THE STORY AND GAMES OF SENSIBLE SOFTWARE | Kim Justice

#documentary #retrogaming #amiga
Sensible Software are perhaps the most loved games studio ever to come from the UK - classics such as Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer defined a generation, they were the kings of Amiga and kings of Europe. In this video Kim Justice and Sensi founder Jon Hare go through the company's rollercoaster history.
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[@Kim_Justice]

If you liked this then think about having a gander through my social media, and get yourself on my Patreon: www.patreon.com/KimbleJustice

[@fcdenhaag4242]

Just saw this documentary, amazing piece of work I really enjoyed it. Never knew all this background stuff of this Amazing talented group of people. I Grew up with there games and it plays a big part of my childhood. Job well done kim great historic value!

[@ModernVintageGamer]

this is seriously your best work yet Kim. brilliant

[@casasecure2419]

This isn't just a video by KJ, this is a film for the fans that will go down in history An excellent production. Well done.

[@Arkhan_The_Black]

Nice one Kim - best retro-gaming historian on the tubes bar none.

[@samhackett5715]

What about Ahoy? Have you seen his Doom and Quake videos?

[@Vlad-bu3mr]

@@samhackett5715 he is very good, but been a long time since any new stuff

[@Wallyworld30]

Kim is second best. I still put Gaming Historian at Number 1 but they are the top 2.

[@markganus1085]

nah. the irate gamer is still the best by far

[@BigWill2k]

TheDrisk has done an excellent 25 part history of videogames up to the ps2

[@SegaGenesisEvangelion]

Who would have thought a feature-length doc about a games company could bring me to tears? What a beautiful look at Sensi. Never been so much fun :)

[@heartwork7977]

HOW THE HELL is it possible that Kim is still under 50k subs ??? This is one of the greatest gaming related documentaries EVER, up there with Get Lamp - bloody well done, Kim! This is probably your Opus Magnum!

[@ViolentVegan]

I've no fucking idea

[@Laternater]

And yet you get people that always gotta bring up her inability to pronounce a goddamn letter.. Real classy of them.

[@eclap78]

Sensible Soccer... I've spent thousands of hours playing it against my dad in the early to mid 90s. Me as a teenager, dad in his early 40s. The attitudes flared, we both thought we were the best Sensi players in the world. Amazing times. Thank you so very much Sensible Software for creating these unforgettable memories.

[@steveetienne]

eclap78 I reckon I could've taken you ;)

[@BecauseBecause]

5:53 minutes in and his old song has the recognisable notes of the song that plays during the graveyard troop queue inbetween missions, how interesting! Just wanted to say that now incase it's mentioned further in and I can't feel like bragging that I oberserved that. :)

[@spoonhanz]

2 + hours. Kim going above and beyond here.

[@matthpotte]

Your documentaries are just like opening a window to my childhood, still remember my mum taking me to buy Cannon Fodder on release day from a games shop in Wakefield, about 500 yards from Team 17, although didn’t realise at the time! Hours of Sensi and SWOS, and the day I was accidentally bought Utopia rather than Mega lo Mania. The love that Amiga Power gave to Sensible Software and sensi in particular, (at 1st was upset my fav game of the time Rainbow Islands was knocked off no 1 spot in top 100!) Always thought Jon was awesome, this interview just cements that further. Well Done Kim, you just keep getting better and better.

[@Zadster]

I guess that shop was Microbyte?

[@matthpotte]

Zadster I think so, it was in The Ridings centre, Team 17 were just up past the market at the time if I remember rightly

[@tdreamgmail]

Your stuff should be on Channel 4 late night

[@firekind1980]

Do you mean to offend?

[@annekariceisnice]

Well it's hardly going to take the 9pm slot on BBC 1

[@steveetienne]

Fuck the tv

[@pecker2-9]

@tdreamgmail, it does have that 90's late night chanel 4 on a Saturday after manga cartoon feel.

[@dooovde]

Alongside Bits and Vids? Ah Bits...how I miss that show.

[@slopesgameroom]

Finally watched it all. Great doc Kim :)

[@DeckerFI]

These are just the best. Your documentaries are as much worthy of conservation as the games themselves.

[@KasumiRINA]

Really enjoying your feature-length documentaries! Don't stop making them

[@ChrisFeakes]

You're unreal, the amount of time you put into chronicling gaming culture and business is unmatched.

