Mystery of Bandersnatch: The Game that VANISHED | Nostalgia Nerd

Check out sponsor 1inch Wallet for a safe and easy way to store your assets: jn3rg.app.link/Nostalgia_Nerd... ~ In 1984 there existed a company called Imagine Software. They went under the label of Imagine The Name of the Game, and they developed lots of games for machines like the Commodore VIC-20, Sinclair ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. But their best known title is one which never actually got published. It's a game that has become legendary for it's hype and promised offerings. That game was called Bandersnatch, and just like it's Netflix spinoff, the story of it is a whole world of adventure. So settle in and let's get ready to enter the Bandersnatch (whilst not forgetting Psyclapse), and see how it broke the dreams of an entire gaming generation.
Bandersnatch, Bandersnatch, Bandersnatch (hoping it's like candyman)
Thanks to Elliot Coll of @TheRetroFuture for lending his beautiful voice.
⌚Timings⌚
0:00-01:03 Introduction
01:03-07:13 Imagine's Early Years
07:13-10:50 Imagine's Problems
10:50-14:08 The MEGAGAMES
14:08-19:04 Bandersnatch
19:04-21:56 Psyclapse
21:56-28:11 Imagine's Demise
28:11-33:33 Prototypes
33:33-35:22 Fate of the MEGAGAMES
35:22-37:04 1Inch
37:04-39:00 This isn't the end
39:00-40:14 Credits
🔗Video Links🔗
Retro Hour Interview with John Gibson: • Bandersnatch with John...
Retro Hour Interview with
Games That Weren't: www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64...
ZX Golden Years with Bruce Everiss: www.zxgoldenyears.org/bruce-e...
John Gibson Forum Interview: oceanexp.proboards.com/thread...
Imagine Software BBC News Segment: • Imagine Software, Live...
Bandersnatch resources: spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry...
Mark Jones on Twitter: / 1189146112671846401
PCW 86 Show: www.crashonline.org.uk/46/pcw...
West 57th: • West 57th - Story abou...
Commercial Breaks: • Commercial Breaks - Th...
QL Forum: qlforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f...
Tired Old Hack: tiredoldhack.com/2019/01/02/b...
Newspaper Research: www.newspapers.com/
Gift from the Gods: • Gift from the Gods Wal...
Brataccas: • Brataccas Quick Play -...
Wacky Waiters: • Wacky Waiters for the ...
Ah Diddums: • Video
Zzoom: • Zzoom Walkthrough, ZX ...
Alchemist: • Alchemist Walkthrough,...
Zip-Zap: • Zip-Zap ZX Spectrum
C64 Ad: • Commodore C64 Commerci...
VIC-20 Ad: • Commodore VIC-20 ad wi...
BBC Micro Ad: • 1984 BBC Micro Acorn E...
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Errors and omissions excepted.
Some material in this video may be used under Fair Dealing / Fair Use. Where under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 (UK: Sections 29 and 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988), allowance is made for purposes including parody, quotation, criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, education and research. Fair Dealing / Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

LOL @ a video about questionable business practices ending with an ad for cryptocurrency.

[@normloman]

Yeah it's sad. Wish he used better judgement. He's endorsing a produxt that will likely cause people to lose money in a high risk gamble. We need to hold youtubers accountable for normalizing these scams.

[@Jacknehof]

The algorithm notes perfect

[@gotmilkbutt]

Yeah I'd never put the word safe near cryptocurrency.

[@roseCatcher_]

So true. All people who promote alternate currencies against dollar fiat should be jailed at Guantanamo because they are betraying the greatest country in the world, the magnificent USofA.

[@abadenoughdude300]

Best to do with sponsor ads as what you do with all other ads: ignore and block.

[@MontyDotharl]

A lot of this- the marketing choices, the focus on turning game developers into rockstars, the lavish company lifestyle, the overhyping the game, etc.- reminds me of what would happen about a decade later with John Romero, Ion Storm, and Daikatana.

