Bandersnatch (video game)

Infobox VG
title = Bandersnatch
developer = Imagine Software
publisher = never published
released = never released
genre = "mega-game"
modes = unknown
platforms = ZX Spectrum

"Bandersnatch" was a home computer "mega-game" written by Imagine Software intended for release on the ZX Spectrum. The game was eagerly anticipated by teaser adverts placed in the computer press (see right) throughout 1984. The game would have set a new price point for computer games (£30 vs. the standard rates of the time of between £5.95 and £11.95) and would have required a dongle, presumably to carry extra ROM for data.

Imagine Software went bust owing to financial mismanagement, the spectacular demise being shown in a BBC documentary. During the documentary it was revealed that the game "Psyclapse" was little more than a paper sketch, making it true vaporware.

A new company called Finchspeed was formed from the remnants of Imagine which sold the rights to the "Bandersnatch" game to Sinclair Research Ltd. Before Finchspeed folded, a complete, working version was developed for the Sinclair QL. The directors Dave Lawson and Ian Heatherington then formed Psygnosis and "Bandersnatch" was given a release on the Atari ST, Amiga and Macintosh, renamed as "Brataccas".

"Bandersnatch" itself was never released.

External links

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1012096952890708986 BBC Documentary] , The BBC documentary about the production of the game
* [http://tzxvault.retrogames.com/time.htm TZX Vault article] , Games that time forgot
* [http://www.brataccas.com/arch/indexes/fallimagine.htm Brataccas article] , The Fall of Imagine
* Bruce Everiss blog entry [http://www.bruceongames.com/2007/10/04/the-megagames/ about the megagames]