1992 Imagitec / Mirage
Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC
Many of you may recall this neat platformer that saw release on the SEGA Mega Drive and PC back in the day – but what of its long lost Amiga version? This was a game that got mixed reviews across the board, but looked pretty neat from its screenshots.
You must navigate through six auto-scrolling levels in total with 1-2 players, consisting of areas such as Gadget Bay, Zeppelin Attack, The Lost City, Sub Attack, The Crystal Lake and Thump’s world. There is plenty of colour and cuteness on show, shops to purchase power ups and some heavy bosses to take on too.
I recall seeing the game in the likes of SEGA Power back in the day, but was surprised to learn that an Amiga edition was under way as well thanks to team member Karl Kuras. Sure enough, flicking through issues 18 of Amiga Power and 49 of The One magazine will show you glimpses of what seem to be an early look at the Amiga edition.
Although previewed, the game subsequently disappeared without a trace after that. The Amiga was still selling well in 1993, which suggests that maybe there were issues with the game’s development on the platform. According to The One magazine, the game was still in its early stages – were these screens perhaps just mock ups at this stage and how playable did the development get?
At this point in time, we don’t yet know who the main developers were. Artists could well have been the likes of Peter Goldsmith and Alan McFarlane, the developer could have been one of several who worked on a few Imagitec titles around that time (such as Adrian Waterhouse or David Lincoln).
We know that the musician was none other than Barry Leitch. Over at Exotica, you can thankfully find a digital archive of tunes written by Barry that were intended for the Amiga development. As for the game itself, only time will tell if remains of the title can be found and shared with you all.
If you know anything more about the development, then please do get in touch. We’ll try and learn more soon about who was behind the game and see if anything can be found.
With thanks to Karl Kuras for highlighting the title, Abandonware Magazines for the extra scans and Stephen Stuttard for the other scans.
Gallery
