A very short entry for a game that eventually saw release, but actually was meant to be a fully licensed game.
If you ever played Novogen’s Battle Island, then you may have noticed that the sprites look rather much like Commando’s sprites. But also, the musician was Elite’s main musician Mark Cooksey.
According to Commodore User magazine, the game had started out as a Commando 2 development (aka Commando ’88). They had previously attempted a sequel before with Commando ’86, and when that fell through – the game was renamed and released as Duet. Elite clearly thought they could try again, but this time US Gold had apparently now got the licence – so the title was sold to Novogen and renamed as Battle Island.
It sounds legitimate, though we hope to confirm from those involved that this was the case. All the evidence seems to be there though! Maybe there is a version named as “Commando ’88” waiting to be found?
Contributions: Ross Silliant
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Gary Walton also made Terry’s Big Adventure. Where’d that guy go? He just vanished.