Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story - A Celebration of a Llegend - Beyond The Scanlines

[@FB3Network]

I absolutely love this game, so much. As a fan of Jeff Minter's work, this is a literal goldmine. Reading all of those articles, newspapers, and whatnot was seriously entertaining as hell. The videos also used very clever editing, and to put it simply, the 'documentary' portion of the game is incredibly entertaining to soak hours into. I should know, because I spent a majority of the 10 hours I spent on the playthrough I uploaded on KZbin (full playthrough, by the way) just looking at the documentary portion of the game. You can even read Jeff's own personal newsletter he sent out to Llamasoft fans, and it is so entertaining to see Jeff talk about his personal life, his interests, what he was excited for in that particular month, and so much more. But, where the game truly shines is in its game catalogue. This is the first documentary (technically second) ever where you don't just get to learn about the history, but get to actually play it as well. 42 different games in Llamasoft's vast library, starting from their first simple maze called 3D 3D all the way up to Tempest 2000, which many consider to be Jeff Minter's magnum opus. And during my first playthrough of the game, I was literally stunned when I found out that he made the Neon visualizer from the Xbox 360. That was my first exposure to music visualization right next to the OG visualizer on Windows Media Player prior to Windows Vista, so in this case, Windows XP. I legitimately had no idea that I had already experienced Jeff Minter's work as a kid. Knowing that literally shocked me. I really thought that my first exposure to Jeff Minter was during the documentary on Polybius by Ahoy on KZbin when he mentioned Jeff's PSVR version, but it turns out I have already known Jeff's work for quite some time, but just not realizing it. And speaking of the game titles, there aren't just one game for each generation, and that's it. In fact, there's multiple versions of one game for multiple platforms depending on if the game got a version for each system that was available at the time. The biggest finding in my eyes is the prototype of Revenge of the Mutant Camels '89, designed for the never-released Konix Multisystem video game console. The fact that the Digital Eclipse team was able to find a prototype of a cancelled video game for a cancelled game console is amazing and it really only further shows the lengths that they're going to preserve video game history. My favorite game of them all is of course Tempest 2000, but I think the lightsynths are where Jeff really shines in his work. He has made several different lightsynths for several different platforms, the first being Psychedelia, which was very impressive for its time. I'm not counting it as a game for obvious reasons since it isn't actually a 'game', but its awesome to see it on here nonetheless, along with the sequel, Colourspace. I usually am never, ever interested in documentaries. But this? This takes the cake. This is seriously one of the best documentaries I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. As a Jeff Minter fan, I feel like this game is a true gift, a true blessing for a huge Llamasoft fan like me. It's truly the best way to experience the mind of Jeff Minter. But, the best part about it for me, personally? It was the fact that I won this. From a giveaway. Hosted by Digital Eclipse. On the day of the Solar Eclipse. On April 8th, they were doing a giveaway of this game along with several of their other titles as a celebration of the physical Solar Eclipse that Monday. In this lineup of freebies were of course this game, The Making of Karateka, the new Wizardry game (which I didn't go after because I wasn't that interested in it), and every game released so far in the Digital Eclipse Arcade series, a series of seasonal-themed arcade games. They would post codes on four of their socials, those being Twitter, Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky, with some of the characters of said code missing and being replaced with question marks. And next to the code with the missing characters was a clue which relates to anything; media, pop culture, science, literally anything, and you had to be the first one to use the code, and redeem it. If you were first, the game was yours and you got to keep it forever. This was, without a doubt, the hardest one to win since I wanted it so much. Every time a code for this game was published, I was not quick enough and someone else ended up getting the code before I did and redeeming it. I seriously was losing hope after several failed attempts to redeem the Llamasoft codes that were getting posted since I was never quick enough. But, in the meantime, I was able to snag a copy of The Making of Karateka after their Threads account posted a code for it with the clue being the Fallout: New Vegas Lucky Casino. If you have ever made it or heard of the New Vegas Strip in the game, you would know the casino name is "Lucky 38". I got that one after putting the number '38' in the missing spots. So yeah, I know my Fallout. But, I kept missing out on every future Llamasoft code after that, so I thought I was never going to win it. Boy, how wrong I was. At 12:53 in the afternoon (I am Central Daylight/Standard Time, so it might be different for you), a code for the game is posted on Threads with the clue being the atomic symbol for Radon, which on a periodic table, is "Rn". So, getting the clue, I rush to the Steam app and replace the question marks with the clue successfully cracked, and I thought I was gonna see the dreaded "Activation not completed" message yet again. So, I pray the code hasn't been used yet, replace the characters with the clue cracked, and then... I saw it - "Activation Successful: ALPACA for Beta Testing". I threw up my hands in pure excitement. I just got the game I wanted the absolute most from the giveaway. I literally freaked out, genuinely. As a big fan of Jeff's work, this felt like a huge score! And if you are wondering why they called it ALPACA in the retail product key, well, it is because it is a common misconception and people often get alpacas and llamas confused and think they are practically the same animal. Little fun fact for you. And with me winning the game I wanted the absolute most, you can bet I played that game as soon as I won it from the giveaway. An hour in, and I was already hooked, and quite frankly, intrigued. I seriously just soaked up all of the information I have recieved in the first hour I played it. I finished my first initial playthrough of the game with a grand total of 7.8 hours clocked into the game, according to Steam. And then, I played it again for a KZbin video (which I previously mentioned). Ended up playing it for longer that time. 10 hours. So yeah, in short, this game is amazing, it now holds a special place in my heart, and is literally a goldmine for any Llamasoft fan. It's literally an interactive time machine, and you won't regret the purchase or time you spend on it. Definitely give it a go, it is absolutely worth your time and money. PS: I loved that little clever "llegend" pun in the title. That is, just, bravo, dude. Bravo. 👏

