The Aquatic Games
Encyclopedia
The Aquatic Games is a sports
video game by Millennium Software
. It featured pseudo-Olympic
sports starring the video game character James Pond
.
The game was an aquatic-themed parody
of games like Konami
's Track & Field. Due to the nature of its gameplay, Aquatic Games is something of an anomaly in the James Pond franchise, with all the other games in the series being side-viewed platform game
s. This possibly represented an attempt to spin the character off into other genres the way Nintendo
had done with its mascot Mario
.
Aquatic Games is also notable in that it was the last game in the series to be released for the Amiga A500. Though the next game (James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
) also appeared on the Amiga, it was only compatible with the newer range of 32-bit Amigas (such as the A1200) which used the AGA chipset.
The game contains classical music pieces Ode to Joy (from Beethoven's 9th) in the title screen and Schubert
's fish song "Die Forelle
" during certain events. The rest of the music is composed by Richard Joseph
.
Sports game
A sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
video game by Millennium Software
Millennium Interactive
Millennium Interactive was a Cambridge-based computer games developer responsible for titles such as Rome: Pathway to Power, The Adventures of Robin Hood, James Pond, Defcon 5, Deadline and most notably, Creatures. Another notable title is Strike II, a 3-D air combat science fiction game.In July...
. It featured pseudo-Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
sports starring the video game character James Pond
James Pond
James Pond, also known as James Pond: Underwater Agent, is a platform video game that was developed by British video game developers Vectordean Ltd and Millennium Interactive, and published by Millennium Interactive and Electronic Arts for numerous home computers and consoles in 1990...
.
The game was an aquatic-themed parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of games like Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's Track & Field. Due to the nature of its gameplay, Aquatic Games is something of an anomaly in the James Pond franchise, with all the other games in the series being side-viewed platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
s. This possibly represented an attempt to spin the character off into other genres the way Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
had done with its mascot Mario
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
.
Aquatic Games is also notable in that it was the last game in the series to be released for the Amiga A500. Though the next game (James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
James Pond 3: Operation Starfish is a 1993 video game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The game was also released for the Amiga and Amiga CD32 platforms, the Super Nintendo and the Sega Game Gear. Operation Starfish is the third and last game in the James Pond series...
) also appeared on the Amiga, it was only compatible with the newer range of 32-bit Amigas (such as the A1200) which used the AGA chipset.
The game contains classical music pieces Ode to Joy (from Beethoven's 9th) in the title screen and Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's fish song "Die Forelle
Die Forelle
Franz Schubert composed his lively lied "Die Forelle" in early 1817 for solo voice and piano. The text is from a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart. In the Deutsch catalog of Schubert's works it is number 550, or D550...
" during certain events. The rest of the music is composed by Richard Joseph
Richard Joseph
Richard Joseph was a British computer game composer, musician and sound specialist. He had a career spanning some 20 years starting in the early days of gaming on the C64 and the Amiga and onto succeeding formats through to the present day.After being diagnosed with lung cancer, he died on 4 March...
.