A lovely surprise in June 2020 was the release of a previously unknown Mr Chip game called Zambeezi, which was recovered by Genesis Project from an old disk of one of their members, Jorge Rodriguez (aka Black Beard). Many thanks to Vinny Mainolfi and Alex Aris for the heads up on Twitter.
This is a Manic Miner style game which is set in Africa, and where you must collect several objects on each level to progress. It is a simple, but fun game which has been created by Tony Kelly of Video Meanies fame.
Just how the game came to be on Jorge Rodriguez’s disks is unknown, or why it was never actually released. The game seems to be complete, but just lacking some final polish as it is impossible to progress past one of the later screens in the game. Is there possibly a later version of the game to be found, or was this cancelled at this very point?
It is a brilliant finding and recovery, and again – a nice unexpected surprise, as this is a title that hasn’t really been heard of until now. Hopefully some day will find out a bit more about the game and the story behind it.
Contributions: Genesis Project, Vinny Mainolfi, Alex Aris, Jorge Rodriguez
