The British company
Ocean Software (or
Ocean Software Ltd. and sometimes known in North America as
Ocean of America, Inc. but generally only referred to as
Ocean) was one of the biggest
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an
video game developerA video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
s/
publisherA video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
s of the 1980s and 90s. It was acquired by
InfogramesInfogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
in 1996 and renamed to
Infogrames UK in 1998, and again in 2004 to Atari UK, and once again in 2009 now known as
Atari, IncThe company that currently bears the Atari Inc. name was founded in 1993 under the name GT Interactive. In 1999, Infogrames Entertainment, SA acquired a 62% controlling interest in GT Interactive, and proceeded to rename it Infogrames, Inc. After IESA's acquisition of Hasbro Interactive and its...
.
The company was founded by David Ward and
Jon WoodsJon Vincent Woods is a former UK based computer game producer. In 1984 he co-founded Manchester based software development company Ocean Software with David Ward....
and was based in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. Ocean developed dozens of games for a variety of systems such as the
ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
,
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
,
Amstrad CPCThe Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
,
Atari STThe Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
,
AmigaThe Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
,
PCIBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
, and video game
consolesA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
such as the
Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
,
Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
,
Sega Master SystemThe is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
and
Sega Mega DriveThe Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
.
History
The company's early releases in 1984 (
Moon Alert, HunchbackHunchback is an arcade game developed by Century Electronics in 1983. The player controls Quasimodo from the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame....
, High NoonHigh Noon is a Shoot 'em up game for the Commodore 64, created by Ocean Software in 1984.The game has five levels. The player takes the role of the good sheriff in the American Old West. He must defend his town against outlaws looking to abduct women from the local "Saucy Sue's Saloon" and rob the...
, Gilligan's Gold,
Daley Thompson's Decathlon etc.) were developed in-house, but later in that year Ocean Software acquired its former
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
rival, the defunct software developer
ImagineImagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20...
, and focus shifted from development to publication of games. Also in 1984, Ocean struck a deal with
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
to publish their arcade games for home computers.
- In 1985, Ocean Software managed to secure the first movie licences, such as Rambo, Short Circuit
Short Circuit is a 1986 comedy science fiction film starring Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg and directed by John Badham. Fisher Stevens, Austin Pendleton, and G. W...
and Cobra, as well as the TV show Miami ViceMiami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
and Robocop who about a year on the top of the charts.
- In 1986, a deal was signed with Taito
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....
and Data Eastalso abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...
for home versions of their arcade games such as Arkanoidis an arcade game developed by Taito in 1986. It is based upon Atari's Breakout games of the 1970s. The title refers to a doomed "mothership" from which the player's ship, the Vaus, escapes.-Overview:...
, RenegadeRenegade is a video game released in American and European arcades in 1986 by Taito. It is a westernized conversion of the Japanese arcade game , released earlier the same year by Technos...
, Operation WolfOperation Wolf is a one-player shooter arcade game made by Taito in 1987. It spawned three sequels: Operation Thunderbolt , Operation Wolf 3 and Operation Tiger .-Description:...
and New Zealand Storyis a arcade game developed and published by Taito. The player controls , a sneaker-wearing kiwi who must save his lover and several of his other kiwi chick friends who have been kiwi-napped by Wally, a large blue leopard seal. The player has to navigate a scrolling maze-like level, at the end of...
.
- In 1986 Ocean Software created with Marc DJAN Ocean Software France. This 16 bit studio will create most of the 16 bit arcade conversation between 1986 and 1991 then became the French marketing and sales subsidiary of Ocean software Ltd.
- In 1987, Ocean Software published original games again, after a marginal season filled with licences, resulting in Head over Heels
Head Over Heels is an arcade adventure, released in 1987 for several 8-bit home computers, and subsequently ported to a wide range of formats. Originally, the working title for the game was Foot and Mouth....
, Match Day IIMatch Day II is a football sports game part of the Match Day series released for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX and Commodore 64 platforms...
and WizballWizball is a computer game written by Jon Hare and Chris Yates and released in 1987 for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Versions for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC were also released...
, which are considered to be classics by many old school gamers.
- Ocean was acquired by Infogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
in 1996 for £100,000,000 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998.
- Ocean acquired Digital Image Design
Digital Image Design was a British video game developer founded by Martin Kenwright and Phillip Allsopp in 1989 and was originally based in Runcorn, Cheshire, England. The company had employed around eighty developers who specialized in areas of software and simulation...
in 1998.
- The last game released by Ocean was Mission: Impossible in 1998, for Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
.