[@Urban_Flux]

Thank you YT algorithm for bringing this wonderful video to me out of the blue! Think it must have been Attack of the Mutant Camels on the 800xl that made Jeff Minter's name for me, any time you saw Llamasoft after that it was a straight purchase as it was going to be something else, just like the man himself! I see it is on Steam ;O)

[@ultrasteveg]

A thoroughly measured and thoughtful look at what is an amazing collection, for the games, yes, but more importantly the historic archive. As a Brit growing up with this stuff (I had Colourspace on the A8!) it's heartening to see such attention given to a legend of the industry coming from these shores. The seeming microcosm of the microcomputer age has been done justice by DE, and your review highlights that really well. You make some really valid observations - and the Batalyx issue is just one - that engagement from 'users' is something that can and should be addressed with the modern ability to patch titles, in a way that Jeff certainly never had! As you highlighted (with a very well chosen few seconds of video capture), and Jeff considered from the now, the licker enemies in Iridis Alpha were where he put them, and with hindsight perhaps wouldn't have, but no patches then! And that does such a great job of showing how 'finished' his and other games were at the time, and just how talented those pioneers were. It's good to have so many games in one place, and the comparisons we can make between versions. You pointed out a few, and I'd say that perhaps with our older, more mature views (at least some of us!), we can appreciate these titles on the systems that we couldn't back then, either because of funds meaning we only had one, or we succumbed to the 'playground format wars'. So being able to compare the Vic-20 originals with the more familiar C64 versions, or A8 and C64 etc is so important, and displays a really useful insight into those systems, particularly as Jeff was able to squeeze SO MUCH out of them all. I also think related to the distance and time aspect of a collection like this, many of us will have a better appreciation of how to play some of these games than when we did as kids. Your point about being able to access the instructions from the pause menu is SUCH AN IMPORTANT ONE. So many compilations don't get this bit right (or include them at all) and it's a barrier to playing them. I'm so glad you mentioned that. You also asked 'what next' for the GM releases. A really interesting question. I'd consider this and Karateka 'niche' in some ways, and I hope DE continue that theme. We know so much about a lot of the 'big' stuff, and seeing preservation like this in action for some of the less-trodden paths is welcome. The only thing I wish they'd do is offer a 'Lite' release of the archive material only (no playable games) as a companion piece. I'll be playing this on Switch as that on a big TV is how I like to play these days, but to be able to sit at my Mac (PC if I absolutely had to!) and use a more convenient UI to scroll through and read some of the material would be great. Of course, I could buy it on Steam, but that's not my point. I'd happily pay a little extra for the ability to do that. I think that's an area we're missing in preservation, and again, one that is easy to address in the modern, digital age. All in all, a fantastic early look at the collection, thanks, Rob!

