A lovely surprise in June 2020 was the release of a previously unknown Mr Chip game called Zambeezi, which was recovered by Genesis Project from an old disk of one of their members, Jorge Rodriguez (aka Black Beard). Many thanks to Vinny Mainolfi and Alex Aris for the heads up on Twitter.
This is a Manic Miner style game which is set in Africa, and where you must collect several objects on each level to progress. It is a simple, but fun game which has been created by Tony Kelly of Video Meanies fame.
Just how the game came to be on Jorge Rodriguez’s disks is unknown, or why it was never actually released. The game seems to be complete, but just lacking some final polish as it is impossible to progress past one of the later screens in the game. Is there possibly a later version of the game to be found, or was this cancelled at this very point?
It is a brilliant finding and recovery, and again – a nice unexpected surprise, as this is a title that hasn’t really been heard of until now. Hopefully some day will find out a bit more about the game and the story behind it.
In the meantime, Martin/Stadium64 found that the game was actually released by a sort of Mastertronic label called Pocket Change on disk and a copy turned up on eBay in March 2026. So, it seems the game had a very limited release – though sadly the box art is missing from the auction and just the disk was present.
In June 2026, Mauricio Muñoz Lucero got in touch to say that Johhny Farragut had won the ebay auction that we mentioned. No-one had brought it because the disk was in such a state and it went for under 10 dollars. It took a bit of cleaning, but its now been fully done and you can find the original game with its original disk loader.
Mauricio notes that if you press RETURN during the game, it skips to the next level – but also it loads with “Jungle Fever” as the title and 1984 Tony Kelly. Does this mean that the game had originally been intended as the C64 version of A&F Software’s game on the ZX Spectrum by Mike Webb? There are some simularities, but both really are different games – though this does happen sometimes with conversions where each developer had a bit of artistic freedom.
So, there could be a lot more to this game – and hopefully some day we’ll find Tony Kelly to learn more.
Contributions: Genesis Project, Vinny Mainolfi, Alex Aris, Jorge Rodriguez, Martin/Stadium64, Johhny Farragut, Mauricio Muñoz Lucero
Supporting content
Available downloads
- zam disk (webp)
- Game_Zambeezi (zip)
Gallery
Update history
- 23/06/26 – Full original release added, plus alternate name!
- 16/03/26 – Disk scan added thanks to Martin/Stadium64 from eBay Auction
I don’t think we know the full story yet – I would love to see evidence that shows Pocket Change Inc is connected to Mastertronic, who only established Mastertronic Inc. in the States in 1986. There’s virtually nothing on online regarding the software that Pocket Change Inc released, which suggests that whatever it did was in very small numbers – most strange if it is connected in some way to Mastertronic, which was all about low value high volume.
I agree – I think there is more to come from this. I wonder if Anthony Guter might know more?
seems like this game was released, since a loose original disk have appeared on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/127736256819
through Pocket Change, which I believe was a Mastertronic label.
Thanks Martin! That’s amazing to see – though sadly looks quite bad on the disk surface. Hopefully someone will pick it up to preserve – and hopefully a version will surface with the disk cover too. Updated the page!