Ocean Loader
One of the most recognisable features of Ocean games on the
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
was the Ocean Loader. Since this computer used cassettes as storage, loading a game could take several minutes. Ocean used a special loading system that displayed a picture based on the game and played music while the game was loading. The Ocean loader music is still popular by fans of chiptunes. Five versions of the tune exist; 1 and 2 were composed by
Martin GalwayMartin Galway is one of the best known composers of music for the Commodore 64 sound chip, the SID soundchip, and for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum...
, 3 by Peter Clarke, 4 and 5 by Jonathan Dunn. The Ocean Loader was first used in the game
Hyper SportsHyper Sports is a video game published in 1984. It is the sequel to Konami's Track & Field and features seven all-new Olympic events. Like its predecessor, Hyper Sports featured two run buttons and one action button per player....
. Up to 1987 the Ocean Loader was written by the in house Ocean programmer Bill Barna, from 1987 to the end of the Commodore 64's commercial life the loader was replaced by "Freeload" written by in house programmer Paul Hughes.
License games
Ocean was famous for often buying the rights to make video games from different arcade, movie and
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
franchisesA media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
. Many license games combined several styles for example featuring platform action and car driving. The most well received license games by Ocean were
RoboCop (1988),
Batman The Movie (1989) and
Robocop 3 (1992), which featured 3D graphics in 16-bit versions. Also the adventure game,
Hook (1992) got positive reviews. The 1986 game
Batman got a rating of 93% in
CrashCrash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
magazine. Among Ocean's license games are:
- The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a platform game based on the 1991 movie of the same name. Two different versions of the game were released. The first was in 1991 by ICOM Simulations for the TurboGrafx-CD...
- The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
- Addams Family Values
- Batman
Batman is a 3D isometric action-adventure game that was released in 1986 under the Batman licence by Ocean Software for the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and MSX microcomputers.An Amstrad PCW version was also available.-Gameplay:...
- Batman: The Caped Crusader
Batman; The Caped Crusader is an action adventure game developed by Special FX Software and published by Ocean Software for the 8-bit home computers such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 and by Data East for other platforms such as the Apple II, Commodore Amiga and PC in 1988.-Summary:It was an...
- Batman: The Movie
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
- Cobra
- Cool World
Cool World is a 1992 American live-action/animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi, and starring Kim Basinger, Gabriel Byrne, and Brad Pitt. It tells the story of a cartoonist who finds himself in the animated world he created, and is seduced by one of his characters, a comic strip vamp who wants to...
- Darkman
Darkman was developed by Twilight and published by Ocean Software in 1991. It was released for the ZX Spectrum, NES, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. It was also ported to the Game Boy and Atari ST...
- Dennis The Menace
Dennis The Menace is a multiplatform video game based on the 1993 movie of the same name. The object in all versions of the game is to defeat a burglar who managed to find Dennis' town via the local railroad connection. Stages include Mr...
- Eek the Cat
- The Flintstones
The Flintstones is a 1994 American live-action comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon television series of the same name about a Stone-Age man, his family and his best friend. The film was directed by Brian Levant, written by Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein and Steven E...
- Highlander
- Hook
Hook is the name of four distinct video games released in 1992, all based on the Steven Speilberg film of the same name.-Hook by Irem:...
- Jurassic Park
After the announcement of the 1993 Jurassic Park feature film, based on the critically acclaimed novel by Michael Crichton, developers Ocean Software, BlueSky Software and Sega of America were licensed to produce games to be sold to coincide with the release of the film on the popular platforms of...
- Knight Rider
Knight Rider is a 1989 video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that is very loosely based on the television show of the same name.-Mission Mode:...
- Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon is a video game developed by Eurocom and released in 1992 by Ocean. It was released in conjunction with Lethal Weapon 3.-NES and Game Boy version:...
- Manchester United Championship Soccer
Manchester United Championship Soccer is a 1995 soccer video game for the Super NES.-Summary:The game was released at the time when Manchester United was starting to dominate the English football scene. All the teams from the 1994–95 FA Premier League are represented...
- Miami Vice
- Navy Seals
Navy SEALS is a 1990 video game developed and published by Ocean. It is based on the movie of the same name....
- Rambo
Rambo is a 1985 video game based on the film Rambo: First Blood Part II. It was produced by Platinum Productions and published by Ocean Software for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64....
- Rambo 3
Rambo III is a series of video games based on the film of the same name. Like in the film, their main plots center on former Vietnam-era Green Beret John Rambo being called back to duty one last time to rescue his former commander, Colonel Sam Trautman, who was captured during a covert operation...
