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2023-02-26
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uVISIT www.commodorescene.org.u
Happy Birthday, System 3!
By Boris Kretzinger
The legendary publisher was founded in
1982 by Mark Cale & Emerson Best. They
began with games for the Atari 800, on
which the debuted with "Colony 7" Their
first major breakthrough, was on the
C64 with International Karate & Last
Ninja series.
Today, those classics are supposed to
rock the market once more: with Epyx
titles licensed, System 3 is going to
revive California Games, Impossible
Mission & last but not least: Last
Ninja. Cale, still head of System 3,
wants to stick to the old game play &
only adapt the controlling - a
necessity with Nintendo's Wii console
in crosshair for the remakes.
"You gotta keep the game play mechanics
the same or else it ceases to be the
original game & you're only using the
game brand to sell games. [...] The way
the controllers work & the whole idea
actually works a lot better than on the
PS3 or 360", says Cale.
"What we're doing is incorporating the
original gameplay & mechanics &
bringing the gameplay up to date ..."
Let's wonder, how California Games can
be played with a nunchuck ... Skating
... Surfing ... BMX ... this promises
to be interesting. We'll wait & see.
But let's take a look back on their
greatest hits & introduce this with a
last quote from Mark Cale: "It's hard
to believe that we've been here for 25
years. We've seen a lot of changes in
the industry & lots of people, systems
& ideas come & go. One thing has stayed
though - great games will always stand
the test of time." Amen!
DEATH STAR INTERCEPTOR
1984 publishes System 3 their first C64
game. Without the Star Wars title
licensed, the force isn't with them.
Death Star is nothing extraordinary.
INTERNATIONAL KARATE
In 1986 International Karate rocks them
all: in the US alone (on all platforms)
they sell over 1.5 million copies. The
game stays for 3 months on the number 1
billboard position.
IK+
Released in 1987 throughout Europe &
becomes a bestseller, too. By the way:
according to Capcom, this game is the
inspiration for their famous "Street
Fighter 2" ...
BANGKOK KNIGHTS
Martial Arts Movies continue to be
successful & there is no reason for
Cale & Co not to follow this path.
Bangkok Knights features huge sprites,
digisound, a hot numbers girl & music
by Rob Hubbard, who couldn't resist to
implement a small musical homage to
Rocky IV ... do you know where?
THE LAST NINJA
In 1987 the first title of the series
appears. Technical outstanding & hard
to complete, this game breaks all
records: the C64 version sells over
750.000 times, all in all & around the
world System 3 brings out far more than
2 million copies. This game has to be
the most copied game of all time! Ben
Daglish contributed an astonishing
soundtrack, which is still respected.
THE LAST NINJA II
The second part follows in 1988. It
sells out everywhere on relese day.
Altogether they sell over 1.2 million copies.
DOMINATOR
Dominator reminisces to their beginning
on the C64: the shoot'em up genre.
Technically great, but hell to play
(through), the title can't hop above
other average titles. Graphically nice
to look at, the music is dark &
melancholic. Today, this game can only
be recommended to hardcore shoot'em up
freaks. There are better titles out
there.
MYTH
Myth - History in the making also comes
out in 1989. Interesting: the Famicom
version of this title comes out as
"Conan" in the US. In Great Britain, it
comes along in a special Amiga 500
package. Despite that, it sells about
40,0000 times world wide. Maybe
interesting for collectors: there is a
cartridge version.
TUSKER
Tusker looks a bit like an unlicensed
Indiana Jones title. It isn't a bad
game at all, but often neglected when
looking back on System 3. Too bad that
they decided to do it in 2D instead of
the isometric perspective they did for
Last Ninja. Perhaps this is one reason
for not being a smash hit.
VENDETTA
Spring 1990 Vendetta looks & plays like
The Last Ninja. At the end of every
level, the player has to drive a car to
the next location. A nice game, even
the intro looks good, but like the
music, the game doesn't have a top
score.
FLIMBO'S QUEST
Cute is the first thing that comes into
mind when looking at Flimbo's Quest.
This is indeed a children's game - the
first from System 3. Why they did it?
Who knows. The only item of interest
is, that Commodore(GB) packaged it
with every C64 GS.
THE LAST NINJA III
1991 - at last - the third part of The
Last Ninja comes out & once more, sets
high standards. The "Your Commodore"
magazine rates it 100% &, though a bit
too high, they clearly underline the
extraordinary position of this game. By
the way: Last Ninja IV could be out
this year - though not for our C64.
TURBO CHARGE
Turbo Charge also appears in 1991. Very
hot Intro, average story. The ones who
drove from level to level in Vendetta
might have a kind of dejavu: we're
playing the further developed engine of
that racing part. For me, this is one
of the nicest games from System 3. And
a tip for all those of you, who don't
want to play through Last Ninja again -
either because you don't want to or
cannot do so. There is a cartridge
version of this game, but who has ever
seen it? Not only friends of "Outrun"
will have fun with this title. Every-
thing seems to be right here, but just
go an try it out yourselves!