Yet another Hewson based GTW enters the archives, this time with a C64 conversion of the Amiga game by Chris Hinsley.
The game was a platform shooter that was reviewed by Zzap!64, but didn’t score particularly well – getting 45% overall. The review mentions that a Commodore 64 version is coming out, but not until later in 1989. Thanks to Martin/Stadium64 for the heads up about this.
It was confirmed by Hugh Binns that he did all the artwork and maps for the C64 version of the game, that had a very metallic look. Hugh assumed that it was never released, and recalled the coder being some called Grant.
We got in touch with Grant Harrison, and he knew of the game and suggested it was likely Vakis Paraskeva who was the developer.
The game is rumoured to have been completed, though confirmation needs to be made. There seems to be confusion to why the game was never released – but perhaps the poor Amiga review was good enough reason.
If you know anything more about the conversion, please let us know!
Contributions: Hugh Binns, Grant Harrison, Martin/Stadium64
Supporting content
Gallery
Creator speaks
Hugh Binns speaks to GTW about work on Custodian…
“This was the c64 version of an amiga game by Chris Hinsley. I never saw it in the shops and assumed it never came out.
I did the graphics and maps for the c64 version loosly based on the amiga grfx. All I remember is that the c64 version was very metalic!
I don’t remember the name of the programmer, although his first name may have been Grant.
Incidentally, the best person to talk to on any old Hewson stuff would be Paul Chamberlain (he used the nickname Sharkey in some credits) as he was the in-house producer/manager at hewson for years and commissioned most of their stuff. Last I heard he was at Sega.”
Hugh Binns.
Update history
03/12/24 – Tidy up of review and addition of Zzap review.
Regarding (Coding: ….., Varis Paraskeva )
I think you may refer to Vakis Paraskeva .
http://www.mycommodore64.com/2013/04/08/multisound-synthesizerby-romik-software/
http://www.gb64.com/search.php?a=5&f=3&id=1787&d=18
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/vakis-paraskeva/credits/developerId,314358/
http://www.commodore16.com/dirty-den-review/
Thanks for the correction Nemo! I’ll see if I can find him :)
I encountered this game on the Amiga under the name Kalashnikov, and later found that was the pre-release name. Not sure if this early tentative name would also apply to the C64 version, or the title Custodian was already set in stone by the time work on C64 started.
I tried to seek out some info on the C64 version, I came across a blogger that interviewed Andrew Hewson and the game was briefly discussed but unfortunately 8-bit versions were not brought up.
I’m not sure Akkroid – it could well be that it was named this originally. Certainly food for thought! :)