|
Imagine
1982-84, 1985-89
|
Softography
(Spectrum only)
See
World
of Spectrum for
downloadable versions
|
Title
|
Year
|
| Arcadia
|
1982 |
| Alchemist
|
1983 |
| Zip
Zap |
1983 |
| Stonkers
|
1983 |
| Schizoids
|
1983 |
| Molar
Maul |
1983 |
| Jumping
Jack |
1983 |
| Zzoom
|
1983 |
| Ah-diddums
|
1983 |
| Cosmic
Cruiser |
1984 |
| Pedro
|
1984 |
| BC
Bill |
1984 |
(As
an Ocean label)
| Title |
Year |
| Yie Ar Kung Fu
|
1985
|
| Hyper Sports |
1985
|
| World Series Basketball
|
1985
|
| World Series Baseball
|
1985
|
| Mikie |
1985
|
| Konami Golf |
1986
|
| Legend of Kage
|
1986
|
| Terra Cresta |
1986
|
| Tennis |
1986
|
| Green Beret |
1986
|
| Super Soccer |
1986
|
| Movie |
1986
|
| Ping-Pong |
1986
|
| Yie Ar Kung Fu
2 |
1986
|
| Galvan - Cosmo
Police |
1986
|
| Mag Max - Robo
Centurion |
1987
|
| Game Over |
1987
|
| Salamander |
1987
|
| Athena |
1987
|
| Basket Master
|
1987
|
| Arkanoid |
1987
|
| Arkanoid 2: Revenge
of Doh |
1988
|
| Game Over 2 |
1988
|
| Vindicator |
1988
|
| Renegade 2: Target
Renegade |
1988
|
| Rastan |
1988
|
| Guerrilla War
|
1988
|
| Dragon Ninja |
1988
|
| Play for Your
Life |
1988
|
| Renegade 3: The
Final Chapter |
1989
|
| Victory Road |
1989
|
|
The home computer boom of the
early 1980s, like the dot.com boom of the late 1990s, produced
a crop of high flying companies which crashed spectacularly.
None flew higher or crashed harder than Imagine.
The Liverpool-based company
was founded by Mark Butler and David Lawson, formerly of Bug-Byte.
It achieved major success with its very first product - Arcadia,
a simple shoot-em-up which became a best-seller over the Christmas
of 1982 at a time when the shops were starved of software
to sell. Like the dot.coms 15 years later, Imagine built its
reputation largely on hype. Its products were competent if
uninspiring, but the company's high profile owed rather more
to its glossy advertising and tireless self-promotion.
Imagine became (entirely willingly)
a poster child for the brave new world of electronic entertainment.
Newspaper readers were fed stories of teenage programmers
earning £35,000 a year and owning sports cars which
they weren't old enough to drive. Twenty years earlier, the
Beatles had transformed Liverpool's image, repositioning the
city as a powerhouse of the music industry. Imagine - whose
chosen name was, not coincidentally, that of one of John Lennon's
most famous songs - hoped to be seen as the computer equivalent.
The company had rather less
staying power, however, and barely 18 months it had been established
it collapsed spectacularly amid a welter of recrimination
and lawsuits, owing more than £500,000 to a variety
of creditors. Much of this debt was, unsurprisingly, for unpaid
advertising expenses.
In the subsequent fire-sale
of Imagine's assets, its name was sold to Ocean
Software. The Manchester-based company used the
Imagine brand as a label to publish licensed conversions of
arcade machines (many of which were actually very good - games
such as Green Beret and Renegade were widely
acclaimed and sold well). Imagine was finally retired in 1989,
and Ocean itself pulled out of the Sinclair software market
three years later.
Several new programming teams
and companies arose out of the ashes of Imagine. Software
Projects (publishers of Jet Set Willy) was established
by ex-Imagine staff, as were Psygnosis (Lemmings) and
Denton Designs (Shadowfire).
Interviews and Articles
|
