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I spent hours upon hours playing Speedball on the Gameboy...

If I'm not much mistaken Speedball was never released on the Game Boy but I'm happy to be corrected if it was.

Speedball 2 was released on the Game Boy though, albeit that the developer was Spidersoft, not the Bitmap Brothers. The GBA release of Speedball 2 was developed and published by Crawfish Interactive.

As far as i'm aware, SpeedBall was only out on:

ST/Amiga/PC (DOS) and Master System.

Nes version exists, but is known as KlashBall.

Another unreleased game for the Mega Drive / Genesis

The Swamp Thing [CANCELLED! Mega Drive / Genesis]

Any idea as to why this was cancelled?

Company behind it, Nuvision had put out Bimini Run in 1990, but had Swamp Thing and Bean Ball Benny in development (both far from finished) down for a '91 release.

It looks like they ran out of cash, company was closed before either game could be completed and released.

You're inadvertently dredging up unfortunate memories for me of reading of these games in the DC magazines of the day with the subsequent disappointment of their no-show, RT. 

(Sadly) there's loads more yet to come.

When i see video of canned games or read up on what was planned and how DC's features would have been used, man...it's just tragic what befell the console.

Indeed. Released games such as Headhunter only hinted at what may have been possible were further generations of DC games released that built on existing knowledge in how best to exploit the hardware. Add in the subsequent advances in toolsets/development suites, middleware, etc., and it becomes all the more clear as to what could have been. Sigh...

Just looking at what developers had planned to do using the DC microphone or VMU in games, let alone the online aspect, proves to me, the potential of the Dreamcast was sadly never given a chance to be realised.

Calling for back-up, police chopper in a pursuit game, using the mic to give voice commands to your dog in Stampede, using the VMU as a 2nd screen etc etc, all planned possibilities, but never happened.

What innovations do i get in today's games? more Q.T.E boss fights and cutscenes...Bahhh!.


From a visual point of view, i've only to look at No Cliche's crack at survival horror, to see as a developer, they'd only just started to hit their stride.The dreamcast just needed a chance to get into a new wave of software to really show what was possible.

Q) the PC CD ROM version of Defender Of The Crown was said to have had the gameplay untouched as a deliberate step, in order to see how the consumer reacted to having high-quality audio, added to existing gameplay, so player was treated to CD quality audio and a full soundtrack which had a narrator speaking in an 'Olde English' accent, which was hoped to make game more atmospheric, but was there ever any plans to do anything with the visual side, now you had extra storage avaiable?.Also, how did customers respond to the PC CD version? was far better sound a big enough incentive to purchase?.

Q)In most of the games on C64 i saw, you really seemed to be pushing the hardware (Sinbad, Defender Of The Crown and Rocket Ranger looked fantastic) so, what went wrong with The 3 Stooges? on the 1 hand it was technically great with speech, fantastic looking digitised pictures etc, but in-game, we were 'treated' to some very blocky sprites.

Q)Your games were sometimes refered to as 'nice graphics, shame about the gameplay' by the press, do you feel that was a little unfair? and which was the priority-the technical side (audio/visual) or just making a fun to play game?.

Only ask as i know many people gave up on Sinbad as the arcade sequences were very frustrating, 1 false move and that was it and also The 3 Stooges became too repetitive far too quickly.

Q)You seemed to very much 'respect' audio as a medium in so many of your games, with great effort being done to ensure the atmosphere created by it was just right, things like the radio music in IT Came From The Desert sounding like it was playing through a radio of that time period, how big a percentage do you feel the medium of audio played in capturing the atmosphere of what you wanted?.So many games from that era seemed to give the lions share of resources to the visual side of things.

Seem to recal reading that Rampage was known as Monster Demolition, whilst a court case was going on over wether they could use the Rampage name or not...

Q)I seem to recal someone from the company (think it might have been the programmer of said game) writing into ACE Magazine in response to their poor scoring review of Lords Of The Rising Sun (Amiga i'd guess).Was this a common policy for your company, if/when you felt a game had been unfairly treated? and how much impact did reviews have on game sales?.

Q)It's been claimed that when S.D.I was in process of being ported to another format, it's release was delayed as the company had asked the programmer to add extra features and such needed extra time.So, is this claim true? if so:which format was it and what extra features did you ask for and why?

Q)How badly did piracy effect you on ST/Amiga as it seemed rife when i was an ST owner in UK at the time.

Q)Games like Rocket Ranger and It Came From The Desert were very much inspired by sci-fi films and comics of the 1950's etc, but did you go even further back, to silent film era (1920's) in terms of inspiration for your game Wings? as it's action sequences are very similar to those featured in the 1927 film of the same name and what about a personal fav.of mine, Aces High.

Also, did you look at real life accounts from serving WWI pilots, war reports that sort of thing?


Q)Setting a game in France during WWI, putting player in role of a airforce pilot, must have been incredibily challenging as the fighter plane technology was crude by todays standards to say the least (really in it's infancy) and the average life expectancy of a new pilot was just 3 weeks!!!.Did you ever have second thoughts about setting the game in such an era? (really glad you did though as game is legendary!).

Q)In terms of producing 'Cinema-esq' games on the 8/16 bit micros., who (if anyone) would you say your competition was? and did the ever make you 'up your game' (for example change a gameplay sequence) or do you feel you had that corner of the market to yourselves?.
(nearest i can think of is Iron Lord by Ubisoft which was a Defender Of The Crown variant, mimiced your cinema-esq screens, mini-games etc)


Q)Rocket Ranger had to be censored in Germany (all Nazi references removed etc) so plot had Aliens instead of Nazi's, but did you not think players might wonder why Aliens with space travel tech.would be using primitive WW2 rocket technology?.Basically was it a ruddy headache doing game for German market? lol.

