Psygnosis Games

Psygnosis Big Boxes

Psygnosis Limited or "Studio Liverpool" was a legendary British video game developer headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool, UK. They became world-known by releasing amazing titles for Commodore Amiga. These titles were packed in fantastic big boxes that set the standards for box artwork in the video games industry.

The Short History of Psygnosis

The software house was founded in 1984 by Ian Hetherington, Jonathan Ellis, and David Lawson as a successor of the video game producer "Imagine". In 1993, Psygnosis became a subsidiary of Sony and developed games for the  PlayStation. The cost of the acquisition by Sony was £20 million. Psygnosis later became a part of SCE Worldwide Studios. The Studio Liverpool closed in August 2012.

Psygnosis released several games for the Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PCs, and 8-bit computers. However, they became one of the first software houses to fully exploit the multimedia potential of the Amiga's powerful chipset. Released in 1989, the most iconic title for the Amiga was "Shadow of the Beast" which featured amazing music, hundreds of colors on screen, and multi-directional parallax scrolling.

• The Psygnosis logo was the work of the legendary Roger Dean
• Some video game titles were released by Psyclapse, which was a subsidiary of Psygnosis
• The Swedish team "Digital Illusions CE or DICE" created some amazing titles for Psygnosis
• The British software house "Reflections" created some titles for Psygnosis, including "Shadow of the Beast 1&2"
• The Scottish team DMA Design also created some games for Psygnosis

My Collection of Psygnosis Big Boxes (chronological order)

□ Barbarian 1

• Released/Developer: 1987 by Psygnosis for Commodore Amiga | Other versions were released in 1988
• Original Price: £24.95
• Type: Arcade Platform (AmigaLemon 54%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS, and MSX
• Programmer: David H. Lawson
• Artist: Garvan Corbett
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Roger Dean (Originated by the 1987 "The Red Dragon painting")

□ Terrorpods

• Released/Developer: 1987 by Melbourne House (September 1987 in the US for the Amiga/ST, and 1988 for other formats)
• Original Price: £24.95
• Type: Shi-Fi Shooter / Strategy (AmigaLemon 46%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX
• Programmers: Ian Hetherington (Amiga)
• Artist: Colin Rushby, Geoff Bramfitt
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Roger Dean & Tim White (based on Jeff Wayne's illustration of The War of the Worlds)

□ Menace

• Released/Developer: 1988 by DMA Design (1st December)
• Original Price: £19.95 for the Psygnois release and £9.99 for the later Sizzlers release
• Copies Sold: 20,000 copies
• Type: Arcade Platform (AmigaLemon 71%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS
• Programmers: Russell Kay, Dave Jones
• Artist: Tony Smith
• Music Composer: David Whittaker
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Ian Craig

□ Shadow of the Beast 1

• Released/Developer: 1989 by Reflections (1st December)
• Original Price: £34.95
• Type: Arcade Platform (AmigaLemon 75%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, FM-Towns, Mega Drive, MegaCD, Atari Lynx, Master System, and PC Engine CD
• Programmers: Phil Betts, Martin Edmondson, Paul Howarth
• Artist: Martin Edmondson
• Composers: Tim Wright & Lee Wright
• Music Tracks: David Whittaker (six main pieces of music sampled at 20 kHz using the Korg M1 synthesizer)
  
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Roger Dean

□ Ballistix

• Released/Developer: 1989 by Reflections (1st May)
• Original Price: £19.95
• Type: Sports/Blow-Football Game (AmigaLemon 62%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, TurboGrafx-16, and MS-DOS
• Programmers: Rick Chamberlain, Paul Howarth
• Artist: Martin Edmondson, Tony Edmondson
• Composer: Martin Edmondson
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Melvyn Grant

□ Stryx

• Released/Developed: 1989 for the Atari ST by Psyclapse | 1990 for the Amiga (14th March)
• Original Price: £19.95
• Type: Shooter/Platform (AmigaLemon 43%)
• Platforms: Amiga and Atari ST
• Coder: Mike Chilton
• Artists: Garvan Gorbett, Jeff Bramfitt, and Jim Bowers
• Composer: Paul Summers
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Peter Andrew Jones

□ Blood Money

• Released/Developed: 1989 (May) by DMA Design
• Original Price: £24.95
• Copies sold: 40,000 copies
• Type: Multi-Scrolling Futuristic Shooter (AmigaLemon 69.6%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS
• Coder: Dave Jones (Coded on a 386DX/25MHz PC)
• Artists: Tony Smith
• Composer: Ray Noris, David Whittaker (Fx)
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Peter Andrew Jones | Based on an illustration for the book 'Protector' by Larry Niven

