A very short entry for a game that eventually saw release, but actually was meant to be a fully licensed game.
If you ever played Novogen’s Battle Island, then you may have noticed that the sprites look rather much like Commando’s sprites. But also, the musician was Elite’s main musician Mark Cooksey.
According to Commodore User magazine, the game had started out as a Commando 2 development (aka Commando ’88). They had previously attempted a sequel before with Commando ’86, and when that fell through – the game was renamed and released as Duet. Elite clearly thought they could try again, but this time US Gold had apparently now got the licence – so the title was sold to Novogen and renamed as Battle Island.
It sounds legitimate, though we hope to confirm from those involved that this was the case. All the evidence seems to be there though! Maybe there is a version named as “Commando ’88” waiting to be found?
Contributions: Ross Silliant
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I’m a bit surprised not to find an entry on Commando 86! It was advertised widely back in the day, only to be renamed to Duet (as this article confirms). So, technically, Commando 86 never was, indeed!
Man, I was SO eager to get my hands on that one!! And the disappointment was huge when playing Duet – it just was an awful Gauntlet clone, sub-par in every respect.
Elite must have realized, or they wouldn’t have dumped it into the market not as a separate game, but as an add-on to some kind of game compilation (I don’t think it was ever released separately, but maybe somebody else knows better). To hear that the team was given another chance is really surprising.
And I would be eager to learn how that Commando 86 project went! Duet, after all, features no similarities with Commando that I could make out. So…what happened there??
That’s a good point Alfonso! I’m wondering if Commando 86 snuck out though via one of the Hit Paks? It’s strange how that version is out there.
Gary Walton also made Terry’s Big Adventure. Where’d that guy go? He just vanished.