- RoboCop
- RoboCop 2
- RoboCop 3
- Short Circuit
- Total Recall
- The Transformers
The game's received mixed reviews - Sinclair User gave the game 4 stars out of five, while Your Sinclair gave it 6/10 and Crash gave it 60%.Max Phillips from Your Sinclair said the game was "slick but nothing new, the keyboard controls are awful and the cassette inlay is diabolical" while John...
- The Untouchables
- Waterworld
Waterworld is the name of various video games released for the Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy, Game Boy, and PC based on the film of the same name, along with unpublished games for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, and 3DO. The Nintendo and Sega console versions were all produced by Ocean Software,...
- WWF WrestleMania
WWF WrestleMania is a game created by Twilight in 1991 for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and DOS...
- WWF European Rampage Tour
WWF European Rampage Tour is a game based on the World Wrestling Federation, created by Arc Developments in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and MSDOS. It capitalizes on the success of the previous WWF game for home computers, WWF Wrestlemania, and was aimed predominantly at the European...
Other titles
Although Ocean was best known for its licensed games, it had many other releases.
- Animal (1996)
- Beach Volley
Beach Volley is a simplified computer game version of volleyball from the French developer team Ocean France for various 16-Bit and 8-Bit personal computers, released by Ocean Software Ltd in 1989.-Story:...
(1989)
- Burnin' Rubber (1990)
- Cabal
is a arcade video game originally developed by TAD Corporation and published in Japan by Taito Corporation and in North America and Europe by Fabtek. In this game, the player controls a commando, viewed from behind, trying to destroy various enemy military bases...
(1989)
- Chase HQ (1988)
- Chase HQ II (1989)
- Cheesy
Cheesy is a platform game published by Ocean Software and developed by CTA Developments for the PlayStation. It was released in Europe on November, 1996 and in Japan on July 24, 1997....
(1996)
- Choplifter III
is a 1994 Shoot-'Em-Up video game for the Super NES.-Summary:It was released both in North America, Europe and Japan. In Europe, a remake of Choplifter II was released under the same name, and later ported to Game Gear. Despite the confusing name change, these are not conversions of the Super...
(1994)
- Combat School
Combat School, distributed in North America as Boot Camp, is a 1987 arcade game produced by Konami where the player takes control of a military recruit who is undergoing basic training at a United States Marine Corps Recruit Training also known as a boot camp.- Gameplay:The control panel consists...
(1987)
- Daley Thompson's Decathlon
Daley Thompson's Decathlon is a computer game based on Konami's Track and Field, developed and released under license by Ocean Software in 1984...
(1984)
- Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (1988)
- Daley Thompson's Supertest
- Doom (SNES PAL) (1996)
- Eco
Eco is an evolution life simulation game developed by Denton Designs for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was released in 1988 and published by Ocean Software....
(1987)
- EF2000 (1997)
- Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
(1991)
- F29 Retaliator
F29 Retaliator is a combat flight simulator video game developed by Digital Image Design and published by Ocean Software in 1989 for the PC, for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1990, and the FM Towns and NEC PC-9801 in 1992-1993...
(1990)
- Gryzor (1987)
- Head Over Heels
Head Over Heels is an arcade adventure, released in 1987 for several 8-bit home computers, and subsequently ported to a wide range of formats. Originally, the working title for the game was Foot and Mouth....
(1987)
- Hunchback
Hunchback is an arcade game developed by Century Electronics in 1983. The player controls Quasimodo from the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame....
(1984)
- Ivanhoe (1990)
- Inferno
Inferno is a computer game developed by Digital Image Design and published by Ocean of America in 1994 for the IBM PC. This game is a sequel to Epic.-Reception:...
(1994)
- Jelly Boy
Jelly Boy is a 1991 Europe-exclusive video game for the Super NES and the Nintendo Game Boy. The title was planned to be released on Sega Genesis but was canceled.-Summary:...
- Last Rites (1997)
- Lost Patrol
Lost Patrol is a survival action role-playing game with strategy elements developed by the team Shadow Development and published by Ocean Software Ltd for Amiga computers in 1990 and the Atari ST in 1991; a DOS version was also released by Astros Productions...
(1990)
- Midnight Resistance
is a side-scrolling action shooting game produced by Data East for the arcades in . The game was ported by Data East to the Sega Mega Drive in and by Ocean Software to various home computer platforms during the same year...