[@jdgonzo1982]

words can't describe how much Sensible Software mean to me. when i was a kid playing their games the world was so simple and at times quite boring. playing Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder and WizKid injected so much fun into my life and even brought me and my dad closer together. definitely some of the best times i spent with my dad were playing sensible soccer tpgether!! Wizkid blew my mind...I played it for hours not knowing what i was doing. i think it was months later that i finally worked out what to do...and it's still a game i think of at least once a year! i don't think gamers of today's generation really appreciate how games started out and what they meant to people back in the 80's and 90's. good games were comparable to art, they explored ideas and places that the real world could never create. I feel so lucky to have been around in that time. Sure the 60's and 70's were good for music and i wish i was around back then but certainly the 80's was special due to gaming...and companies like Sensible Software made that happen..along with Ocean, Bitmap Brothers and Gremlin... thanks kim, great vid as always :)

[@mindphaserxy]

As an American the one Sensible Software title I remember and played the most of on my IBM compatible was Cannon Fodder. It just such awesome controls and art. Plus the amazing gameplay. A great title for MSDOS. I even remember playing the 3DO version at a friends house. Oh the 1990s....

[@johngammon963]

It got very emotional at the end with the music and all, Kim always manages to hit that emotive spot

[@the.internet]

Jesus! 2 and a half hours. Time to get cosy for this one. One of my fav gaming and retro channels on KZbin, love these history things. I'm only a few seconds in and already clocked an old Ferguson TX television (the white one). Had a black one of my own as my first TV in 1992. It's things like that which get the nostalgia flowing. Now, to watch...!

[@StuffOffYouStuff]

Yep, defo need to bed in for this one. First time I've heard of this channel Excellent work!

[@BalsticMaker12]

Sensible Software sure deserves to be remembered and written in history books.

[@ErikLosLobos]

Can't believe I watched such an epic nerdy documentary and enjoyed it more than most TV. Well done! Thank you

[@sargieboi9315]

I had no idea that Shoot 'em up Construction Kit was a Sensi release. I LOVED that. Spent hours round my mate's on his C64 creating comedy Shoot 'em ups. I was only about 12 at the time and had always coded on the Speccy so having a tool like this and all the colours without attribute clash completely wow'd me. Seriously great content Kim.

[@MattHayesVinyl]

This is an incredible piece of work, Kim. Sensational documentary that must have taken you an age to put together. Thank you.

[@NobletheSavage]

This is not just Kim's best video but the best video of the retro gaming genre on the whole of KZbin . Brilliant work .

[@vix_in_japan]

Myself and a friend back in the early 90s made games with SEUCK on our C64s, it was brilliant. We called one of our games 'Ace of Space' (Ace of Bass were popular in the charts)

[@vix_in_japan]

We had a lot of fun with it, even though the results may not have been spectacular it taught a lot about what goes into a game including sprites, tilemaps etc!

[@booldawg]

It was a pretty powerful tool and nothing around like it. Had it on the C64 back in the late 80s.

[@sethc6762]

Your channel goes above and beyond in the delivery, quality and in-depth knowledge and love that goes into the crafting and production of your videos. I'm subbed to multiple videogaming channels, none of which come close to the love I have for this channel. How wonderful to hear from Jon Hare. Thank you Kim!

[@Boogie_the_cat]

Fascinating. I never knew British micro computer software could be so interesting. This is by far the most personal and heartfelt KZbin documentary story I've encountered. As an American, I have found out through trial and error that the best KZbin content creators are from overseas. This is a perfect, no-BS style that doesn't assume the viewer has a 30-second attention span. I loved every minute of it. Classy

[@DaveMcGarry]

Loved hearing from Jon - one of THE 16-Bit gaming legends. Played his Sensible games on my Amiga A1200 back in the 90's. Fantastic work AGAIN Kim!!

[@Arcadiality]

A credit to your work and Sensible. This was a truly great time to be an Amiga gamer in the UK. Great work, Kim.

[@robintst]

Rock on, Kim, your documentaries on the UK gaming scene back in the day only continue to intrigue and spark the imagination. A lot of the companies and games you cover were not typically part of my childhood being that I live in the US, but I was still a loyal Commodore user along with my brother for many years in that era. Learning so much about the UK home micro scene all these years later from quality content creators like yourself do a lot to better flesh out my long held childhood perception of things in the industry, especially if the context was entirely lost on us originally.

[@eterenostalgia5088]

I'm Antonio from Italy, i love the series of football "Sensible Soccer" i have two AMIGA (500 and 1200 classics), with this games hours and hours of funny alone and with my friends. The Sensible soccer 96-97 is the best and complete. thank for John Hare and the guys of "Sensible software"... THANKS FOR EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@smileybup]

I've had your documentary running in the background the whole afternoon. Unbelievable, it was very enjoyable and a good story well told. You brought those characters to life. If you were writing about an American company, and so well, you'd have a million followers at least. Thanks! It was great.

