Another GTW entry and yet another Codemasters non-release to go into the vault. Mission Jupiter is not a late title like CJ’s 4th, but infact a very early Codemasters game which was being converted from the Spectrum original by Derek Brewster.
John Airey was assigned to the task and completed a conversion of this average sideways scrolling SEU, complete with music by Adam Gilmore. However, unlike the Spectrum version the game never quite made it even though it was completed.
The reason why we are not entirely sure – the game lacks a bit of polish compared to the Spectrum version – but Codemasters did release their fare share of crap in the early days so it does seem odd why this didn’t make it. To get a glimpse of how it might have looked released, you can check out the spectrum inlay in the scans below which would have been used.
Reading the crack intro though, it seems a friend of the programmer obtained a copy and leaked it out… so maybe it was because of the leak that Codemasters decided not to release it? Alternatively the original game was released back in 1987, where as the cracked version surfaced in 1989. Possibly the conversion was very late and too late for Codemasters to release – another option to ponder.
The main thing is that the game has sneaked out and is fully preserved, but it would be good to find out the story about this game. The game’s author only seems to have programmed one other game, which was a text adventure for Atlantis Software.
John got in touch via the comments, and confirms that he wrote a few games (usually conversions from the Spectrum), some under the name of John Green. He didn’t recall much about this particular game or why it wasn’t released, as he was in the process of moving from Newcastle to Brighton.
Do you know any more about this release?
Contributions: Jazzcat, Adam Gilmore, Fabrizio Bartoloni, John Airey
Supporting content
Available downloads
- Game_Missionjupiter.zip (zip)
Gallery
Creator speaks
From John Airey, via the comments:
“I imagine this Games Author is very hard to find. He wrote a number of games apparently, some under the name John Green. But usually they were conversions from the Spectrum. He was even writing a game during Live Aid in 1985, or so he tells me…
I don’t actually remember much about the history of this game (at the time I was in the process of moving from Newcastle to Brighton). Not even sure it was released at all as it was late. But I do remember using the run stop/restore combination to play “Mission Jupiter” through the sound card (on Commodore 64s that had the sound bug which enabled you to play encoded speech).”
Update history
- 04/08/22 – Added snippet of details from programmer.
- 16/12/19 – Added inlay scan.
Hi Frank, I presume John must mean that he used John “Patrick” Green – there is an Atlantis Game, Vagan Attack, that is credited to that name on GB64. I’ll flag it up to the GB64 guys.
Ah good spot Gaz, thanks! Couldn’t find any matches for even names ending in “Green” last night for some reason. Probably just me! :)
Hmmm – wonder if its the same person who did these: http://www.gamebase64.com/search.php?a=5&f=3&id=653&d=18&h=0 … waiting to hear back from John to confirm.
It just fits the facts quite well – Vagan Attack is a Spectrum conversion and released by Altantis – the same publisher as John’s credited game. I think the other guy is an American coder but could be wrong.
Sorry to spam, Frank. But in fact the name of the coder is actually John Green on the Vagan Attack title screen so I think it was just a case of the GB64 team incorrectly linking that to the later American coder.
Ah that makes sense, great work Gaz! Have you let GB64 know or shall I ping them a message?
I imagine this Games Author is very hard to find. He wrote a number of games apparently, some under the name John Green. But usually they were conversions from the Spectrum. He was even writing a game during Live Aid in 1985, or so he tells me…
I don’t actually remember much about the history of this game (at the time I was in the process of moving from Newcastle to Brighton). Not even sure it was released at all as it was late. But I do remember using the run stop/restore combination to play “Mission Jupiter” through the sound card (on Commodore 64s that had the sound bug which enabled you to play encoded speech).
Thanks John – have just updated the page with some of these details.
Hi John – I remember coming over to your flat in Newcastle when you were writing the game – it’s a bit of a blur – it was my first game music – https://deepsid.chordian.net/?file=/MUSICIANS/G/Gilmore_Adam/Mission_Jupiter.sid&subtune=1
The Spectrum inlay link requires user/password (it’s to the WOS ftp account), this one works: http://worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/m/MissionJupiter.png
Thanks Fabrizio – will get that updated sometime today! :)