[@Chad_Thundercock]

Romero made me his bitch. He made us all his bitch.

[@jeffosoft]

History repeats itself look at google and all these tech company’s like Twitter that make little to negative profit yet live like billionaires

[@Deliveredmean42]

The similarities is scarily close. Tho the formers sounds like they were over ambitious and spreading their work thin.

[@cericat]

@@Deliveredmean42 that's definitely a part of it. But they also had the right idea with promoting their devs, the situation at other companies at the time like Atari there was no way to prove you'd worked on anything specific because they treated everyone like a normal salary earner rather than the talents they were. An unfortunate collection of failures and foresight.

[@davidspencer7254]

I'm not sure, seems to me like it's the usual story of one or two people doing all the hard work, a few living the life of Riley with little moral compass and a lot of egos padding out the company pretending to work. I've been in two companies like that since 2018, and in both cases it was the older staff (myself and two others) did all the work, and the rest just sniped and talked crap to the execs. What I learned from that was to wind back my productivity, and stop quietly fixing the mistakes of others. Doesn't make the company any more successful but certainly prevents the burnout.

[@pokehybridtrainer]

I never knew the Psygnosis I knew from the PS1 days went this deep. Holy crap, good job.

[@swifty1969]

I knew them from Amiga's Shadow of the Beast.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@swifty1969 I remember Agony on the Amiga

[@batlin]

@@swifty1969 Leander on the ST for me, although I only had the demo. It looked cool though.

[@DioBrando-qr6ye]

​@@swifty1969Turns out that they literally started on the Amiga. They were pretty renown back then, along with Factor5, but I couldn't think of any pre-Amiga games of theirs, this is why.

[@DioBrando-qr6ye]

​@@batlinI had Leander for the Amiga, and one of the things I liked about that game is that it supported two buttons joysticks, so you could jump with a button instead of pushing up.

[@cawleygamma]

This story never gets old (despite it being 40 years ago now! 😮) The fact it was all caught by the Commercial Breaks programme just adds to the mystique. I finally managed to get myself a copy of Brataccas on the ST a few years back in great shape - the game is crap and I honestly bought it more for the story surrounding it than anything else!

[@StevenJBen]

"at 35 he was nicknamed Granddad" kill me.

[@jsteezus]

Thanks for always putting out quality content. I greatly appreciate the fact you are putting documentary length videos out about subjects I would never know about being a 28 year old from the United States. I have no personal connection to the home micros, but I have grown fond of them because of your content. Keep it up and never feel that you need to rush out content. I much prefer to have 1 longer quality video, than a rushed video everyday. Hope next near is even better than this one was!

[@AnimeForeLife]

Itd be higher quality without a clickbait title

[@Codetapper]

I wouldn't call it high quality content. At 15:30 Peter claims Fred Fray arrived as a reinforcement. His surname is Gray FFS. Anyone that played Denton games will know of his music, but clearly not Nostalgia Nerd. Amateur stuff.

[@Palooka37]

@@Codetapper content creation is hard, often thankless work. It's one thing to fact check someone's work, and another thing entirely to write it off as poor over the same minor fact misnomer. Give the guy a break.

[@qbrt4050]

I can easily echo this statement. Please, keep up the excellent content in however fashion!!

[@Codetapper]

@@Palooka37 I noticed multiple mistakes and I don't even claim to have done any research. That's pretty telling imho.

[@T.O.A.D.U.K]

Nostalgia Nerd is on fire recently with the breadth and depth of videos. My favourite video is still the Renault 19 one. Lots of personal memories so truly nostalgia...

[@thebyteattic]

This has been just fantastic. You're somehow still raising your level. It's a delight to watch it.

