Turrican

Turrican

Infobox VG| title = Turrican


developer = Loriciels
publisher = Rainbow Arts
released = 1990
modes = Single Player
genre = Action
platforms = Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Sega Mega Drive, PC-Engine, Game Boy

"Turrican" is a 1990 video game programmed by Manfred Trenz. It was first developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts, but was ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz personally programmed "Turrican" on the Commodore 64. A sequel, "Turrican 2", followed 1991 for the Commodore 64 and other platforms.

History

The series started in 1990 on the Commodore 64. "Turrican" became very popular due to its high technical achievements, demonstrating graphics which many did not believe to be possible on a C64.

"Turrican" was developed mainly by Manfred Trenz and published by Rainbow Arts. A later Amiga conversion was produced by Factor 5. The following people are credited with the C64 version of "Turrican":

* Idea, programming and graphics: Manfred Trenz
* Producer: Marc A. Ullrich
* Music: Ramiro Vaca, Stefan Hartwig, Chris Hülsbeck
* Sound-FX: Adam Bulka
* Sound-Routines: Chris Hülsbeck, Adam Bulka, Oliver Blasnik
* Digi-Routines: Jeroen Tel

"Turrican" was also released for the Atari ST, Amiga, CDTV, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, PC Engine, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. The console ports were handled by The Code Monkeys and published by Accolade.

"Subsong 2" from "Turrican" is actually the song "Escape" from "". [http://turrican.nemmelheim.de/facts/ Facts about Turrican] at [http://turrican.nemmelheim.de/ Turrican SETA] ] Ramiro Vaca is responsible for the complete C64 score, including the cover of the song Escape in "Subsong 2".Fact|date=March 2007 Chris Hülsbeck composed for the Amiga conversion of Turrican I, II, III as well as Mega Turrican (Mega Drive/Genesis) & Super Turrican (SNES). Subsongs 4 and 7 of the music in the Amiga version of world 4 were clearly inspired by the sound effects for Aliens in the sequence where the marines enter the colony for the first time.

The title screen for "Turrican" is based upon the Manowar album cover "Kings of Metal." [http://turrican.nemmelheim.de/facts/ Facts about Turrican] at [http://turrican.nemmelheim.de/ Turrican SETA] ]

The name "Turrican" is based on "Turricano", an Italian name which Trenz found in a phone book. There was a rumour about Turricano being the name of a pizzeria Trenz used to visit regularly, but this has been proven false. However, he did visit a pizzeria called Katakis, which the planet was named after.

The first demo of "Turrican" (C64) was called "Hurrican".

The "Turrican" series are well known for the high quality of their soundtracks. The most notable is the "Turrican 2" soundtrack for Amiga, composed by Chris Hülsbeck. Music from "Turrican 2" was performed live by a full orchestra at the second Symphonic Game Music Concert in 2004. The event took place in Leipzig, Germany.

Gameplay

"Turrican" can be described as a cross between "Metroid" and "Psycho-Nics Oscar" [http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/files/aff5.html Interview about games that inspired Turrican (German)] ] . While the huge detailed labyrinth levels and the morph-ball function were inspired by Metroid, the overall graphics design and weapons were inspired by Psycho-Nics Oscar. Unlike many other action games of its time, Turrican didn't just force the player to complete a linear level. Instead, the real thrill for the player was to fully explore each level and uncover every secret spot, hidden room, and invisible passage. There is also surprising similarities with "Thexder" (and specially "Thexder 2".

Sequels

Turrican 2

"Turrican 2" was released in 1991. The Amiga version, done by Factor 5, was finished before the C64 version, but Manfred Trenz cites the C64 version as the original design. The game was also released for the CDTV, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum.

Mega Turrican"/"Turrican 3

"Mega Turrican" was an original Factor 5 game initially designed for the Mega Drive/Genesis, and later followed by an Amiga port under the title of "Turrican 3".

"Turrican 3" for the C64 is a fan-game and was released on August 28th 2004 at the Demoparty Evoke by the group Smash Designs.

uper Turrican 1" and "2

The "Super Turrican" games were independent developments for the SNES, both of them done by Factor 5, the first being published by Seika and the second one by Ocean Games.

"Super Turrican" plays similarly to Mega Turrican and shares a similar visual style. The game has a different set of levels, however, and features a freeze beam in place of the original lightning whip. The major addition is a grappling arm, similar to that used in Bionic Commando, which can be used to swing between platforms and grab power-ups.

"Super Turrican 2" featured more action than the first part and used many "Mode 7" effects but sacrificed the big levels of the original "Turrican" games.

There is also an unrelated "Super Turrican" for the NES, which was created by Manfred Trenz alone. It is based roughly on the levels of the first two Turrican games.

"Super Turrican" was released on the Virtual Console in Europe and Australia on February 29, 2008, and in North America on March 3, 2008.
"Super Turrican 2" was released on the Virtual Console in North America on September 29, 2008. [cite news|title=Orbient, Bomberman and Super Turrican 2 Hit Wii Shop Channel|url=http://gamefreaks365.com/newsarticle.php?sid=2878|accessdate=2008-09-29]

Turrican 3D (never released)

"Turrican 3D" was intended to bring Turrican into the third dimension, but was never released because publisher THQ stopped development. Screenshots and videos show how the world of Turrican would have looked. [http://www.mt-fanpage.de/en/programms/turrican3d/picture_gallery_s98.htm Screenshots and videos of Turrican 3D] ]

In an interview, Manfred Trenz (creator of Turrican I & II and co-developer of Turrican 3D), stated that many members of the project were far too profit-oriented, and the project failed as a result.

Thornado" (never released)

This never released Turrican spin-off by Factor 5 did not use the name Turrican because of legal issues. It was developed first for the Nintendo 64 and later for the GameCube. All that is available from this game is a piece of preliminary music composed by Chris Hülsbeck and some art assets that were reused in , such as the Golden Gate-like looking bridge. The "Thornado Demo" track which was released as a teaser for the upcoming GameCube game, was in fact running on the older Nintendo 64 sound hardware using Factor5's new proprietary MusyX software sound engine.The Thornado Demo, although not available on Factor5's website anymore, can still be found on [http://www.garageband.com/artist/huelsbeck Chris Hülsbeck's page] at GarageBand.com.

Next-gen

In April 2007, a Gamasutra article revealed that Factor 5 is working on concepts for a new Turrican game. [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13651 Gamasutra Story about Next-gen Turrican] ]

References

External links

* [http://turrican.nemmelheim.de Extensive Turrican-Fan-Site]
* [http://turricanforever.de Oldest, still active "Turrican" fan site]
* [http://pouet.net/prod.php?which=13297 "Turrican 3"] for the C64
* [http://www.hurrican-game.de "Hurrican"] a modern remake of Turrican
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCWsQUOBo0o A video review of "Turrican 2"]
*WoS game|id=0005472
* [http://thelegacy.de/Museum/game.php3?titel_id=5681&game_id=5731 Turrican on thelegacy.de]
* [http://www.easyretro.com/node/101/Turrican.html Play Turrican online]
* [http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=7019044480187113378 Turrican 2 (PC) Longplay on Google Video 1:07:27]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/Longplay-Turrican_GEN.avi/ Turrican Longplay (Genesis)] on archive.org
* [http://www.marcotodaro.com/turrican.php Marco's Turrican Page] , pagina dedicata a "Turrican" da un fan italiano


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