Games That Weren't^®

In Your Commodore issue 51 (1988 December, Page 51-54) there was a rather interesting write up with Antony Crowther and Dave Bishop, talking about their development past and their work at the time at Imageworks.

During the interview, it was mentioned that Antony had seen the Electronic Arts release of Marble Madness on the C64 and was not impressed at all. So much so that he produced a proof of concept (possibly something more) and walked up to Ariolasoft and said something along the likes of “I can do better than that – give us a job!”. Not in those exact words i’m sure, but anyway – Ariolasoft were very impressed but couldn’t do anything with the code as they didn’t have the external rights – they did however give Tony a job.

After questioning Tony about this game, we discover that it was no more than the beginnings of Zig Zag. Tony suggested: “Zigzag was showing off, as they were saying it couldn’t be done. Mm on Amiga was brilliant. But my c64 tests weren’t half bad.”

So there is nothing to find which will show a Marble Madness game as such – but look closely next time at Zig Zag to see the clear influences which was the result of a poor C64 conversion of an arcade classic.

Case closed!

No proper name as such, but confirmation thanks to Vinny Mainolfi, that John Twiddy was working on yet another game for the C64, which was mentioned when interviewed in Zzap 64.

In the interview, John mentions that he was working on his own take on Marble Madness, but we were never to see any Marble Madness clone with his name attatched to it.

So just what happened to this game?… Who was to release it?

Well, thanks to Andrew Fisher, we find that it was actually meant to be System 3… In a news piece for Your Computer in March 1986, Mark Cale demonstrated a new System 3 game – to be called Mad Marbles or Crazy Marbles. The obvious inspiration from the description was the arcade game Marble Madness, which got an official conversion thanks to Electronic Arts.

But what happened to Cale’s game? Was this another unfinished System 3 project, or does something still exist?

We need to ask John Twiddy to find out more, but unfortunately he has been very busy lately.

We hope to find out more soon!…

Mantronix was due to appear on the C64, along with a release on the CPC, in 1986, sometime after it was first released by Probe Software on the ZX Spectrum. Like so many Spectrum games it failed to ever get released and today our only evidence of its existence is from an advert stating it was ‘forthcoming’ on the other 8-bit systems.

The premise of the game is that you are a bounty hunter, who has sent a robot to the excellently named planet Zybor to locate and bring to justice four criminals, who are in hiding and protected by defence humanoids.

Playing the Spectrum version and you see the game is enjoyable enough and the music and sound effects are in the classic ‘jolly 8-bit’ style, if that makes sense!

My first thought upon seeing the screenshots was that the reason it wasn’t released on the C64 was its isometric, Knightlore-esque viewpoint. However, a quick trip to the Lemon64 forums soon provided me with a list of isometric games that appeared on the C64, including a direct port of Head Over Heels, that certainly plays well enough with the benefit of music and sounds provided by the all-conquering SID chip.

Technically however, it does seem the C64 does have some technical difficulty with the process required for a fast isometric game. The C64 using tile mapping, which provides faster performance overall but isn’t well suited to the isometric style that flooded the Spectrum in the mid eighties and many gamers complain of the games being too slow to be enjoyable, Fairlight being a classic example.

Is this the reason why the game was eventually pulled from a C64 release? If so why not release the CPC version, which had ported versions of games like Knightlore? Frankly a game running too slow never really stopped many companies, then or now, on the Spectrum games like Outrun and Wonderboy are notoriously slow as soon as the screen becomes even slightly complicated.

If the market for isometric games was flooded on the Spectrum by the mid-eighties, possibly the most logical conclusion is that the game quickly sunk in terms of sales, and Probe Software, who were prolific releasers of games on all 8-bit formats, may have moved on to other projects. They certainly released most of their games on the Spectrum, perhaps this was used as a testing ground, and if a game had enough success they would continue with the port to the less successful C64 (in the UK at least) and CPC.

