game. It spawned a sequel, Academy, which was equally as good and equally as popular on the 8bit machines. Sadly, it was never (to our knowledge) ported to the 16bit machines when they arrived a few years later, but we pay homage here to those first incarnations of the game and wonder whatever happened to Pete Cooke...