[@rheenengmail]

Best documentary yet indeed, and I do love all those gamestudio documentaries you made. Thanks for this long interesting video, going to install SociableSoccer really soon thanks to this (or SWOS for that matter). I already met John Hare once at an Amiga reunion convention back in the day, together with RJ Mical and many more, he is a great lad, as is evident in this video too.

[@cronosoft]

This is a fantastic epic documentary - brilliant stuff. Not only does it feature the story of my favourite game (Mega-lo-Mania), it also explains the stuff about Captain Sensible's involvement with Sensi Soccer that I'd always wanted to know about (being a Damned fan). A classic KJ work - well done.

[@TheGeordieTiger]

Took a couple of watches to break this one up, but I think this is your best video by far. I've always had a very soft spot for Sensible and the Bitmap Brothers and this is amazing for me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[@orbitingdecay6797]

Same! Those two are my best memories of the Amiga

[@RoadandRacetv]

Stunning. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I was a massive Sensi fan and it's great to get an insight into how it was all made.

[@auritone]

Thanks for this, Kim, and all the people at Sensible for just doing their own thing.

[@Harp00nX]

That was a great watch and Jon Hare is a legend i'm glad he makes himself available to tell his stories from the Amiga days at shows and on podcasts etc.

[@chrisb6079]

Kim you really do set a great example of quality content. The effort you went into blows other channels out of the water. Brilliant stuff.

[@higgins007]

What a job getting all that SWOS data (including the whole bloody game code, sounds and graphics) on 2 floppies! It just wouldn't have been the same if you had to swap disks every few minutes in career mode. And it very easily could have turned out that way. It's one of the most under-appreciated achievements of SWOS. It would have been easy to take the lazy route and not bother with the RNC, and not take the effort to squeeze the data format down to the bit level.

[@terribletelevision6980]

Cinema-length release from Kim. You constantly raise the bar, amazing!

[@billyonions9822]

Fantastic documentary and not a moment too long. I didn't intend to watch it all in one go but the time just flew by. I might just have to watch the whole thing again.

[@WulfyIsCrystal]

Wahey! Bloody loved Sensible Software. SWOS, Cannon Fodder and Wizkid gave me hours of entertainment as a kid. 'Goal Scoring Superstar Hero' will forever be stuck my head too. :)

[@happyknappy14]

You've got exceptionally good at these feature length documentaries. Even at this length its didn't feel like it dragged on at any point.

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

I just wanted to say that you have an amazing channel Kim. I have been binge watching most of your channel for a month and just can't get enough it. Your Documentary style vids are the ones that impress me the most. It amazes me how I have never even heard of these awesome UK computer games and you making me nostalgic for them. Keep up the great work!

[@shaggy69snooch]

I absolutely LOVE your documentaries Kim. They are as well put together as anything on TV, if not even better. Thank you for all of your hard work and diligence! 🤘

[@HertzBlut]

What an absolute joy to watch this. As a child though these times I enjoyed the Sensi boys games through and through. Very well done. Kudos.

[@raggersragnarsson6255]

I have encountered nearly every football gsme since gaming began and I still say that Sensibke Soccer is the best even to this day. Its possibly one of the best games ever made! Definitely up there in the top 10 games of all time. I thought Meglomania was huge at the time as everyone had it and the mags were full of qreat reviews and I really enjoyed it. I still remember most of it.. It was obviously pirated quite a lot. All their games deserve big box releases once again. Cannon Fodder rules as well. The retro scene alone will ensure a return and even new PC & consoles versions of all of the back catalogue would sell well I'm sure as those games are sooooo good.. Great games will always be great games. Thankypu Sensibles for all the fun!!!!!!

[@BlakeNortondotcom]

Absolutely fantastic piece of journalism and art. Thank you Kim! Wonderful storytelling!

[@NabseyCool]

Enjoyed every minute of that, fantastic work Kim. Truly one of the greatest developers at one of the greatest times for UK gaming and certainly gaming in my life time....the Amiga years. 🙌

[@teknizian]

You are a gifted documentary maker Kim. I have been following you for a while now, but this is some of your best work. I think I will sponsor make you the first patreon I will sponsor.

[@antster1983]

Well done on such a fantastic video Kim! A company so fondly remembered like Sensible Software deserved a feature-length documentary, and extra kudos for getting Jovial Jops involved! That’s the icing on the proverbial cake! 👍🕹

[@GamingPicks]

Exceptional video, congratulations and thank you! Wizball, Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder... all are part of my gaming memories and it's great to remember them.

