Old Video Game Companies

Does anyone remember any old video game companies that are no longer with us, especially seeing as they made some classic games and is a shame it was quite literally game over for them.

Who remembers Gremlin Interactive who used to be in Sheffield, they made Actua Golf and Zool.

Midway Games who did Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man and NBA Jam.

Rare Ltd who did Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong and GoldenEye.

Sensible Software who did Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer.

um rare are still making games microsoft own them

namco makes pacman

and midway/sensible ip are still around

Does anyone remember any old video game companies that are no longer with us, especially seeing as they made some classic games and is a shame it was quite literally game over for them.

 

Who remembers Gremlin Interactive who used to be in Sheffield, they made Actua Golf and Zool.

 

Midway Games who did Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man and NBA Jam.

 

Rare Ltd who did Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong and GoldenEye.

 

Sensible Software who did Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer.

Remember Gremlin well (worked for them briefly around 1992).

How about Alligata? Sheffield based (on Orange street, just off West street). Struggling to remember any other old Sheffield game dev companies..

I remember 'Ultimate' that did games like Jetpac, Knight Lore, Sabre Wulf & Alien8 etc. I remember old games like Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy & the Horace games but cant remember who made them. All on the little old Spectrum, with its massive 48k memory - those were the days! (I now feel old )

Wasn't it Gremlin that made Monty Mole? The one with Arthur Scargill

These were the days when one man or woman could dream up and produce a whole game by themselves and make a fortune. It didn't last for long though.

These were also the days when a kid could get a new game for a tenner maximum, and in most cases less. I remember working for Comet when "Streetfighter 2" came out for the SNES at £64.99. We got about 150 copies in for it's launch, and I couldn't believe it when they sold out within a day. I mean, 65 quid.

Try zxspectrum.net, most of the spectrum games are there, playable for free if you want to remind yourselves.

Best house by the way? Beyond Software for doing the Lords of Midnight, the best game ever made.

Anyone remember Cinemaware, who made all those excellent movie inspired games in the 80s like:

Defender Of The Crown

Rocket Ranger

Lords Of The Rising Sun (best game ever)

It Came From The Desert

as well as sports games like:

TV Sports Football, Baseball, Basketball... these weren't quite as good but the humour of the TV sports programmes before and after the games made up for it.

Remember Gremlin well (worked for them briefly around 1992).

 

How about Alligata? Sheffield based (on Orange street, just off West street). Struggling to remember any other old Sheffield game dev companies..

Hi Tec software, based somewhere in Town, they did a few licensed games based on cartoon characters 20 odd years ago, I rang them up back when I was looking for a work experience placement from School, they wouldn't have me

End up going to Krisalis Software Ltd, based at Teque House in Rotherham, 2 weeks of playing games, in the name of "games testing", and one day spending 6 hours programming some crap Pac Man clone from a magazine, 6 hours later the chuffing thing didn't work!

... one day spending 6 hours programming some crap Pac Man clone from a magazine, 6 hours later the chuffing thing didn't work!

Was it MacMan from Sinclair User by any chance? That was the only machine code game I ever typed in. Me, mum, dad, sister and cousin took it in one hour shifts to do it! The game wasn't bad in the end. Easily as good as those £1.99 Mastertronic efforts that used to come in the blister-paks.

I remember old games like Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy

Software Projects was the publisher.. always remember they used an "impossible triangle" for their logo, and the colour code "security" needed to start it up...

Ocean

Ultimate Play the Game

US Gold

Horace series were done by Psion

Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy by Bug Byte