1990 Active Minds
Platform: Amstrad GX4000
As part of the launch and release of The Games That Weren’t book, we are adding assets and content that didn’t make it to print as bonus DLC content to share with you.
Within the book is an in-depth and detailed 8 page story about the unreleased Gazza 2 by Active Minds for the Amstrad GX4000. We spoke to Adam Waring, Chris Pink, David Colley, Julian Rignall, Matthew Regan, Paul Clansey, Rik Yapp, Richard Leadbetter, Simon Butler, John Pickford and Ste Pickford about the development and reviews that were made. The book also contains a number of specially re-pixelled screenshots by Trevor Storey from grainy screens shown in various magazine reviews of the time.
Although fully reviewed by the press at the time, the GX4000 was such a flop that the game never made it to shelves, although it has been rumoured for years that copies had been seen on sale. Active Mind’s David Colley confirmed otherwise. With John also sadly no longer having anything of the game, it is reliant most likely on one of the review copies surfacing to preserve the title. The reviewers we spoke to, all confirmed they had nothing of the game and felt it was likely sent back to the publisher.
Whilst doing our research, we purchased a copy of Amstrad Action and Cent Pour Cent to make some hi-res scans for the book, as well as the game’s advert. These were not used in the end (as some special screens were pixeled by Trevor Storey), so we have added them here. There is also a photo of the development room from Paul Clansey.
In addition to our own scans, we’ve added in various magazine scans of the reviews taken from various online sources. I’ve borrowed the Amstrad Action review scans from GX4000.co.uk (as oddly I hadn’t actually kept the full review I scanned from my own copy – just the screenshots).
Other links/resources
- GX4000.co.uk feature on the game
- Pickford Bros page on the game
- Xyphoe’s video on the Amstrad CPC edition
Gallery