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of games where the cross-development is worth exploring, which certainly bums me out a bit that we didn't get the original C16 version of Voidrunner, just the C64 port (let alone those which Jeff didn't touch himself). I think deep down, the big thing with any projects will be around licensing - I know a lot of folk (unsurprisingly) expect Prince of Persia to follow, but the question is whether being under the Atari umbrella gives DE more resources to deal with all of that. I guess one can only hope - because I know I've got a list of names (and games) as long as my arm for what I'd love to see. But the idea of a "lite" collection would be nice. I'd love to be able to use collections list this as research material for videos and what not - and being able to cite them as such would be amazing. It's certainly something that does concern me a tad (again, coming from the angle of doing most of my production work on a Mac and what not), but having a little more control over the various artefacts would be oh so handy. Especially because with the case of someone like Jeff, there's no "archive" for UK stuff that can be accessed by far-away critics/researchers/whatever folk like me! The fact this series of releases inspires so much talk, and so much thought is a great thing in my book as it shows that this is a niche that needs to be filled, and I greatly value the discussion for the thoughts it offers too :)

[@neovelocipede]

The point about showcasing developers from outside the known (and oft over-exposed) areas is so poignant, I love that you made an effort of putting that out there. Great showcase and history lesson here, thank you! It is why I myself want to look more into video game curation, simply to tell people about all the history outside of the US and Japan. Hopping on the mailing list from now on!

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

For me, it's always been about appreciating these games for what their place is in history. I've found myself speaking to folks over the years who just want to write everything off, or only care because a game was just an artefact in a moment of their lives, but they're more than that. It's also the joy of discovery too - there's a bunch of games here I've never sat down with too (lots of the really early ones), and I've found them a joy to spend some time with, even if it's only for a moment. Curation is an interesting prospect - I'm certainly *not* a professional, but all I can really say is to find a base in something which interests you and go from there. At the end of the day it's about filtering recommendations down to what is interesting to you.

[@Giochidallaltromondo]

We're talking about a legend. Great Jeff!

[@blatherskite3009]

The first game I ever bought with my own pocket money as a kid was Llamasoft "Centipede" for the ZX81, which I think is in this collection. Had to send off for it by mail order in those days, and get my parents to write the cheque. The weird part is that my family never even owned the ZX81 - a friend of my dad's lent it to us for a while - so I've no idea why I bought a game for a system that I was only borrowing (shrug) Anyway, still got it somewhere - the game, I mean, not the ZX81; we gave that back eventually! Bright orange cassette inlay with a picture of a llama on it, and "High volume, mid tone" handwritten on the inside of the inlay in biro :) The cottage industry days of UK videogames...

[@ThisIsPete]

Great stuff. I was never in any doubt, but I'm reassured that Digital Eclipse are continuing to do a great job with these "Gold Master" titles. I look forward to seeing what's next for them -- and hopefully, eventually, being able to put them on my shelves as interactive museum pieces to be explored at leisure. Context is so important for a lot of retro games -- particularly those developed for home computers. Those who grew up with nothing but the NES are quick to discount home computer games (particularly those from Europe, it has to be said) because they're "too complicated" or "too weird" to be immediately accessible. That's why collections like this are important: they not only attempt to contextualise these often experimental titles, but they also help newcomers understand them a bit better. Not necessarily be *good* at them, as many of them are very tough indeed, but at least to understand why things on screen are unfolding the way they do. I'm particularly fascinated to finally try out all the C64 and VIC titles I read about in Nature of the Beast back in the day, but had no means of playing. I always appreciated Minter's work on both the A8 and ST, but I will be glad to finally have an easily accessible means of trying out those titles that I always wished would come to my platforms of choice. I think Ancipital is probably top of the list for me, and Batalyx is definitely up there too; here's hoping they patch in some sort of solution for switching between the games. I'm also looking forward to trying some Minter stuff I'd never heard of before -- and settling down for a serious fiddle with Colourspace, perhaps accompanied by some select custom music.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

I fully agree. I *need* proper physical copies of this, and I'm a little sad they're only going to be a one and done physical run (at least based on what's proposed for Karateka). Like the Criterion Collection, these need to be something you can see at a store and grab out of curiosity. But I think that's something for another time. The VIC & C64 selections are really the bulk of what's on hand to play, and both are well worth the time to explore. I just hope I'm a weirdo outlier in terms of the lag and stuff. But I hope you have a blast with 'em.

