CRASH 1985

COVER GAME CRACKERS

The best game inlay covers of 1985

Graeme Mason takes a closer look at six more of his favourite Spectrum game covers from another year in the life of computer. This issue he focuses on 1985, a time when the big publishers began to assert their authority on the software scene and money-saving compilations first

appeared.

Robin of the Wood Odin Computer Graphics

Gerry Fisher created the majority of Odin’s cover art and this simple yet hugely evocative image is one of my favourites of his. The foreground shows the arrows from the famous scene in Robin Hood folklore, where the ace archer splits an opponent’s arrow with his own in a remarkable piece of marksmanship. Behind this is Sherwood Forest, its wintry array of leafless trees splitting the shining white light that flits between the wooden guardians. Despite its lack of human characters (there’s not even any sign of Robin Hood himself), it’s a marvellously stark yet beautiful painting, that immediately places the viewer in the famous forest, ready to take on the massed forces of the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. The image is circled by a white band and the classy Odin Computer Graphics logo in the bottom left hand corner. A gorgeous cover for a stunning game.

Soft Aid Argus Press

The talented artist David

Rowe has already featured in this series, thanks to his legendary work on

Quicksilva’s 3D Ant Attack.

Here, David takes on the somewhat thankless task of painting the cover to charity compilation Soft

Aid, a spin-off of Bob

Geldof’s Band Aid of which the single, Do They Know It’s

Christmas? is included on the tape. Fortunately David was more than up to the job, creating an image that is as impressive as it is poignant. A skeletal, malnourished figure sits hunched in the middle of the picture, a child in one arm while their other hand cradles the side of its head. A parched riverbed, its muddy cracks zig-zagging off into the distance, betrays the perilous situation and the only vegetation is a brown and dying Acacia tree, itself desperately in need of some life-giving water. A powerful illustration for a compilation that raised valuable funds for the famine in Ethiopia.

Abu Simbel Profanation Dinamic

Like many kids in the eighties, I was a big fan of Indiana Jones and this Dinamic game gave Spectrum owners the chance to explore an Egyptian tomb in search of treasure, albeit as the cursed Johnny Jones (any relation?). While the game itself, a platformer, is too unbalanced in terms of gameplay, the cover is a delight that reveals more detail the longer you look. The hero dominates the centre, legs wide as he leaps across a yawning chasm, a bag full of purloined valuables trailing behind him. Reaching up from the abyss are the spiky legs of a giant spider, the body of which is unfortunately obscured by the Dinamic logo. Nevertheless, the spider’s set of four crimson eyes are just about visible, giving you a terrifying glimpse of the fate that awaits this explorer, should he not make it to the other side. Overlooking the scene is the entombed Pharaoh himself, a pair of mystical orbs giving an impressive electrical boost to the Profanation part of the game’s title.

Jet Set Willy II: The Final Frontier Software Projects

I love all of Roger Tissyman’s art for Software Projects and this is one of my favourites. While the game itself is merely an expansion of the original, it does feature a jaunt into space for its eponymous star, and that’s presumably where Roger took his inspiration for the game’s cover. As with Jet Set Willy, Willy is still enjoying the trappings of wealth, despite having crash landed on what appears to be the Moon. Juggling glasses of champagne while sitting at a bistro-style table, the reflection of Willy’s nemesis, housekeeper Maria, rolling pin at the ready, is making the sweat permeate improbably through his space suit. It’s the little touches that I love: a Union Jack patch on Willy’s arm, a charming polka-dot bow tie and the cheeky little alien who’s popped its head up to see if he can blag some champers. I’m still trying to work out what the strange things are in the craters and the point of the mysterious globe near the wreckage of Willy’s spaceship. Answers on a postcard…

Emerald Isle Level 9

I couldn’t let this round-up go without another adventure game, and this fantastic cover from Level 9’s Godfrey Dowson also includes one of the more unusual ways for an artist to sign their work. Starting at the back of the image, the greenery of the Emerald Isle surrounds a baroque castle, two bright flags contrasting the tired and shabby look of the building they billow over. A narrow beach borders the island, dotted with palm trees and huge pointed rocks puncture the turbulent sea. One of those rocks was no doubt responsible for holing the wooden boat that is rapidly sinking to the left of the image and it’s here that an eagle-eyed viewer can spot a crate that’s worked its way out from the ship’s hold. Already broken and leaking its contents, the box is clearly marked G Dowson, leaving one pondering on the fate of its owner. Finally, right at the bottom of the picture lays an ornate flask, hinting at the mysteries that lie ahead.

Volcano Computer Magic

Few cassette inlays of 1985 evoke the thrills and danger of an imminent disaster as well as Computer Magic’s Volcano. It was inevitable that after such a tremendous cover the game would be a let-down (it’s not very good), but in the context of this article, we can let that slide. Dominating the image is – surprise! – a volcano, and it’s in the full throes of a dramatic eruption. A jet of ash and fire is shooting up through its opening, creating a horribly black and sulphuric cloud at the top of the picture. Fragments of flaming rock rain down, the trailing fire revealing the rapidity at which this disaster is unfolding. Most threateningly, white-hot lava flows down from the volcano, massing into a deadly pool that slowly crawls towards the bottom of the image, ready to utterly subsume anything in its path — including you.