[@grantd165]

I've watched this countless times. What a nice chap Jon Hare seems.

[@gordonirvine726]

This is absolutely incredible. So interesting as well as nostalgic.

[@3lpid3]

This is just amazing. I put this on expecting some background noise while sleeping off a fever but ended up transfixed. I know that it has been said already, but this is an amazingly produced documentary and the fact that this is free is all the more astonishing. I didn’t even have to sit through annoying KZbin ad breaks. Congratulations to you, Kim 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@chunkybeats79]

What a great production Kim hats off to you and making Sensi Software legends. Had a tear to my eye in some parts and rightly so looking at Jon he is great man, down to earth bloke and a bloody genius! Thanks again Kim!

[@RobUttley]

Genuinely thrilled at the point you reveal the ending theme in CF came from Jon's old song.... lovely. Brilliant video Kim, nobody else does this kind of thing anywhere near as well as you, it's a really great documentary. Love it.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Thank you Kim. You are my #1 source from the rather elusive British gaming scene.

[@mcenglish4654]

Brilliant. Started watching this last night on my big telly. Thought I would just sample the first ten mins....then suddenly was hours later . A masterpiece of historical documentary - this will be watched for years.

[@MrBenAttenborough]

So glad you made this documentary. Sensi were brilliant. Perhaps you could do a documentary on Amiga Power at some point? That would be fantastic. I actually find nostalgia for the 90s a bit bittersweet. They were great times, and looking back always makes me feel sad for some reasons. Perhaps its a sense of loss, I don't know. Anyway keep up the good work!

[@Kie77]

This was an absolute joy to watch. Thank you so much for making this. It's a fantastic interview and so much research and editing and footage finding has gone into it. I really enjoyed it. I still hope there is another big chapter to come - let's wait and see...

[@booldawg]

And this is why I tend to watch docus on KZbin rather than network TV.......

[@ian_b]

"TV" is still a thing?

[@kanedasrifle]

Absolutely amazing , what a story , wow and Mr Hare is such a cool guy , I hope he's aware of how much of a legend he is because he doesn't act like he does . As for you Kim , thank you once again & again & again , you've become a master of your craft and you're frankly the best at what you do. I wanna hug you : )

[@Asobitech]

Very awesome work Kim Justice, extremely comprehensive coverage of the legends that were Sensible Software. Worth watching all the way through.

[@the1marauder2]

Outstanding work as always, Kim! Thanks for bringing history to life and taking me back to my younger days, and making them mean more, now that I know more about those who made the games that I loved so much.

[@SamWards04]

Tremendous video, well done Kim - SWOS nearly ruined my GCSE’s - cheers Jon Hare and co. I remember quite liking Sensible Golf though and thinking Cannon Fodder 2 just wasn’t the same as the first one. Sensible games were a big part of my teenage years so this was a must see. What next Kim? How about a video on point n click adventures?

[@JomasterTheSecond]

I've been waiting for this day for 3000 years...

[@garylupton3019]

Thank you so much for this. A real trip back to my childhood. I was a massive Sensi fanboy and this brought back so many memories. Also nice to see a story like this with no bitterness and back biting from the protagonists. Just a bunch of talented blokes having fun and making art. That's a new sub from me. Great work.

[@GodlessScummer]

Wow this is one of the best gaming documentaries I've ever seen. Great stuff.

[@chrisjames1905]

I'm not a nostalgic person, but this will make me nostalgic. Many reasons for this, but primarily because Sensible Software just made the best and most artistic games that they could, put them out, and trusted them to sell on merit. That's so far removed from the contemporary gaming climate that it's barely recognisable.

[@maskharah]

Kim Justice, I wanted to tell you, that between your channel and Gamesack's, both of ya'll have some amazing talent. Thank you so much for your time and dedication to video games!

[@strzxgvnuvwvfld3597]

This is a fantastic video Kim. Your usual fascinating and detailed look at a games company and made even better by having contrubutions from John as well. Love it! Also, a special mention to SEUCK. It has a bit of a bad rep these days because there are hundreds of mediocre games out there that were made with it, but as a kid it allowed me to create things in my bedroom that I would never have been able to code at the time. It was my introduction to pixel art which later led to a relatively successful time in the C64 demo scene (which I still am a part of in 2021!) as well as some personal indie game projects. I was also a huge fan of Microprose Soccer on the C64 and SWOS on the PC, as well as Wizball, Parallax and Cannon Fodder. In an era where a 2D game can be enormous again, it would be great to see something new from John one day.