[@austinreed7343]

Much like the Criterion Collection having Wall-E, a few more mainstream IP could get some representation to draw up hype and keep the collection going. Digital Eclipse already does this with their basic collections, as well as the prototype Gold Master entry Atari 50, which are more reliant on mainstream IP. I wonder if the basic collections will continue to be the mainstream-focused line or if we’ll get a “Gold Master” edition of something like Crash Bandicoot or Touhou. And yes, putting things into context is necessary; especially with things like intense flashing effects or culturally insensitive content that could end up being removed by a company with less dignity. I once played this crappy Rick Dangerous fan game and was put off by the series/character as a result, but a proper collection of the pre-Tomb Raider Crystal Dynamics games would be able to put the games into context; as would a collection with CJ's Elephant Antics, a game which features ethnic stereotype enemies in some versions. Older collections of console/arcade games assumed consumers were familiar with the games, however, having varying levels of included context for them (the context included for Sonic Mega Collection for example was great)

[@MattLacey]

Excellent work as always Rob, the effort and time you've put into this really does show. I hope Jeff himself sees it! Despite playing quite a few of his games as a kid and following him on social media in more recent years, I still had no idea that Llamasoft had put out so many games, and I can see now that I've missed some very original works along the way. Think I'll pick this one up on the PC, not least because I want to dig into those design documents! Bravo.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

One of the tidbits I'm shocked by was how the OG VIC 20 Gridrunner was done in a week. Granted, he was so young at the time, but even when I was that young I could never do that. I think it's a detail that shows how talented a coder he was. I think there's so much to look at - that I hope it's educational and inspirational too!

[@MattLacey]

@@BeyondTheScanlines holy crap, that's hugely impressive! Would have been quite inexperienced too

[@merman1974]

As I have been a Llamasoft fan for many years, this was always going to be an instant purchase for me (it went live on Steam while I was watching this video!) I appreciate so much what Digital Eclipse is doing with this series, preserving history and documenting each game well. A little disappointing to hear about the issue with changing sub-games in Batalyx, though (that does make completing Synchro II even tougher!). I'm looking forward to trying Colourspace, and of course, the AMC '89 prototype from the Konix Multisystem deserves to be played after all these years.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

I didn't realise Synchro 2's going to be even harder as a result of that - I tend to struggle enough with it (let alone the Activation of Iridis Base) as it is, so it just adds to the sting I guess. Hopefully this has been brought to their attention though, and they'll reconsider. I can only hope.

[@Aalborg42]

Minter made some of the first c64 games I ever played .. im gonna buy this tout suite ❤

[@simplesimonhadapie]

As a kid his games gave me a proper sense of wonder especially revenge of the mutant camels which stuck with me from the box to the game itself. Nothing like his madness

[@Martroid]

Chomping at the bit for this ... still 2:38 until I can purchase ... arghhhh!!! Cheers for helping me pass the time, man 🤘👽🤘

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

I'll admit - compared to other things I've had to abide by review embargoes for, this has been tough, and I'm a little bummed it didn't go live for purchasing at the time it went up. Hopefully whatever time breezes by until you can get some blasty, zappy goodness on.

[@Martroid]

Cheers, man. Yep, finally got it last night. So far have only played Llamatron (nice with twin-sticks I must say) and AMC (as brutal as ever and it still has the black camel bug which cracked me up). Anyway, thanks again 🤘👽🤘

[@xotmatrix]

Thanks for the honest review and again shining a light on the Gold Master Series. Very excited for this one.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

It's a series which is one of the most important projects for showing gaming's past in a light that's more than nostalgic artefacts of one's life. I truly want this series to continue on as long as it can, because I think it's the best step forward for celebrating these smaller stories in gaming's history.

[@hamburgers140]

Jeff Minter is a legend, I used to read his columns in Atari mags as a kid, pre-internet. Getting a free Llamasoft game on a magazine cover disk was better than buying a new big budget title at the store.

[@williamwright9079]

Llamatron changed my life! I still play it in the present, I love it! Rock on beasties!

[@patbreen3859]

Love this product and also your exploration of it. A few I've played in the past, but quite a few I havent. Will definitely get this one...