(1990)
- Mr. Nutz
Mr. Nutz is a side scrolling, 2D platformer video game published by Ocean Software. It was first released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993, then later released for the Mega Drive in 1994, followed by Game Boy, Game Boy Color, then Game Boy Advance ports.The player controls the...
(1993)
- Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad
Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad is a side scrolling, 2D platformer video game published by Ocean Software for the Amiga and first released in 1994....
(1994)
- Mr Wimpy
Mr. Wimpy is a platforming video game released by Ocean Software in 1984. The game was intended to be a promotional tie with Wimpy restaurants as their logos, company mascots, and theme tunes were reproduced. The game was released on the Oric 1, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro and Commodore 64. The gameplay...
(1984)
- New Zealand Story
is a arcade game developed and published by Taito. The player controls , a sneaker-wearing kiwi who must save his lover and several of his other kiwi chick friends who have been kiwi-napped by Wally, a large blue leopard seal. The player has to navigate a scrolling maze-like level, at the end of...
(1989)
- Operation Wolf (1989)
- Operation Thunderbolt
Operation Thunderbolt is a one- or two-player shooter arcade game by Taito made in 1988.-Description:Operation Thunderbolt is the sequel to Operation Wolf. Roy Adams and Hardy Jones, two green berets, must save American hostages from a hijacked airliner which was forced to land in the fictional...
(1990)
- Pang (1990)
- Parasol Stars
is a video game by Taito released in 1991. It is a sequel to Rainbow Islands . It is technically the third game in the Bubble Bobble series.-Straight to home systems:...
(1992)
- Platoon (1988)
- Pushover
Pushover is a platform puzzle game developed by Red Rat Software in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, DOS and Super NES. Ocean Software published the game...
(1992)
- Rainbow Islands
is a 1987 arcade game developed and published by Taito. The game is subtitled "The Story of Bubble Bobble 2" and is the sequel to Taito's hit game Bubble Bobble from the previous year...
(1990)
- Shadow Warriors (1990)
- Salamander (1988)
- Sleepwalker
Sleepwalker is a platform game developed by CTA Developments and published by Ocean Software for the Amiga, Amiga CD32, C64 and Atari ST in 1993. It was later ported to DOS. Sleepwalker was later re-released in 1994 using the Eek! The Cat license for the Super Nintendo.-Summary:The game centres on...
(1993)
- Space Gun
is a first-person, shoot 'em up arcade game released by Taito in 1990. It was later distributed for various home games consoles in 1992, and in 2005, it was included as part of the compilation Taito Legends on the PlayStation 2, PC and Xbox...
(1992)
- Super Turrican 2
Super Turrican 2 is a 16-bit shooter game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, developed by Factor 5 and marketed by Ocean Software in 1995...
(1995)
- Sword Maker 64 (1997)
- TFX
TFX was one of the precursor combat flight simulators that helped to define the standards of modern combat flight simulators, together with Tornado, F14 Fleet Defender and the Falcon series....
(1993)
- The Great Escape
The Great Escape is a video game which shares a title and similar plot to the movie The Great Escape. It was programmed by Denton Designs, who went on to produce the similarly acclaimed Where Time Stood Still...
(1986)
- Toki
Toki, known in Japan as is a shoot 'em up platformer arcade game, or a "run and gun" developed and published in Japan by TAD Corporation and published in North America by Fabtek. It features elements of tongue-in-cheek humor combined with the action...
(1991)
- Weaponlord
Weaponlord is a 1- or 2-player fighting game originally designed for release on the Super Nintendo by Visual Concepts, and published by Namco. During the inception of the title, the development team also began work on a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version and both were released in October 1995...
(SNES PAL) (1995)
- Wetrix
Wetrix is a puzzle game for the Nintendo 64 released in 1998. Ports were also released for the Dreamcast, Game Boy Color and PC.In 2000 a sequel, Aqua Aqua, was released on the PlayStation 2.-Gameplay:...
(Nintendo 64) (1998)
- Where Time Stood Still
Where Time Stood Still is an isometric 3D arcade adventure game released by Ocean in for the Sinclair Spectrum 128K, MS-DOS and Atari ST. The game was produced by Denton Designs as a follow-up to their successful 1986 title The Great Escape.- Plot :...
(1987)
- Wizball
Wizball is a computer game written by Jon Hare and Chris Yates and released in 1987 for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Versions for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC were also released...
(1988)
- Wizkid (1992)
- Worms
Worms is a series of turn-based computer games developed by British company Team17 Software. Players control a small platoon of earthworms across a deformable landscape, battling other computer- or player-controlled teams...
(1994)
External links