[@Smegheid]

Of everything in this (great as usual) vid, the thing that provoked the strongest sense of nostalgia was the brief footage from shops of the era, where they were looking through drawers for the tape to put in the empty box each customer brought to the counter to buy. So many memories of buying tapes in the likes of John Menzies as a kid…

[@richbuilds_com]

I love how you do a *proper* job and intersperse commentary with relevant period footage. I hope you have fun making these as they give a lot of joy to those who care :)

[@GoncaloFerreira]

I'm a modern game/game engine developer and this is one of my favourite channels and always with great content, congratulations for the effort to provide us cool videos. I can't obviously confirm if all the facts are verified or not, but these videos are basically all we have about those times. It's sad that programmers from those times don't think about sharing their stories with us. These videos always make us want to go back to the 80s. Those were good times. :)

[@simonbutler1187]

I'm a game developer and have been for the last 40 years since first working at Imagine and this content is garbage. He has no knowledge or love for the people or the games that built this industry.

[@GoncaloFerreira]

@@simonbutler1187 I believe you when you say that about being from Imagine, and also that you believe the author may not have much love about those times (probably), but notice that I'm not talking about his love for what he does, but instead the videos, the entertainment in them, the montages, those things. Because I'm a retro gaming fan, I don't like the 3D games nowadays, that's why I'm building 2D game engines for the new machines (C++). And there are few channels with some content about those times, that's why I enjoyed the video, it may not be something wonderful itself, but it talks about those years. But if you know better channels, I'm open to suggestions, as I like content about those years, I'm not stuck to this channel alone. If there aren't, you could create some content about those years, with your former coworkers, and share with us, we would love so watch them. But remember that I'm not saying this video is the best or this channel the best, it's simply the way these videos are shown, the memories they bring us, and how they show us some videos from those days that we don't usually see. When I said I am a engine developer (C++) I didn't say that to back this video, as there is no programming stuff in this video, I said that, to say I would love to know more about those days, that's why I said that. Not to back the video, but to show that some newer programmers want to hear from those days (although I'm on my 40's already). But I accept other channels or videos. But at the moment, there aren't many. And please consider what I suggested about you creating videos with people from those days, we more recent generations would love to watch them. Thanks.

[@simonbutler1187]

@@GoncaloFerreira I would rather continue creating games than rehashing things from 40 years ago.

[@simonbutler1187]

@@GoncaloFerreira How can you be interested in a channel that does not do simple research, gets facts wrong, and relies heavily on clickbait titles that misrepresent the material entirely? You might as well watch the flat earth video channels.

[@GoncaloFerreira]

@@simonbutler1187 About: «I would rather continue creating games than rehashing things from 40 years ago.» I guess you know what this means, right? It means that the information on this video will be considered true as nobody will tell us a different version. If you know it to be a different story, you should tell us what happened. If you don't, what remains, are these videos, for future generations. So, we can't blame people for believing undisputed informations shared on these videos. About: «How can you be interested in a channel that does not do simple research, gets facts wrong, and relies heavily on clickbait titles that misrepresent the material entirely?» Well, how would I know if they do the research correctly or not? If nobody is here to tell us that what they say is wrong? Notice, that I and millions others don't know what happened, so we must believe small videos taken from news from those times, and that the video author tell us. Again, you should share a different version of the story if it exists, and if you don't, you are supporting the facts presented to us in this video. So, how could we know if the facts are wrong or not, if nobody tells us otherwise? Again, it's up to people that worked in Imagine to tell us those things. If they don't, this video is the version that remains accepted by its visitors. About the clickbaits, you're totally right, but, show me one video that doesn't relly on clickbaits? This is the 21th century, everything on the Internet is unfortunately clickbaited. We end up returning to the same point: what would viewers like me do, if this ends up being the only version of the story? Again, it would be cool if former Imagine coworkers to share facts about those times. About: «You might as well watch the flat earth video channels.» This is in my point of view a big exaggeration, the video can't possibly be that wrong that ends up being compared to a flat Earth. :) Now, understand my point of view. I'm an old-school C++ programmer, that loves stuff like pointers, etc, that is creating a game engine to develop later some 2D games retro-style or even some remakes. I don't have videos or other complete documentaries about those times, we have some like Bedroom Millionaires, Viva Amiga, etc, but there are very few of them. What can I do? I'm an old-school software developer, not a former worker from Imagine or Ocean or Psygonisis or etc, what could I know about those times? We can only watch videos, and like them or not. If I don't know the facts, I end up believing them, what other option would I have? Consider every video on the Internet fake just because I don't know all the facts? It's normal to like and accept these videos. In the 80s I was a kid, I didn't have ASM manuals, or PC/CPM/etc to program, I didn't have access to anything computer related, just a 48K at home. I couldn't program without information, I just played games. Nowadays I live on different times, but me and others will never know for sure how the 80s were. And if 80s programmers don't want to share their version, we'll never know. And that is unfortunate in my point of view. So, I think old Imagine employees would do good to share their version of the facts. I bet this channel and others would even do the video montages if you shared your stories with them. Why not tell the younger generations how those times were? I personally would love to know more about those times. I saw you were involved with Gift from the Gods, so I'll assume that probably the info about that game in this video is wrong. Anyway, nice to be talking with someone from Imagine from those times, and if you write a book about that one day, I'll buy it for sure.

