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Special FX Software

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Special FX Software
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 1987; 38 years ago (1987-09)
FounderPaul Finnegan
Jonathan Smith
Defunct1992 (1992)
SuccessorRage Software
HeadquartersLiverpool,
England, UK

Special FX Software is a British video game developer that was formed in 1987 by Ocean Software executives Paul Finnegan and Jonathan Smith. The company went defunct in 1992, and it was succeeded by Rage Software.

History

[edit]

Early years and original titles

[edit]

The company was originally founded in 1987 by former Imagine Software and Ocean Software executive Paul Finnegan and programmer Jonathan Smith, along with some other former Ocean developers, that was based in Liverpool.[1][2][3][4] The first game they developed was Hysteria, for Software Projects, for Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. It was a massive commercial success to critical acclaim.[5][6][7]

In 1988, after the release of Hysteria and the tensious falling-out between the Special FX directors and Software Projects, the company signed a deal with Ocean Software, who were the old employers before he left for Special FX, in order to handle publishing, sales, marketing and distribution of the company's future video game titles. The first title to come out of the deal was Firefly, which was a shoot-em-up game that also received critical acclaim.[8][9][10][11] The company followed it up with G.U.T.Z, which was another critically acclaimed shooter.[12][13] Special FX is planning on to develop another shooting game, Vertigo, but the game never went released.[13][14]

Shift to licensed titles

[edit]

The company moved its focus to licensed titles on Ocean's meddling in 1988, to go in line with other developers in Ocean's system, with the hit title Batman: The Caped Crusader, which was a critical and commercial success for major computer platforms, making the company's first entry into the licensed game business, and also the company's first game for 16-bit platforms.[15][16][17]

The company followed it up by acquiring the video game rights on behalf of Ocean, the movie titles The Untouchables and Red Heat, for contemporary computer platforms.[18][19] Over time, Special FX's quality came to a decline after critically acclaimed original titles, with the usual bread and butter movie license tie-ins and arcade ports publisher Ocean Software had.[20] The company's first movie tie-in title Red Heat met with a positive reception from computer game critics.[21][22] The next title The Untouchables, for 16-bit computers, also met with a positive reception from computer game critics.[23]

The company also expanded its focus onto porting arcade hits, in order to secure the rights to port the arcade games Cabal, which was released in 1989 for 8-bit computers (the 16-bit versions was done by Ocean France) to critical acclaim,[24][25] and Midnight Resistance, which was released in 1990 to a near positive response,[26][27] and after the success, the company was largely responsible for creating the 16-bit computer versions of the RoboCop 2 video game, which also had a positive reception.[28][29][30]

Final years, closure and renaming

[edit]

The company tried hard onto NES production in 1991 with the game The Untouchables, and after that Special FX made one last major move with the video game tie-in for Hudson Hawk for Ocean Software,[31] for all major computers, NES and Game Boy, to a mixed response from contemporary video game critics, attributable by the negative reception of the movie.[32][33][34][35]

Right after the completion of Hudson Hawk, the Special FX team split up as relations between Special FX board of directors and publisher Ocean Software grew sour. Members, like programmer Robert Tinman and music composer Keith Tinman relocated from Liverpool to Ocean's Manchester base to finish the game titles, the NES game The Legend of Prince Valiant and the Game Boy version of Mr. Do!, the latter which was released in an incomplete state,[1][36] while the rest of the team stayed in Liverpool, while Special FX became an independent publisher in late 1991/early 1992, and the company was renamed to Rage Software, to produce the video game Striker, which met with critical acclaim.[37][38][39][40]

List of games developed

[edit]
Title Release date Publisher Platforms
Hysteria 1987 Software Projects Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Firefly 1988 Ocean Software
G.U.T.Z.
Hyper Active EMAP
Batman: The Caped Crusader Ocean Software Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum
Recoil 1989 Dennis Publishing Atari ST
Red Heat Ocean Software Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
The Untouchables Amiga, Atari ST, NES
Cabal Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Midnight Resistance 1990 ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST
RoboCop 2 Amiga, Atari ST
Hudson Hawk 1991 Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, NES, ZX Spectrum
The Legend of Prince Valiant 1992 NES
Mr. Do! Game Boy

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 "Special FX". Retro Gamer. February 2013. p. 36. Retrieved July 9, 2026.
  2. ↑ "About Special FX". Sinclair User. June 1988. p. 8. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Special FX". Wireframe. October 10, 2019. pp. 50–53. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Finnegan begins again". Computer Trade Weekly. September 1987. p. 18.
  5. ↑ "Hysteria: Go down in history with Software Projects". ACE. November 1987. p. 65. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Hysteria: Reviews". Crash. October 1987. p. 16. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  7. ↑ "A Gremlin in the Works". ZAT. November 1987. p. 22. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  8. ↑ "NEWS" (PDF). Crash. March 1988. p. 8. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Firefly". Commodore Computing International. April 1988. p. 90. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Firefly". Micromania. April 1988. p. 4. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Firefly". Sinclair User Magazine. April 1988. p. 49. Retrieved July 10, 2026.
  12. ↑ "GUTZ". Crash. June 1988. p. 13. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  13. 1 2 "Spill yer Gutz!". The Games Machine. April 1988. p. 18. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  14. ↑ "New labels, old labels, newe companies". The Games Machine. July 1988. pp. 89–90. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Ocean Wave". The One. November 1988. p. 14. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Batman". ST Action. March 1989. pp. 52–53. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Batman son-bit mand". Amiga Interface. 1989. p. 37. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  18. ↑ "Special FX takes the heat". The One. March 1989. p. 20. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  19. ↑ "We shoot them first". The One. March 1989. p. 102. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  20. ↑ "The Toady Awards". CU Amiga. July 1991. p. 67. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Red Heat". Crash. June 1989. pp. 12–13. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Red Heat". Zzap!64. July 1989. p. 101. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  23. ↑ "The Untouchables". Crash. November 1989. p. 45. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Cabal". Crash. December 1989. pp. 65–66. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Ocean". ST Action. November 1989. p. 16. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Coin-Op Corner". Zzap!64. March 1990. p. 6. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  27. ↑ "Midnight Resistance". Crash. July 1990. p. 40. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  28. ↑ "The Path of Least Resistance". The One. August 1990. pp. 67–68. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  29. ↑ "Team Talk". ST Action. November 1990. p. 15. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  30. ↑ "RoboCop 2". CU Amiga. September 1990. pp. 12–13. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  31. ↑ "Hudson Hawk". CU Amiga. February 1991. p. 6. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  32. ↑ "Hudson Hawk". ACE. November 1991. p. 63. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  33. ↑ "Hudson Hawk". Crash. September 1991. p. 17. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Hudson Hawk". Zzap!64. December 1991. pp. 12–13. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  35. ↑ "Hudson Hawk". CU Amiga. November 1991. p. 85. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  36. ↑ Wilkins, Chris; Kean, Roger M. (January 12, 2019). Ocean: The History. Fusion Retro Books.
  37. ↑ "Special FX go it alone..." CU Amiga. February 1992. p. 7. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  38. ↑ "Striker". CU Amiga. June 1992. p. 56. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  39. ↑ "Striker". Atari ST Review. June 1992. p. 16. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
  40. ↑ "Striker". Atari ST Review. September 1992. p. 88. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
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