[@sjake333]

Here I was expecting another usual documentary, great as always but like the other... but then you managed to get the man himself Jon Hare! Incredible.

[@TheBroz]

Just finished watching, wow. Thank you so much Kim, honestly that was brilliant. I was a Spectrum then Mega Drive to SNES gamer around that era so their games mostly passed me by but this was an amazing entertaining education.

[@MatthewJohnCrittenden]

What a fantastic watch, I can't believe I've only just stumbled on this gem of a channel.

[@sargonsblackgrandfather2072]

Loving your long form docs Kim. Every time a new video of yours pops into my feed I know I’m in for a treat.

[@gothakane]

Thanks for doing this Kim, fantastic and so nostalgic for me. I didn't play all the Sensible Games back in the day, like Cannon Fodder 2 or Wizball (just Wizkid), but it was amazing to hear one of the team and you discussing the history. I could finally understand more about the Cannon Fodder intro for example. Truly a trip back down memory lane. I'm curious though why you kept looking so worriedly at the camera?

[@jamesmcculloch4884]

Really great work, Kim. I love this format of long documentary you’ve adopted.

[@leerobertson7226]

What a superb piece of work, stumbled across your channel by chance and I'm slowly working my way through the content. Looking forward to seeing the rest 👍

[@fjmoody]

Brilliant video, much appreciated, enjoyed a glimpse inside one of my favourite game makers.

[@corsegerspwnd]

every time you surprise me with your quality content. its moronic this channel only has 44k subs

[@corsegerspwnd]

@Lassi Kinnunen I subbed just to help him thanks

[@SpeccyHorace]

@Lassi Kinnunen Or Mentski :(

[@Yordleton]

unfortunately I think a lot of that pretty much comes down to transphobia

[@SpeccyHorace]

@@Yordleton Really? How much of it?

[@domscards]

@Lassi Kinnunen Who is spectrum shows? And KrealPlay is my davorite low sub KZbinr. 44K isn't THAT low.

[@ThommosTech]

Absolutely superb. Thank you for making this.

[@starpointprotectiveservice6230]

Very ambitious. Wow. That was a journey. It took me two days to fully watch. Very well produced. Really well done. Not the best one you have ever done but really damn good. I am glad you enjoy what you do. Keep making content like this. Now I definitely want to play a game from Sensible Software. They really need to make an Amiga mini so I can play these games on an HD TV

[@stevebrown4130]

been waiting for another long doc from kim for ages! excellent and probably the best so far! thank you very very much :)

[@tapmantwo]

This is exceptional - well done, really great content. Thank you.

[@stephenreed8142]

Kim this is one of the very best videos I have seen about games in a very long time, thank you so much! (y)

[@warman]

Amazing, amazing, amazing! It's like, as always, you nail down my teens most beloved software companies.

[@dantronic1836]

watched it now, very enjoyable way to spend two an a bit hours. Thanks for putting the work in Kim, it really shows.

[@ScarletEdge]

Guys from Sensible Soft made my childhood. Brilliant video.

[@TheGamingMuso]

Bloody hell! You can tell how much effort has gone into this vid. Excellent content as always Kim!

[@carlosbfly]

Your vids are the best, such amazing retro trivia.

[@muckfoot]

Absolutely love these videos!

[@Zadster]

Consistently high quality entertaining documentaries about a hugely important part of history and culture that is hardly even mentioned in mainstream media. Excellent.

[@mdj2010]

I already know I am going to love this. Thanks so much for what must have been a lot of thought and hard work.

[@ricmadeira]

Wow, incredible work as usual! And two hours and a half! You rock, Kim!

[@Parms]

Wow! That was brilliant! I really enjoyed Cannon Fodder back in the day. I never play football games but this really made me appreciate SWOS. How did they cram all that into a floppy disk(s)?! I'd love to see more documentaries like this from you Kim.

[@DJMavis]

Oh I loved Sensible Software! And I even had that Trivial Pursuits game. My gran was seriously into computers and learning. This will take a few sittings to get through over 2 hours, but thanks for this!

[@liamhansell]

Amazing channel Kim! Can’t believe I’ve not come across it before. Been binging your videos all week :)

[@sydneymeanstreet]

Great work as always Kim. I'm sure you're aware but I might as well mention that 'Sensible Startest' is a parody of awful late 80s/early 90s Channel 4 celebrity 'interactive interview' programme "Star Test". If a disembodied voice asking surface level questions to Terence Trent D'arby is what you were looking for then you couldn't do much better.