[@BilisNegra]

As a Spanish viewer, it was nice to see Freddy Hardest picked as an example of a great game marketed under the Ocean-owned Imagine label!

[@OhNoBohNo]

I loved it when the Snatch bandied about all over the place Edit: Very surprised this unreleased gem never got the creepypasta treatment like the imaginary Polybius did (before the Netflix 'Bandersnatch' movie came out), considering it was an ahead-of-its-time, open-world-esque mystery by a falling-apart company. Ripe for the picking of those who started those 'Personalized Super Mario 64' legends

[@Darxide23]

Outside of Britain, this story was nearly unknown, especially in the pre-internet days. Once the internet appeared, it was too recent history for most people to think it worthy enough to make huge writeups about. So it was mostly forgotten until recently.

[@bitwize]

I loved when it was like "It's Snatchin' time"

[@limeflashlight4101]

Dead meme

[@meantime2001]

Once again an excellent production, Sir. The amount of detail you invest into research, acquiring assets, original sources and graphical presentation as well as your narration rivals any professional TV production. This is retro journalism at its best. As a long time follower of your channel - Well Done!

[@RetroDawn]

Brataccus (my favorite game in the early ST days, followed fairly closely by Sundog) was also released on the Mac. It only used 512x200 of the 640x200 medium/high resolution of the ST/Amiga, respectively. This was because it was based on the QL Bandersnatch prototype, which used the QL's 512x256 high resolution. This allowed it to be ported easily to the Mac, which had a 512x352 resolution. It just ended up vertically-squished, due to the different pixel aspect ratio of the Mac.

[@danwood_uk]

Fantastic video mate, the story of Imagine has always been interesting and tragic. Loving these long-form documentaries you're doing lately. Thanks for the podcast shout out too :)

[@sketchesofpayne]

I remember the first time I heard about "the video games crash of 1983" and thought to myself, "What the hell are they talking about? The NES didn't even come out in the US until 1985, the same year the TANDY 1000 became a thing." Growing up in the 90's, I never really knew much of anything video game related pre-1985 aside from arcade machines. It wasn't until KZbin that I started seeing videos covering the 8-bit micro computer and Atari 2600 era of gaming. It's still bizarre to me when I learn about all this stuff that was going on back then.

[@brendanjudge577]

This feels like the definitive story of Bandersnatch, and a great window into the early days of UK gaming. Bravo.

[@meatrace]

Absoutely fantastic mini-documentary. I really think the British micro-computing scene was lightning in a bottle and I want to learn as much as I can about it. You should do a doc on Magnetic Scrolls!

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Home micros were what saved the European home gaming market, pretty much preventing anything to the north american crash of 83, it just wasn't a thing over here.

[@markcartwright8169]

Yes I would absolutely love that, Magnetic Scrolls games are fantastic!

