Saturday, 19 July 2025

FRGR #17: Elfmania (Renegade, 1994)

Developed by Terramarque:
Main programming by Antti Toiviainen and Jani Askolin
A.I. programming and supervision by Stavros Fasoulas (uncredited)
Graphics by Antti Kallioinen
Music by Aleksi Eeben
Sound effects by Ville Hyvönen

Published by Renegade Software for the Commodore Amiga in 1994.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS


It's time to exploit this blog's Finnishness once again, by doing another review of an old Finnish game. This summer's selection is the last game ever to be published with any notable input from the C64 legend, Stavros Fasoulas, and simultaneously, the first and only game to be published by Terramarque, who would later join forces with Bloodhouse of Stardust fame to become Housemarque - the oldest still active Finnish game developing company, who turns 30 years old exactly today, on the 19th of July, 2025.

Saturday, 5 July 2025

Pitstop (Epyx, 1983)

Developed and published by Epyx for Atari 400/800, ColecoVision, Coleco ADAM and Commodore 64 in 1983.

Atari 400/800 version designed and written by Action Graphics.

ColecoVision & ADAM version by the Connelley Group and Action Graphics: Programming by Richard Ditton; Sounds by David Thiel; Graphics by Action Graphics.

Commodore 64 version written by Jamie Faye Fenton.

(Credits taken from Colecovision.dk)

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS


I have to start this entry with a sad note. This comparison was originally written almost two years ago for the 16th issue of Reset64 magazine, which at that time was still in all appearances going strong and healthy. All sorts of real life events for the Reset64 staff were behind the initial delay, but then, a series of more or less unfortunate happenings started ringing the bells of doom for the magazine, with people stepping down from their roles in the magazine and even a death of a beloved member. So, in the end, issue 16 is still to be released, and is in the works by the remaining people. I asked for, and received permission to publish this comparison whenever I felt like (due to my personal scheduling problems) from the original editor of the magazine, who goes by the handle Unkle K at the Lemon64 forum, so I decided to dedicate this entry to all the current and past people at Reset64, and I hope to see the final 16th issue some day soon. Now, onto the comparison itself.

Just about 42 years ago, the happily straight-forward genre of racing games would be disturbed by the release of a game that would introduce something other than driving a car into the mix. The game, Pitstop, was the first to bring in actual pit stops into racing games, but of course, this was received with mixed reviews. In hindsight, the racing part of Pitstop probably could have been better, seeing as Pole Position was still considered the yardstick, but at least it was different, and became successful enough to have a sequel.