□ Chrono Quest II

• Released/Developed: 1989 (DOS) / 1990 Amiga/ST by Infomedia
• Type: Point & Click Adventure (AmigaLemon 65.6%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS
• Coder: Hervé Hubert and Jean-Marc Cazale (Amiga) / Philippe Vernois (DOS)
• Artists: Fabien Begom, Jeff Bramfitt
• Composer: David Whittaker (Amiga) / Jean-Marc Grignon (DOS)
• Scenario: Marc Fajal, Cécile Fajal and Michel Centelles
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Tony Roberts

□ Shadow of the Beast 2

• Released/Developer: 1990 by Reflections (1st October)
• Original Price: £34.99
• Type: Arcade Platform (AmigaLemon 70%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Mega Drive/CD, and FM Towns
• Programmers: Phil Betts, Martin Edmondson, Paul Howarth
• Artists: Jim Bowers, Cormac Batstone
• Composers: Tim Wright & Lee Wright
• Music Composer: Tim Wright (Korg M1/R)
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Roger Dean

□ Carthage (AKA Chariot Race)

• Released/Developer: 1990/1991 by Psygnosis
• Original Price: £24.99
• Type: Action/Strategy (AmigaLemon 70%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST
• Programmers: Coder David Worrall
• Artist: Jim Ray Bowers, Jeff Bramfitt, and Neil Thompson
• Composer: Timothy Brian Wright and David Worrall
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Chris Achilleos ('Chariot Race' painting, 1989)

□ Atomino (sealed)

• Released/Developer: 1990 by Blue Byte for the Atari ST | 1991 for the Amiga (28th October)
• Original Price: N/A
• Type: Puzzle (AmigaLemon 72%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS
• Programmers: Rainer Reber
• Artist: Martin Thorsten Knop
• Composer: Hans-Hermann Franck
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Celal Kandemiroglu

□ Infestation

• Released/Developer: 1990 by Psygnosis (1st May)
• Original Price: £24.95
• Type: 3D Shooter (AmigaLemon 72%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, FM Towns, PC-9800, and MS-DOS
• Coder: Dan Gallagher
• Artist: Roger Dean
• Composer: Sean Conran
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Tim White

□ Barbarian 2

• Released/Developer: 1991 by Psygnosis (21st October)
• Original Price: £25.99
• Type: Arcade Platform (AmigaLemon 65%)
• Platforms: Amiga and Atari ST
• Programmer: Mike Chilton
• Artist: Garvan Corbett, Mike Waterworth
• Composers: Paul Summers
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Chris Achilleos

□ Cytron

• Released/Developer: 1992 by Lunatic Software (23rd September)
• Original Price: £24.95
• Type: Shooter (AmigaLemon 61%)
• Platforms: Amiga and Atari ST
• Composer: Matt Furniss
• Big-Box Cover Artist: Peter Andrew Jones

□ The Carl Lewis Challenge

• Released/Developer: 1992 by Teque London Ltd. (7th July)
• Original Price: £25.99
• Type: Sports (AmigaLemon 53%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Archimedes, and MS-DOS
• Programmers: Tony Love, Peter Jefferies, John Jarvis
• Artist: Tony Hager
• Composer: Chris Hülsbeck

□ Lemmings 2: The Tribes

• Released/Developer: 1993 by DMA Design (19th July)
• Original Price: N/A
• Type: Puzzle (AmigaLemon 85%)
• Platforms: Amiga, Atari ST, Mega Drive, Super NES, Game Boy, Acorn Archimedes, FM Towns, and MS-DOS
• Composers: Raymond Usher, Brian Johnston, and David Whittaker

□ Second Samurai

• Released/Developer: 1993 by Vivid Image (6th May)
• Original Price: £29.99
• Type: Arcade Platform (AmigaLemon 82%)
• Platforms: Amiga OCS, Amiga AGA, Windows, and Mega Drive
• Programming: Raffaele Cecco
• Graphics Designer: Teoman Izmak
• Composers: Matt Furniss and Brian Marshall

□ Collection of Psygnosis Big Boxes

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Info Sources:

• Psygnosis.org/games
• Wikipedia.org
• Amiga.Abime.net/games
• Lemonamiga.com
• Everygamegoing.com