[@medes5597]

​@@markcartwright8169Kim Justice did a very in depth one. I'm not sure what Peter could add.

[@markcartwright8169]

Ah I haven't seen that one, thanks for letting me know, cheers!@@medes5597

[@briankite9282]

Your content is as well planned, executed and produced as all ways. Thanks for the wonderfully fun and educational videos!

[@Riz_]

Absolutely brilliant! Informative entertaining and so well done. Thank you so much for this video and I appreciate all the hard work put into it. I love learning about the beginnings of the gaming scene, especially here in the UK.

[@AtariLegend]

What an amazing documentary. Well written and beautifully narrated. I love the build up. I am a life long ST fan and had no idea about this. Great, great story. One of the best KZbin docus of 2022 for me. Really enjoyed it. Thank you.

[@DukeJon1969]

I remember this well. Was so excited when the print adverts for the megagames started appearing. 40 years later, a part of me still longs to play psyclapse on my c64.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Always a pleasure when a big, meaty Nostalgia Nerd documentary drops. Well researched and put together as always. Cheers! 👍

[@D3lor34n]

Love your documentaries, always worth a watch and never short of interesting footage.

[@oleblue73]

I remember reading a review of Brataccas in Commodore Power Play when I was 13. Until now, I had no idea that there was such an interesting history behind the game. Great video!

[@wallyhackenslacker]

34:57 I love it how in the late 80's the equivalent of AAA releases had these incredible cover paintings by the likes of Roger Dean, while today the best AAA tends to come up with is, as Yhatzee puts it "an angry looking dude holding a gun in an irresponsible manner". And besides the Psygnosis covers, another one I really like is the oil painted cover of Shufflepuck Cafe by Gary Ruddell. A true gem that one. And the cover painted by Derek Riggs for the (admittedly quite obscure) RPG for Macintosh computers, Odyssey: The Legend of Nemesis.

[@Jarumo76]

Oh man, I LOVED Psygnosis back in the day ! Cover paintings were great and even the boxes were cool and stylish. ( shiny black with the psygnosis owl-logo )

[@icenode]

Phenomenal, fascinating detail as ever. I wouldn't even know where to start digging up some of the footage and facts you put together, let alone all the work to put it together in an engaging format!

[@Imropie]

Great stuff, really well put together. I suppose like so many things it's the mystery and the not-knowing that really fires the imagination!

[@Soulskinner]

No way! I thought they just made up this game title for the show, but it's another "urban legend"? Wow. I wasn't even expecting it. And interestingly enough, never head about this game. While, I usually watch a lot of "retro" stuff on KZbin. So thank you for the video. And actually, merry Christmas and happy new year!

[@saintuk70]

Oh, yes!! And nice to see old pics of Eugene out of his lair too.

[@neilduffy334]

DeFI, whilst decentralized, assuming you'd like to earn interest etc. will involve you releasing control of your funds, so the "private keys" notion no longer holds. If the "smart contract" has flaws or bad actors, those funds will be at risk

[@wmlukepriest8012]

Very well done! Always a joy to watch your videos.

[@tsuikagura]

Love the detail, the actual archive footage, the actual lookup of information, and not some lazy stock-video or random imagery. It's just the usual from you, you spoiled us with quality ;9

[@DarioRuellan]

I saw several documentaries and videos about this company, this is hands down one of the best. The research is stellar, and the format perfect.

[@deadjesterstudio8556]

I dont know what it is.. but seeing old footage of good ol blighty in the 80s just makes me smile every time.. and when its connected to computing back then.. im in fat mans heaven!!! Making games back then was so RAW and fundamental.. it was like the wild west.. this would defo be my time travel destination of voice.. possibly in clive sinclairs garage.. id sleep in one of his little cars!

[@Weaponized_Poutine]

First, long time fan, I just want to say I asked for your books for the holidays and I just got them, I could not wait to dive in to Gadgets, Gizmos & Gimmicks. Was immediately hit with nostalgia. Thank you!