Yet another missing game for the archive, and a CPC version may exist too.

Will either version ever be found?

This game was found out about thanks to Jason Kelk, who pointed me in the direction of the DELTA loader… In that, you will read about forthcoming games on the C64, which includes Starline (See elsewhere) and also Mantrax.

I don’t know exactly what Mantrax was about… but its rumoured to be a space shoot-em-up.

Also I have no information on the people who were to release the game. Though Bob Stevenson and Douglas Hare are confirmed to be the guys behind the game..

Unknown as of yet what happened… most certainly not released…

Another beat-em-up clone which was planned for the Commodore 64 back in 1990, and another one which never got to see the light of day.

Manhattan Dealers was released on the Amiga/ST platforms and was a relative success, but not on the scale of other similiar beat-em-ups. The game was a side-scrolling beat’em up where you play a detective trying to stop the drug dealers. You would take packets of drugs to the fires/braziers on the level to earn extra energy! 16-bit versions feature digitised sound.

First news of a 8-bit conversion came when Zzap magazine posted the following in their review of the game:

“The 8-bit versions should be on the streets by March or April, no doubt having some graphical and audio differences, but with the basic gameplay unchanged.”

This sadly was all that was ever mentioned about the game and a 8-bit conversion. Neither spectrum or amstrad users got the game either. ACE magazine also had mention of 8-bit versions in their Atari ST review (see scans)

We don’t know how far exactly the game ever got, or if it was even started. This is another early days title where so much needs to be found out about it. Maybe someone will know something about this game?

More soon we hope!…

‘Make My Day’ and was another of those Trojan Light Gun games which were being created in the early 90’s as the light phaser games began to get popular. Virgin Mastertronic had already done a series of light gun games, and this was also another title in the series.

The game was to be a side scroller where you shoot gangsters in the street. Essentially it was going to be similar to the already released Ghost-town with different graphics. This means that the game was likely to be created by the same person who did Ghost-Town – Martin Howarth. We will try and ask him more about the game soon.

Thanks to Fabrizio Bartoloni – we learn that a ZX Spectrum version was also cancelled and unreleased too. Written by a Peter Gough, who had done other titles such as Future Games, Ghouls n Ghosts and Gunstar.

More research needed. Sadly we cannot ask Martin Holland more about the game, as he sadly passed away in 2003. Maybe one day his lost graphics will be recovered to preserve the title and his memory once more. Hopefully Martin Howarth will help shed some light some day soon.

More soon we hope!…

Magnox was yet another Cyberdyne game, but one of the more forgotten titles which never saw the light of day.

Dan Phillips cannot recall too much about the game, but it is believed to be a vertical shoot-em-up that was being worked on by John Harries when they all first met up.

This is speculation at the moment, but we soon hope to speak to John Harries to find out more and see if anything of the game still exists.

Things are still very sketchy… it could well have been a completely different game, but we’ll find out soon hopefully!

Will this ever be found?…

Magnetic was to be a complex puzzler written by the Magnetica Team which consisted of:

Giuseppe Tresoldi – graphics and game designer
Omid Ehsani – C64 developer
Gerardo Iula – Amiga developer and graphic artist
Emiliano Gusmini – ST developer, graphic artist and musician

In an interview with Magnetica Team on the Italian edition of C+VG, issue 6, June 1991, it’s said that the team (whose claim to fame is

F1 GP Circuits created a game that was too offstream to see publication, before their aforementioned commercial success:

"It was entitled "Magnetic", and it was a strange programme
where a modular robot had to drag a sphere across a field covered with holes and bumps with the sole aid of a powerful magnet.

There were enemies to be avoided, many controls, and a game design so complex it would take half a hour to explain it all. It was very original and well coded, but a bit too complex to be released to market."

It sounds like the game actually got quite far – so we hope that maybe something of this complex game can be found and released to the public after many years gathering dust.

More information needed!