1986 Mastertronic
Platforms: Atari 400/800
Flash Gordon was a great budget title from Mastertronic, and one which I enjoyed a lot on the Commodore 64. One thing that stood out in particular was the amount of different styles of games present, but also the amazing music by Rob Hubbard.
Whilst digging through some old Atari magazines, GTW’s Ross Sillifant found reference and articles indicating that an Atari 400/800 version of the game was on the cards. It never saw the light of day though – so what happened and how far did it get?
Further digging stumbled across an interview with Steve Riding by Graeme Mason, where Steve revealed that whilst working at MC Lothlorien / Icon Design, he converted a number of games to the Atari 400/800 – including Revenge Of The Mutant Camels, Molecule Man and Universal Hero … but also Flash Gordon too.
Steve doesn’t give any indication that the game was never released – suggesting he was paid for the work at least, but just unaware that it never saw the light of day. It sounds like therefore that the game was complete – in which case, why did Mastertronic decide not to release it?
It can’t be due to changes in the market, as Revenge was released in 1987, and we assume Flash would have been done before that. We don’t think Rob was involved either on the music for the A8 version, as there was nothing listed on his invoice sheet to suggest it.
Steve tragically passed away in 2023, so it isn’t something we can ask him about now – and highlights just how fragile things are with preservation and the passage of time. It’s unlikely that anything could be saved, but you never know – more investigation is needed. If you know anything more, please do get in touch. It would be amazing to try and save some of Steve’s lost works.
With thanks to Ross Sillifant for the information and details and Archive.org for the scans.
Gallery
