Page 24 - Old School Gamer Magazine Issue #39 FREE Edition

Players in the United States will recognize the Gremlin logo for a few cult favorites on the Sony
PlayStation on 16-bit consoles, but players in the United Kingdom will remember them for so much more. Gremlin Graphics wounded by Ian Stewart and Kevin Norburn in 1984. Soon after, Gremlin Interactive Limited, the Sheffield- based developer had hits on the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX and both the Commodore 16 and Commodore 64.
The creative energy at the brand was immense. According to Neil Biggin, one of the lead developers of Gremlin’s Loaded on PS1, “90% of the people at Gremlin in that era were motivated by their own desire to be creative and at the forefront of something very exciting. These weren’t people who had chosen
a degree to make money, almost everyone there had been at their craft since they were kids, myself included,” Biggin said. “It was the furthest thing from corporate. The building was full of “bedroom” offices. We made ourselves a little home from home with posters, artwork, all manner of things to make the offices an extension of our youth. Music was spinning in every room; in the shared rooms many had their headphones on. Lunchtimes were full of intranet games and when we weren’t making games, most were playing games, either video games or board/card games. We worked hard and played hard. Cliche, but it’s how we created these things.”
Later acquiring companies, the likes of Imagitec and DMA Design in 1997, it appeared the brand
was moving up in the world,
but by 1999 it was bought by Infogrames. By 2003, the entire Gremlin library belonged to Atari before Ian Stewart’s Urbanscan bought them back. Today however, Gremlin trademarks are now under the umbrella of Warner Brother Entertainment.
Considering all that, you’d think the library, which is largely lost in physical form, would be impossible to play today, but the Antstream Arcade has over 100 versions of Gremlin’s best titles available to play online.
So, without further ado, let us take on a tour of some of the coolest experiences from one of gaming’s lost developers.
MONTY ON THE RUN
and Commodore 64, it’s a classic in every sense of the word.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Simply put, this 1985 platformer has it all, infectious gameplay, a lovable main character,
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FIVE AMAZING GREMLIN GAMES ON ANTSTREAM ARCADE
By Patrick Hickey Jr.
Looking for the five objects to form his freedom kit, Monty Mole is
on the run from the cops moving through his home in order to get to the English Channel. Watch out for those pistons! One of the most- heralded games on the Spectrum
and a score by Rob Hubbard that’s still amazing. When you first boot up the game, you’ll automatically be thrown into mid-80s retro fun. For some, that could be a turn off, but make no mistake, this is one of the best games of the era. Available
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