“Tim and Chris Stamper founded Ultimate Play the Game in 1985; the company would later be re-established under the new name Rare Ltd., producing many memorable games along the way”

Prior to Nintendo’s buyout of the company Rare had been on a development marathon producing over 50 games in a five year period most of them for the NES console. An astronomical development rate by today’s standards but it helped Rare make enough profits to invest in some computer graphics hardware that would benefit the company going forward. The Silicon Graphics workstations that they purchased allowed them to create advanced 3D models and push the bounds of what was possible for video game graphics at the time. After the buyout they were tasked by Nintendo to use the new technology to create a 3D CGI game that game would become Donkey Kong Country. Due to the limitations of the 16-bit era of console gaming there was no way Rare could make a true real-time rendering 3D game so like others at the time, pre-rending the assets was the way to go. Myst was one of the first games to pioneer this method of creating a pseudo 3D game with pre-rendered graphics. The process for Donkey Kong Country involved modelling and animating the main characters and enemies on their graphics workstations. Then they would save of a series of image stills and turn them into 2D animated sprites that had the appearance and lighting of 3D models. The Finnish developers Bloodhouse had used a similar technique for their 1993 game Stardust. The limitations of the hardware also made it difficult when implementing some of the games other graphical elements. The games 3D backgrounds also taxed the SNES consoles limited memory so the team had to carefully arrange backgrounds that repeated elements but trying to make them appear as natural as they could. These techniques helped the game stand apart from most of its competitors and rivals when the game went on the market in November of 1994.

“It was the work by Rare on Donkey Kong Country and the team at Cyan Inc. with their Myst that helped push forward the era of 3D gaming.”

Nintendo’s 16-bit SNES console was always under pressure from its main rivals Sega who boasted 32-bits and a CD-ROM drive with their SegaCD console. Nintendo needed a title that would show off their consoles hardware potential and compete with their high memory rivals. The launch of Donkey Kong Country helped them do just that with the game becoming an instant hit with the gaming community. The game would go on to reach over 9 million in sales and pick up a host of video game awards along the way. It helped Rare gain international status and cement the relationship between them a Nintendo that would carry on for the next number of years. The Donkey Kong franchise now given a new lease of life would continue to see regular video game releases over the following decades with an iconic look that is still influenced by Rare’s original character designs.

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“Games produced for the ZX Spectrum where played of audio cassette tapes, which lead to a high level of piracy due to the ease of copying software” 

Two such individuals that started on the road to successful careers in the video game industry, were Tim and Chris Stamper of Rare fame. The duo’s first game with their newly formed company Ultimate was Jetpac, released in 1983 and going on to be a massive commercial success. The following year saw the release of Sabre Wulf the first in the franchise that would also latter include the critically acclaimed Knight Lore. The game was best known for its unique forced perspective isometric viewpoint that was known as Filmation, a technique that would be implemented in many flowing games. Only a year later the company would be bought out by US Gold with the brothers already moving onto their next venture with the now infamous Rare Ltd, the company that would go on to produce many influential titles such as Donkey Kong Country and Goldeneye 007. Although initial sold off to US Gold the brothers would later reacquire the property rights of the Ultimate games.

“A ROM for Sabre Wulf along with a ZX Spectrum emulator is hidden in the code of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo64”

Although some like the Stamper brothers would continue to have long careers in the industry after getting their start in the British PC gaming scene, some would come and go before the decade was out. Matt Smith is the well-known creator behind the extremely popular PC titles Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. The first game Manic Miner pushed the bounds of what was taught possible on the relatively limited ZX Spectrum. With well-designed visuals and the first ZX Spectrum game to include in-game music. The game was created in Smith’s bedroom as a hobby with no financial backing, which again made it all the more impressive for a game with such advanced features. The game was soon flowed up by a sequel Jet Set Willy that again received numerous awards and critical acclaim. A third game in the series Miner Willy Meets the Taxman was planned but never released, its creator Matt Smith then left the industry with little heard about him since.

“Matt Smith the games creator was influenced to create Manic Miner after playing Miner 2049er on the Atari 800”

The ZX Spectrum more than others helped many British game developers rise to prominence with the likes of Julian Gollop (X-COM Series), The Oliver Twins (The Dizzy Series) and David Perry (Earthworm Jim) all starting out developing for the Spectrum. Richard and David Darling founded the publishing company Codemasters, initially with the intention of publishing ZX Spectrum games. The affordability of the home computer during the 80’s was directly responsible for the growth of the video game industry in Britain, an industry that is still prominent today with studios like Rockstar North, Criterion, Traveller’s Tales and Evolution Studios (formerly Psygnosis) producing many popular triple AAA titles.

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