[@ianhughes5090]

What a great history lession and a look back. Thanks Pete for your knowledge and insight and how you put your vidoes together as you really to present well and I always look forward to your history lession as it give me great pleasure looking back on how it all started.

[@mortenpedersen6149]

Once again a brilliant documentory! Thanks!

[@tomproctor8406]

This is a flipping great video. More of this you absolute beast.

[@markwrightrf]

Outstanding work Peter, I've endured so many re-hashes of Commercial Breaks over the years. Finally we have something I consider definitive. Happy New Year to you and Sarah. I hope she's OK x PS: Greetings from Carrow Road. PPS: Mark Butler embodies the word shifty.

[@simonbutler-bq8yb]

So you know Mark Butler personally do you? Watching a few clips from 40 years ago qualifies you to define a man's personality based on that?

[@nicktaylor8032]

I was always fascinated by this story and the concept of additional hardware to enhance the games. Excellent upload mate, as always.

[@MrCalldean]

I really, really wish you had the time and energy to put out more stuff like this - I love this kind of thing..... it's informative, interesting, delivered in a great manner - love it. I'd listen to a podcast with you, I think you'd be good at that kind of thing; I followed up your Dodleston video with some podcasts that took a good few hours to chew through. Cheers!

[@oliverlotus]

This is fascinating. Thank you. Very well researched and interesting.

[@spicycrisps]

New pickup line acquired "I'll bander your snatch" lmao

[@tentringer4065]

Best of luck with that.

[@haniespanieldollis]

Haha, indeed!! 😆😆🤛

[@robdimambro1674]

Not if I snatch your bander.

[@emilyemily444]

Best comment yet 👌🤣🤣🤣

[@joaoarpsilva]

@@emilyemily444 Right. 😁😁😁

[@RichardEricCollins]

This story blew my mind. I remember seing the hardware demo'd on TV and thinking WOW! But completely forgot about the game.

[@MaidenHell1977]

This was a phenomenal episode. So much to learn from.

[@SDK2006b]

Great video! Freddy Hardest was the first game I played on the Amstrad CPC-464 which I got for Christmas in the late 80’s. I also remember a lot of other games with the Imagine logo on the loading screens. It’s interesting to see the details on company in your video 👍🏻

[@thehootsforce4201]

Lucky to only come home in bandages after crashing at the IOM TT as some riders ride their last ever races on that track. 5 riders were killed on that track when I last went there in 2016.

[@Mentski]

Interesting story regarding Kiltdale cassette duplication company from 22:45 : They had their premises backed up upon an area of Cheltenham called Sandford Park. We'd often invade their property by jumping a fence in the park, hopping over a very shallow River Chelt that ran between both, and rummaging the skips the had at the back of their facility. We got so many free games.... So many.

[@melasn9836]

Never heard a discussion of Imagine that actually talked about what the Megagames were actually supposed to be. I also appreciate that you included the best/funniest part of Commercial Breaks, with the advertising lady & that poor distributor; the whole scene feels like something out of Douglas Adams.

[@At0micPunk90]

Always appreciate this kind of content. Always fascinating to learn about what went on in the gaming industry "across the pond."

[@CricketEngland]

Yet another great interesting video, keep up the good work

[@willrobinson7599]

Not normally a fan of such long vids but this was full if great info Keep them coming

[@shaneg9081]

I love these deep dives of yours, especially the stories out of the early UK micro scene which, as an American, I know so little of.

[@robjheaton]

This is a brilliant documentary, fantastic work, please keep the content coming! I'm one of the admins of the QL Forum, thanks for the mention!

[@shanetonkin2850]

Nothing must bring you back down to earth with a thud quiet like - in the midst of filming a BBC documentary about your hot new company - receivers suddenly turn up at the door and begin dismantling said company.

