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"Gone but not forgotten - The best old games"

I`ve started this discussion after a message I left on another topic.

Basically its a trip down memory lane for some of you to remember dome of the great gaming experiences on systems like the Atari, C64, Spectrum, Amiga, Atari ST, NES, Megadrive etc

I`ll start off with one of my all time favourites

Last Ninja on the Commodore 64

I found this article at gamesdomain.com under the title Whatever Happened To Sensible Soccer?

This is not my work but a copied article I thought would be informative. The best bit is the chance of Cannon Fodder 3D - just think of how GTA changed to GTA3 - I cant wait

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While browsing the Codemasters booth, the last person I expected to bump into was Jon Hare - Sensible Software maestro and, for a time, the king of Amiga game development. Now working for the Codemasters, he spoke to us about where he has been for the last few years, and his plans for the future.

Jon and his team have recently been working on converting Cannon Fodder to Game Boy Colour, and playing with it for a while left us feeling quite nostalgic for the good old days, when the Amiga was king. It is a top-down action game, with a healthy dose of strategy thrown in - imagine guiding a group of two or three Command & Conquer infantry through a hazard-filled map. Your team can even commandeer vehicles they found, like skidoos or the deadly helicopter. One hit, and your men were dead - and as you advanced through the missions, your men's skills improved, so dead men were bad news. There was even a graveyard for you to mourn your fallen heroes.

So to the burning question: Whatever happened to Sensible Software? Jon filled us in.

In 1993, we signed a three-product deal with Warner, who were later sold to GT, to do a new Sensible Soccer on the PC, and a adventure game called Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. We worked on that for about three or four years. When Warner were part of it, we were aiming at making an adult-oriented adventure game. But after GT bought Warner, as a Christian, bible belt American company I don't think Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll was compatible with their company ethos! So after three and a half years, we had to find a new publisher.

Actually, GT are really no different to any other publisher - we had only one offer to sell it, just in the UK. Everyone loved the game, but they were too scared to publish it. When you spend all that time working on a project only for it to be canned, it makes you feel like you have achieved nothing.

How much of the original team are left?

The guy who programmed Cannon Fodder on the Amiga, Jools, also programmed it on the Game Boy Colour, and the sound person is the same too. The original team was only about four people anyway. I've only really been making sure it's going in the right direction - I'm more interested in making new games than converting old ones.

Does Sensible still exist as a brand?

About a year ago - what's the date today, May 12th? Exactly a year ago, Codemasters bought all of Sensible - the brand name, all the brand names for the games, everything. So the name Sensible, along with Cannon Fodder, Sensible Soccer, Megalomania and all that stuff are owned by Codemasters. I'm hoping Codemasters will use the brand in the future - this is just the first game, and there will be more to come. We are just starting work on the next-generation formats now. I really want to do Sensible Soccer on the GBC, but I can't make it happen - it is up to Codemasters.

How do you find Codemasters to work with?

They are the best company I could be working with in the world at the moment. They are a British company - and there are very few British games companies left now. The stuff I have worked on in the past tends to take quite a British slant, so it is within the traditions of what Sensible has done before. Basically, a lot of people within the industry can't really be trusted. With Codemasters, we're not dealing with a French or Japanese or American culture - it's much easier to deal with British people.

I'm also better known in the UK than in Italy or Spain, or some of the marginal territories like Australia and Scandinavia, so I'm given a bit more respect with a British company. I'm in an environment I can understand.


So what will be next for you?

I am designing the next Cannon Fodder game - which will be called Cannon Fodder 3 or 3D, provisionally. It is taking what Cannon Fodder is, placing it in a 3D environment and adding loads of soldier development, skills, and making it more in-depth. It's quite a leap from Cannon Fodder.

Will it still be recognisably a Sensible game?

I hope so. People mainly recognise Sensible games from the Amiga and C64 titles we released, but our most recent title, SensiSoccer PC had 3D graphics - albeit not the best I've ever seen - but it was still recognisably one of ours. Sex and Drugs, if it had come out, would have probably been recognised from the humour.

Cannon Fodder is due out on Game Boy Colour in July - watch this space for more details of Jon's future projects

Zelda Link's Awakening (The Best Zelda ever...)
Theme Park
Civilisation
Gran Prix 2
Bart Simpson vs The Space Mutants
Fire Force

Ben Hodgetts wrote:
> yea it'd be so cool if maybe we could have like a SWOS, cannon fodder, Magic
> Pockets, and a couple of other great amiga classics all bundled together and
> released maybe on PS1. that'll give it a bit more life

God idea Ben - with your ideas and my fangs we could have a winner - I have a cunning plan...........

yea it'd be so cool if maybe we could have like a SWOS, cannon fodder, Magic Pockets, and a couple of other great amiga classics all bundled together and released maybe on PS1. that'll give it a bit more life

Yeah, it seems a shame that a lot of the top development teams all split and did their own thing. There are some exceptions but mostly the stuff produced after was not up to the standard of the team developments

Ah, bring back the old days.........

oh yea cannon fodder another great amiga classic. they should bring that out again it would sell by the bucket load maybe a spruced up version on the PS2. it was better on megadrive i think easier to control on the joypad then joystick

Cooky wrote:
> WÚÛkiee M¯nßÜÄR wrote:
> VIC-20: Galaxians,
> Jetpac, and the free game 'Blitz' that came with it.

C64:
> Raid Over
> Moscow, Crazy Comets, Little Computer People, Mega Apocalypse, Spy
> Hunter,
> the Summer/Winter Games series from Epyx, Spy vs. Spy, Ghostbusters,
>
> Hawkeye, Beach Head 2, Up 'n' Down, Uridium, Stellar 7, Gunship, F15
> Strike
> Eagle, Infiltrator, Super Huey, Thrust, Sam Fox Strip Poker! And
> many, many
> more I can't think of at the moment.

Amiga: Blood Money,
> Flashback, Leander,
> Killing Game Show, Alien Breed, Speedball 2, Stunt Car
> Racer, Microprose Formula
> 1, Shadow of the Beast, and stacks more - again
> having trouble remembering
> them!

How did you miss that classic
> "Moonstone" on the Amiga?

:)

Is Moonstone the fighting game with knights where you could chop there heads off?

Cooky wrote:
> How did you miss that classic "Moonstone" on the Amiga?

I never had it, that's how! :-)

WÚÛkiee M¯nßÜÄR wrote:
> VIC-20: Galaxians, Jetpac, and the free game 'Blitz' that came with it.

C64:
> Raid Over Moscow, Crazy Comets, Little Computer People, Mega Apocalypse, Spy
> Hunter, the Summer/Winter Games series from Epyx, Spy vs. Spy, Ghostbusters,
> Hawkeye, Beach Head 2, Up 'n' Down, Uridium, Stellar 7, Gunship, F15 Strike
> Eagle, Infiltrator, Super Huey, Thrust, Sam Fox Strip Poker! And many, many
> more I can't think of at the moment.

Amiga: Blood Money, Flashback, Leander,
> Killing Game Show, Alien Breed, Speedball 2, Stunt Car Racer, Microprose Formula
> 1, Shadow of the Beast, and stacks more - again having trouble remembering
> them!

How did you miss that classic "Moonstone" on the Amiga?

:)

Saber Wulf
Knight Lore
The entire Repton series
Chuckie Egg
Yie Ar Kung-Fu
Citadel

These games were CLASSICS!

Had em on my BBC, and played them for YEARS!

:)