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

That was one think I really love about it - even if someone's only played a few, there's so much to explore in the games alone, but the rest of the documentary is more than icing on the cake!

[@woodsmal]

A passionate review of another in the excellent Digital Eclipse series. So many games included that I know nothing about. In fact I only know of Jeff because of many mentions on the British Retro Gaming Podcasts I listen to. I'll definitely grab a copy and try it out for myself.

[@EnbyKaiju]

Fantastic video looking back at games I'd never gotten to experience before, great job as usual Rob. Also, what the heck is it with almost every one of these games having strobe lights? Was grateful for the warning early on because some of those game videos started giving me a migraine so at least I knew to be ready for that. These games look hecking wild, thanks for sharing them all with us

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Yeah, Jeff's quite a fan of psychedelic visuals (I guess it goes with growing up with a load of '70s prog rock), hence why the light synths became a thing too. A few do have it, though not all sadly - even as there's a few where it's kind of a bit much (Iridis Alpha has a terrible one when you're near death in all honesty). I kind of wish there was something in the emulation to disable it on more games, but that probably takes more investment in development to patch out that code.

[@JoeyJ0J0]

I was pleased with this collection, never played most of these games except Tempest 2000 but its a good collection, just needs Tempest 3000 and Defender 2000

[@VGRobot]

Iridis Alpha was recently released on the Evercade! My personal reaction: I felt like a kid again, in that I wasn’t sure if I was incompetent or the game was evil. Twas the latter.

[@VGRobot]

Seriously though, if you want some euro representation, the Evercade is doing a bang up job

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Let's just say Evercade partnered with people I don't wish to support for the C64/Amiga emulation across those computer collections, and leave it at that. I won't lie: I'm a little sad about that, especially as the latest collection has Paradroid as well, and I'd rather like to have Paradroid on the go. But principles are principles and all that...

[@adameberbach]

Nice look at this Rob, I bought it of course. I registered Llamatron back in the day... (Of course it was the far superior Amiga version)

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

I'm certainly interested in seeing both side by side - though not the scope of the collection, I'm glad I've got the means to do so here ;) But I'm glad it'll give more folks the chance to try so many games out, and get a little appreciation for their background more than anything.

[@fibrodad1354]

Get the top High score on Llamatron, enter " fuck you " it will say those words in next game. Amiga 500 I found this on.

[@harry2.01]

A good old Reading boy!!!

[@andycarr3711]

Ancipital deserves more love.

[@andycarr3711]

This shareware or have things moved on now?.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

This isn't shareware. That model has been dead for a long, long time.

[@andycarr3711]

@@BeyondTheScanlines I was joking obviously.

[@AReallyLongAndUnremakableUser]

I'd pay good money for a jeff minter back catalogue on android or switch.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Just a note - though I covered this in PS5, this is available on a whole bunch of them - Windows PCs, Xbox One/Series, PS4 and Switch.

[@AReallyLongAndUnremakableUser]

@@BeyondTheScanlines I'll check out the online Nintendo shop! Thank you!!

[@c6jones720]

you missed the later games like polybius

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

The context in this documentary is that initial first decade or so, which means the later games like POLYBIUS, Moose Life, TxK/T4K et al aren't really covered. I'd love to have had playable copies of those included to enjoy on the go, but as I understand it to be, emulating them a tad too much, and they're easily purchaseable anyway.

[@blatherskite3009]

@@BeyondTheScanlinesIt's a shame that TxK never saw the light of day on anything other than the PS Vita, due to legal intervention from the reanimated corpse of Atari. I heard TxK was headed for the PS4 and Jeff had even added a VR mode to it. Presumably coding experience that he put to use creating the VR mode for Polybius. Jeff and "Atari" must've come to some kind of arrangement because Jeff's "Tempest 4000" was published on the Atari label, and TxK was allowed to remain on sale for the Vita, so I rather hoped the PS4 version of TxK would eventually still appear via Atari or something ... but here we are, a decade down the line, and it never happened. Very silly, because it was (apparently) finished and ready to go. Seems it would've been in everyone's interest to have come to some kind of sensible arrangement to get it released rather than "vault" a finished game. Getting a split of _some_ money for it is surely better for all parties than no-one getting any money at all. Maybe vaulting TxK forever and doing Tempest 4000 for Atari were the terms of the settlement?