[@8BitBoyUK]

I loved this video but then all of your stuff is brilliant. Happy New Year mate

[@Winter_337]

The pitch for Bandersnatch reminded me of Beneath A Steel Sky somewhat. I wonder if there was some inspiration from it landing in that project later on

[@morebasheder]

Another great video Peter. I actually remember those Psyclapse and Bandersnatch adverts

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

I remember watching that BBC documentary in terrible quality like 10 years ago, great to see people still remember Bandersnatch.

[@Nostalgianerd]

I did some upscaling and resampling on it for the video. Hopefully looks a little better than what's out there.

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

@@Nostalgianerd Definitely does, although the screens in the video come off a bit weird as a result, only way up from here is to get the master tapes, if they're still at the BBC.

[@philippebarbie3829]

You are droppin 40min videos here. This is awesome. Enjoyed every second.

[@Colin_Ames]

Another superb video. Thanks for providing us with quality entertainment.

[@gvii]

Jesus, that was a fantastic documentary. That was more well done than, well, just about anything they put on the TV these days. Bravo,! That was absolutely brilliant!

[@Daz555Daz]

What a fabulous documentary. Bravo Sir!

[@WWarped1]

What an excellent production. Enjoyed every second. I recall the adverts in magazines such as Crash. Can't recall what I expected, if anything. Those early years of home computing had many a story to tell. I'm also sure that within the packaging of the Sinclair QL it mentioned the game. I may be dreaming with fuzzy nostalgia. When my Dad arrived home with a new QL, in amongst all the manuals and stuff, was an A4 advert. I really did like the QL, but that possibly say more about my bad taste. I also like the Dragon 32 and 64, look how well they did? Enough waffle, great video. Thank you.

[@themamosians62]

dude your such a good storyteller. I can watch these video over and over again. Cheers

[@1nf0fr34k]

Thanks so much for going over this. I so remembered the excitement at the time for Bandersnatch but when it was announced couldn't even conceive of how I was going to get a copy at that price. Gave me a bit of closure :)

[@enkiabzu5792]

Thanks for all hardwork and research you put into your videos,I've learned so much from watching them,been subscribed for two years and i'm always excited when you drop a new video! Cheers 🍻 And Happy New Year!

[@dangrimes970]

Top quality! Fascinating stuff. Hope you get a ton of views on this.

[@gonzaloNMF]

I love your videos bloke! Keep up with the excellent work!

[@Middcore]

12:30 Honestly, listening to him dismiss every competitor as making the same games, sitting there with his high school freshman-looking unsuccessful moustache and inexplicable bowtie, he comes off like such a twit it almost makes you glad Imagine went down the crapper.

[@revelationnow]

Excellent video. I'd love a follow up for Denton Designs. I think they made some of my favourite all time C64 games - Infodroid, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Enigma Force. And, to be fair, I always considered both Frankie and Enigma Force to basically be mega games on the C64 given the scope, UI, story, graphics and music.

[@perfectfutures]

I'd agree, as a player of Enigma force. The game felt epic, as did the music. What's interesting about these 8-bit games is the feeling of grandure from them, despite the seemingly (by 2020 standards) simple graphics. Let's not forget that Chess and Go are also grand, timeless games and are 'only' wooden pieces on a board.

[@remka2000]

Awesome video, thanks! ❤ I think Kim Justice did also one on Imagine (and many others about several legendary British studios).

[@blairseo1]

Thanks for sharing it's unique story never heard of it before your video.

[@siddiksalim5037]

For people in the software industry, these videos provide very valuable lessons on what not to do. Most new companies would attempt to replicate the success enjoyed by profitable companies, when it is more valuable to avoid the mistakes of the past. The rest is up to hard work and good luck.

[@DeathMetalDerf]

I was gifted a copy of your book for Christmas by my wife, the Gadgets and Gizmos one! It's so AWESOME!!!!! Seriously, I just love it! Happy holidays, I hope you are well and having a great day!!

[@dmhayman]

Loving the longer doc format!

