''Turrican'' is a 1990 video game developed by Manfred Trenz. It was developed for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

by Rainbow Arts, and was ported to other systems later. In addition to concept design and character creation, Trenz programmed ''Turrican'' on the Commodore 64. A sequel, '' Turrican II: The Final Fight'', followed in 1991 for the Commodore 64 and other platforms.

Gameplay

''Turrican'' can be described as a cross between '' Metroid'' and '' Psycho-Nics Oscar''. While the huge 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'' did not force the player to complete a linear level. Instead, the player can explore each level and uncover secrets.

Plot

The lost colony of Alterra is a completely man-made world in a nearby galaxy, abandoned long ago. Alterra consists of five self-contained habitats, separately bio-engineered by a powerful ecosystem generation network known as a Multiple Organism Unit Link, or MORGUL for short. Early colonists used MORGUL to render Alterra habitable, but a cataclysmic earthquake severed all system interface functions, and MORGUL murderously rebelled. The few colonists lucky enough to escape told a grim tale of a higher intelligence gone berserk. For generations, mankind sought a return to Alterra. Finally, genetic science created a saviour: Turrican, a mutant warrior, bio-engineered for the task of planetary reclamation. In the meantime, MORGUL has diligently twisted Alterran life forms to his brutal, destructive purposes. Thus, Turrican's challenges consist of eliminating hostile organisms from Alterra's five multi-level worlds and, finally, destroying the three faces of MORGUL.

Development

The series started in 1989 on the Commodore 64 with a demo level of the full game which was released in 1990. ''Turrican'' became 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. ''Turrican'' was released for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") 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 ZX Spec ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

and CDTV.

Factor 5 Factor 5 GmbH was a German-American Independent business, independent software and video game developer. The company was co-founded by five former Rainbow Arts employees in 1987 in Cologne, Germany, which served as the inspiration behind the st ...

handled the Amiga, Atari ST and CDTV versions, while the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum were developed by Probe Software. While all of these versions were published in Europe, the Commodore versions were the only computer versions to be published in North America, by Innerprise Software. The Spectrum version of the game went to number 2 in the UK sales charts, behind '' Shadow Warriors''. In 1991, console ports for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis,

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...

and

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

were handled by The Code Monkeys and published by

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) () was the central act in the rite of passage Ceremony, ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. Etymology The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when Thomas ...

in North America, with the Mega Drive and Game Boy versions being also released in Europe. A conversion of the game for the Atari Jaguar was under discussion by German studio Softgold, but work on the port was never stated beyond the discussional phase.

Music

Chris Huelsbeck composed music for the Amiga conversions of ''Turrican'', ''Turrican II'' and ''Turrican 3'', as well as ''Mega Turrican'' for the Mega Drive and ''Super Turrican'' and ''Super Turrican 2'' for the SNES. Music from ''Turrican II'' was performed live by a full orchestra at the second Symphonic Game Music Concert in 2004. The event took place in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany. The music from ''Turrican'' was released in the ''Turrican Soundtrack Anthology'' on November 24, 2013, as a 4-volume digital download. In addition, "Subsong 2" from the Commodore 64 version of ''Turrican'', arranged by Ramiro Vaca, was copied from the song "Escape" of The Transformers: The Movie Soundtrack. while "Death of Optimus Prime" is copied for ''Turrican's'' ending theme. The title screen of ''Turrican'' is based upon the Manowar album cover '' Kings of Metal.''

Reception

The Spectrum version was voted number 36 in the '' Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time''. The four reviewers from Mega Play gave very positive reviews for the Sega Genesis port and lauded the variety of weapons and techniques. They also praised the gameplay for having a good combination of strategy and action. One reviewer felt that Turrican is "the ultimate action game for the Genesis".

Sequels

''Turrican II: The Final Fight''

''Turrican II: The Final Fight'' was released in 1991. The Amiga version, done by

, 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, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and PC (

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

). The Mega Drive/Genesis and

versions were modified into ''Universal Soldier'', a tie in to the film of the same name. A planned Super NES version was cancelled before release.

''Mega Turrican''/''Turrican 3: Payment Day''

''Mega Turrican'' was an original

game initially designed for the Mega Drive/Genesis, and later followed by an

port under the title of ''Turrican 3: Payment Day''. PC (MS-DOS), Acorn Archimedes and Amiga CD32 versions were also planned and developed, but they were never released and only some enemy sprite designs have surfaced.

''Super Turrican'' (NES)

Released for the NES, this ''Turrican'' game was created by Manfred Trenz alone. It is based roughly on the levels of the first two ''Turrican'' games.

''Super Turrican'' and ''Super Turrican 2'' (SNES)

The ''Super Turrican'' games were developed for the SNES by Factor 5. They were released in 1993 and 1995, respectively.

Unreleased games

''Turrican 3D'' was intended to introduce

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

in the ''Turrican'' series, but was not released because publisher THQ stopped development. The game was intended for PC (

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

) and

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

. Screenshots and videos show how the world of ''Turrican'' would have looked. In an interview, Manfred Trenz, creator of ''Turrican'', ''Turrican II'', ''Super Turrican'' (NES) 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'' is another never-released ''Turrican'' spin-off. Handled by the US branch of Factor 5, they did not use the name ''Turrican'' because of legal issues. It was developed first for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

and later for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

. All that is available from this game is a piece of preliminary music composed by Chris Huelsbeck and some art assets that were reused in '' Star Wars: Rebel Strike'', such as the Golden Gate-looking bridge. The "Thornado Demo" track which was released as a teaser for the then-upcoming GameCube game, was in fact running on the older Nintendo 64 sound hardware using Factor 5's new proprietary MusyX software sound engine. The ''Thornado'' demo, although not available on Factor 5's website anymore, can still be found on Chris Huelsbeck's page at GarageBand.com. In April 2007, a

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'' (known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021) is a website created in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget and acted as the online sister publication to the print maga ...

article revealed that Factor 5 was working on concepts for a new ''Turrican'' game. The game did not have a title yet and was known as ''Turrican'' or ''Project cyclone''. Since the game was being planned once again by the US branch of Factor 5 and they went bankrupt not long after, this game was not released.

''Turrican Flashback''

The Amiga versions of ''Turrican'' and ''Turrican II'' along with ''Mega Turrican'' and ''Super Turrican'' were re-released in 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch under the title ''Turrican Flashback'' to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original game. These versions feature various mods such as the ability to rewind the action to correct mistakes, modify the visuals to better simulate the CRT type displays used by players at the time and input cheat codes.

References

External links

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Turrican
at thelegacy.de {{Authority control 1990 video games Accolade, Inc. games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Atari ST games Cancelled Atari Jaguar games Commodore 64 games Commodore CDTV games Game Boy games Run and gun games Science fiction video games Sega Genesis games Single-player video games TurboGrafx-16 games Video game franchises Video games developed in Germany Video games scored by Chris Huelsbeck Video games scored by Jochen Hippel Video games set in the 31st century ZX Spectrum games Rainbow Arts games The Code Monkeys games Innerprise Software games Crash Smash! award winners