Yet another strange one for the vaults of GTW… Originally it wasn’t known about until TGM shed some light. Originally this game was known from a strange set of advert slogans which were used in Zzap issue 40 back in 1988. There were four cartoon adverts saying “Where’s Super Thief?” (See scans), but turning later pages does not find any advert in relation.
We assumed that this is reference to an up and coming game with clever advertising (gone wrong?). However, we didn’t know anything else about the game. When flicking through a copy of Games Machine, it all became clear with the following news snippet on Super Thief…
“On the Palace label itself comes arcade adventure Super Thief, by Dan Malone. The horizontal scroller, featuring complex backdrops, casts the player a model of unsullied selfishness, robbing the future for all its worth.
Malone’s been working for over a year on the ST and Amiga versions, and 8-bit should follow. Palace hope for a release later this year.”
Sounds very cool, but with no trace on the ST or Amiga, it seems that this got canned maybe when Palace went under. Coder Sean Griffiths confirmed that Palace cancelled for the game, which they seemed to do a lot of back in 1989… maybe to save money in desperate times?
Sean also confirms that they were only working on a C64 title, and there was no ST or Amiga version in development. It is likely that they may have been started if the C64 game was released. Richard Joseph was also indeed the composer too.
When speaking with Sean back in 2021, he recalled that Super Thief was born out of a collaboration between himself and artist Dan Malone, who had been building up ideas and artwork since Antiriad. Keen to try something ambitious on the C64 after finishing Barbarian, Sean experimented with a technical demo using overlaid sprites and raster interrupts, allowing for more colour and detail than usual. This came with a compromise, splitting the screen into two halves where gameplay was effectively divided, with only the main character able to cross the middle.
Sean also described how the game took shape as a character driven action platformer, with similarities to titles like Rolling Thunder. The player controlled Super Thief, attacking enemies using floating bolas that could be fired at different heights, with enemies bursting into colourful effects on contact. Levels featured platforms, obstacles and themed stages, each ending with a boss encounter. There were also puzzle elements, including sections where the player would interact with wall consoles to rotate blocks in a 2D Rubik cube style mechanic to unlock progression.
Visually, the game was said to be very striking, with Dan’s artwork making full use of the enhanced sprite system, alongside a memorable loading screen and character design featuring Super Thief in a black suit with a blond quiff. The audio was equally ambitious, with Richard Joseph producing a distinctive 60s inspired soundtrack. Despite reaching around 90 percent completion, Sean notes that the game felt a little slow paced and was missing a final boss.
Although development progressed well, the project ultimately fell victim to shifting priorities at Palace Software, who were chasing bigger successes following Barbarian II. Super Thief quietly slipped off the release schedule and was cancelled around mid 1989, with plans for conversions to other platforms also disappearing. Sean recalls that disks of the game once existed in his possession, but were unfortunately lost years later, leaving its current status unknown.
Even with that outcome, it is hoped that Sean may find something of the game but it is seeming more and more unlikely now. Hopefully perhaps some day Dan or Sean will find something lurking in their collection.
Contributions: Peter Weighill, Sean Griffiths, Iain Black
Supporting content
Gallery
Creator speaks
Sean Griffiths talks about Super Thief and what the game was about:
Dan had been working on ideas since ‘Antiriad’ and had a load of great art. I had just finished Barbarian and wanted to work with him. It was nice that Palace had the same idea, so we formed a team and started. The game idea was very character driven and I think Dan was seeing it as a platformer like ‘Antiriad’. I was new to the C64 and wanted to try something ambitious. I knocked up a demo using overlaid sprites whereby sprites were multi-tasked using a raster interrupt. This meant that the top of the screen could have 16 sprites as could the bottom and hi-res black and white sprites could be locked on top of 8 colour low res sprites. This gave Dan much more color and resolution to work with, but it meant that the game had to be played in two halves top and bottom with only Super-Thief crossing the ‘raster interrupt’ in the middle of the screen. A little restrictive but do-able with a scrolling shooter like Rolling Thunder. So this is the design we chose.
The art was really nice and I think were both excited with the results. Super-Thief used floating bolas to attack baddies which he could shoot out at three different heights. Baddies would pop on contact (lovely colorful hi-res puffs of smoke that Dan did). There were hurdles along the way and platforms to jump up to (like Rolling Thunder). The sketch on the website with the ‘4’ pickup is actually Super-Thief. Those icons where collectible along the level and unlocked something (can’t recall).
Dan did a fantastic loading screen – Super-Thief had a blond hair quiff and wore a black cat suit (no color in his legs gave us the sprite for the bolas) and Richard Joseph was asked to create a 60’s Joe90 like sound track which he did and it was quite brilliant, blew us away.
The levels had different themes and a boss at the end, they used all the sprites available and the website sketches show those bosses. There were also some puzzles along the way which worked like a little 2D Rubik cube. Super thief turned inward to face a console on the wall and had to rotate blocks to complete the puzzle, it unlocked something (can’t remember).
The development went quite well as far as us working together and building what was needed although do remember it taking a long time. The game was about 90% finished, there was no final boss. I do remember thinking it was a bit slow paced, but still felt it was commercial. It was c64 only but Palace where looking to convert it to ST/Amiga and hired someone who came to see us a couple of times with a demo (looked more like an editor actually). Don’t know who it was or what happened, but that disappeared.
Palace was a great place to work for a few years but I remember things getting very sour towards the end. Barbarian II had been a big success and I think Palace speculated on a number of projects to find the next big thing. It felt like Super-Thief was one of those. Dan and I had to beg for some press or ads somewhere, the project was obviously not being scheduled for release and was cancelled mid ’89. Dan and I went on to other things and worked together again at the Bitmap Brothers. We’re still in touch.
I did have floppy disks with this game on and I remember seeing them 2005-ish in my mothers attic, however she had a clear out and I haven’t seen them since :-(
Update history
- 10/05/26 – Big overhaul and details about the game itself.
- 15/04/14 – Sean Griffiths confirms credits and reason for game’s demise.
There was actually four adverts for the game in Zzap!64 issue 40 (It says “There were two cartoon adverts” above). They are in the gallery above already.
They were quite subtle though. I only noticed them as adverts when I had almost finished tagging the issue for game adverts.
Thanks Iain, just fixed – and it reminded me I had a big chunk of text about the game from the author to add, so i’ve just done that now :)
Would be very cool to see some actual game graphics from this as Dan Malone did some of the best C64-graphics ever (Cauldron I & II and Sacred Armour Of Antiriad).