[@richbuilds_com]

I'm 53 (54 next year). And I can still remember the start of the poem of the sleave for Jumping Jack: "Jumping Jack is quick and bold. With skill his story will unfold..." This is why I can't remember anything important these days :-/

[@richbuilds_com]

See also: "DIg! DIg! British fools! For you ze war iz over!"

[@joeshabado1431]

Excellent documentary. Such a great channel!

[@amirmohamad2270]

"you should do your own research" is another term for "I'm covering my bases so you can't sue me".

[@LeviathanRX]

I liked the part where the debtors came and bandersnatched all the assets

[@Aeoringas]

Another excellent video. The rapid growth of computer and video games over such a short period of time never ceases to amaze me. I suspect that's why so much attention is paid to this period now. Also the fact that piracy drove Imagine to consider dongles as a counter to the problem is quite telling. With magnetic media being relatively new, people did not know how to control it and rather than address why people were copying things in the first place, they decided to punish those who chose to buy things legitimately. A dongle would be a levy against those who wanted to buy the game as they had to pay for the hardware. With Imagine deciding to expand their dongle, that is when the dreaded feature creep kicked in and no one was there to stop it. I think one of the key moments in the video was when the representative from Imagine met with the distributor, who spent most of the time humouring them as they listened to the nonsense of the price point of Bandersnatch and the amount of tat that would be included in the game's box. My only gripe with the video is the sponsor. Deregulated currency is abhorrent and should not be encouraged. It does not have sufficient protections within it and when things go bad, there is little to no recourse to those who caused the draining of investors' funds. I'm quite surprised Nostalgia Nerd considered them as a valid partner in this endeavour.

[@deeiks12]

Great stuff, as always!

[@mlucifersam]

Thanks for giving me a mention!😊

[@armisg5664]

The sponsor here was a bit of low point :/

[@HybridBoss]

Super vid, you are a great story teller!

[@raythomas4812]

What a fascinating Story, I'm old enough to remember Imagine ( I think I had Arcardia on my Vic 20 ( Yes, I'm that old ) - Great Video

[@axelprino]

Didn't even know this was a real game, I thought the Netflix movie had made up the whole thing

[@jukkapiispanen123]

Great documentary.Thank you sir!

[@VinceR3000]

I had forgotten all about Brattacas which I had on my Atari ST. I never realized the link with Bandersnatch, having had a C64 before the ST this drama passed me by completely.

[@Turbopreston]

Amazing as always!!!

[@JohnnoDordrecht]

Great Video mate , thx and best wishes

[@cellarboy72]

Awesome video as always!!

[@DJSvenNo1]

Great video, interesting insights in to the commercial history

[@chris_is_here_oh_no]

This was amazing!

[@GeeFunk84]

I really love the production of your videos.

[@6581punk]

So much mileage has been had out of that Commercial Breaks documentary. It's a shame there's not many others.

[@Nostalgianerd]

It's a great doc

[@goodnightvienna8511]

Hahaha I know 🤣 good old Kim Justice has even said almost the same...its lucky that this piece of vital games history has been caught on film!

[@batlin]

5:13 that first puzzle question is quite neat. At first I was stumped, but then saw the pattern and settled on J as the answer. I was real programming work was more about solving mini-puzzles and less sitting in meeting rooms for 2 hours a day listening to managers waffling.

[@mikematson6323]

I saw the Netflix show when it was out.. (Canadian) I can't help but think the scope and ideas behind the original Bandersnatch would be achievable today.. It just seems like the idea was ahead of its time. I think there are a number of games that can fall into that category..

[@clray123]

I can remember myself as a kid (zx spectrum times) thinking of a grand game which would be essentially life simulator in which you could drive cars and enter buildings and do shocking things to get reactions from people inside... years later this was realized through GTA (and of course all other sandbox games). So it was not difficult to imagine how grand games could become, but the technology was clearly not there back then to implement such concepts. Same story for MUDs, which have been clear precursors to social media, MMORPGs, and even the stupid "metaverse".