Q)what happened to the MD/Genesis version of It Came From The Desert? i believe it was a very different game in terms of plot and gameplay, being more akin to an overhead shooter.Why the changes to game format and further canning of project?.

Q)Did you ever consider bringing any of your titles to MCD/Sega CD? I'd have thought it was the ideal platform:CD storage and MCD sprite hardware.....things like Wings etc would have been great.


Q)Were you aware of the impact It Came... had on other game designers? thinking of Command and Conquer:Red Alert's secret mission:It Came From red alert.

Think the only 'winners' of the non-backlit Nintendo handhelds were:Nintendo (who then released backlit versions of various GB's did they not? GB SP+Micro and was'nt there a backlit orig.GB in Japan?) so lot of folks bought a replacement console and various 3rd parties who sold us clip on lights!.

You're inadvertently dredging up unfortunate memories for me of reading of these games in the DC magazines of the day with the subsequent disappointment of their no-show, RT. 

(Sadly) there's loads more yet to come.

When i see video of canned games or read up on what was planned and how DC's features would have been used, man...it's just tragic what befell the console.

Agartha [Dreamcast - Cancelled]

No Cliche's survival horror: Agartha.

*Update on DC Black And White:Sega's official statement was they were 'dissapointed at lack of progress being made' hence abandoning publishing deal.Lionhead meanwhile claimed they were planing to continue development of DC version whilst they found a publisher.

Europe never saw: D2 as it too lacked a publisher-comingin on 4 discs made it too costly, plus USA reviews not being too hot (saying game was too slow and plodding) might have been reason.

Nor did it see a MD collection similar to the US Smash Pack, though 1 was planned (it was to have SOR2, Golden Axe, Revenge Of Shinobi and more on it) but Sega Europe could'nt get 'clearance' as they put it, on some planned titles.

On a real DC vibe at moment myself (never a bad thing...)

Another 'burst' of titles annouced/planned/shown etc, but never went anywhere:

Speedball 2100 was 'considered' for DC (would have been port of PS1 game).

Buffy the Vampire slayer, started off on DC, ended up on Xbox.

Messiah was shown at E3, possible the dissapointment the PC version recived in quarters put paid to the DC version? ditto for another PC conversion shown at E3: Prince Of Persia 3D (which was slamned on PC for simplistic combat and poor controls).

Galleon was also DC bound-I own the Xbox version which did appear, can see what they were trying for, but it falls down on so many levels.

Age Of Empires II was DC bound, ideal for DC mouse and a PC fav.of mine, would have loved on DC.

Take 2 had Austin Powers:Mojo Rally (no great loss, yet another kart racer!) planned for DC

Lost Toys had Moho planned for DC.

Binary Asylum were working on: Star Trek:New Worlds for DC ( a 3D, real-time stategy affair) for Virgin Interactive, but studio closed before it was finished.

Human Head promised a DC conversion of Rune would be following close behind the PC version. (The Viking game).

This "guide" serves as a place to find many handheld systems listed but its content is far from the best. 

The GBC has a 'clear' display.....no it has the worst screen of any handheld ever! a 60w bulb is needed to use this piece of crap that was 6 years too late!

This is one of the things I hate the most about the original GBC.  I got an SP just so I didn't have to be under direct light to be able to play games.  I couldn't believe a system newer than the Lynx couldn't have a backlight as a standard feature.

GBA was'nt backlit, nor was Neo Geo Colour...

Cost cutting and attempt to save batt.life i'd guess.

Anyone know what happened to B&W for the DreamCast?

For anyone who's interested, Dreamcast Black And white was supposed to use the consoles potential in following areas:

You'd be able to carry the personal B+W creature you'd created (via The Gathering, what kids these days would call an app, i guess, lol-small program you'd be able to download for free before main game arrived), on your VMU, so you could take him/her/it around to a mates house.

If you were connected online with your DC, soon as you booted the game up, it'd connect online and download the weather information for your area, so..if it was raining where you were, it'd be raining in-game etc.

By using the DC's clock, the in-game moon would mimic that of the real world moon, so full moon outside, full moon in-game etc.

-A number of creatures would be exclusive to the DC version.

-There'd be a number of VMU games based around the abilites of the creatures you developed.

-Online 'features' were also promised.

So, had it been finished, looks like it would have tapped into the potential of the dreamcast.

Deadly Pursuit (Dreamcast) Fox Interactive.

A city-based car chase game with you playing the role of the cop, so far, so-so, but..they planned to use the DC microphone to allow for voice-activation so you could 'radio in' for back up, road blocks, a police chopper etc.

Now that i love the sound of, but again, nothing came of it, ditto for:

Planet Of The Apes by Fox on Dc a 3D Action-Adventure game.

Worlds Scariest Police Chases (Dreamcast).

Was to be released late 2000, but games original developers (Teeny Weeny Games) went under (and the PS1 version was being done by a different developer), so Fox interactive canned the DC (and PC) version, as it was looking very unlikely they could find another developer to finish the game in time for Xmas.

Metropolis Street Racer was to have: car damage, animals, people etc moving around the city, in order to make it appear 'alive' and other traffic like taxi's and buses, but...the car manufactuers put paid to that, they did'nt want their cars being seen smashed up or hitting living creatures, so that put paid to that idea.Also  at 1 time you'd have had option to spray paint custom designs on your car for 'gang battles' but sega's research found real cars were prefered so that too was dropped.

Another snippet of Arcade wisdom:

'..The Lynx's subsequent failure killed Atari'