''Turrican'' is a 1990 video game developed by

Manfred Trenz Manfred Trenz (born 29 November 1965 in Saarbrücken) is a German video game developer. He is the developer of the '' Turrican'' video game series as well as the Commodore 64 version of the game ''R-Type is a horizontally scrolling sh ...

. It was developed for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 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 the Guinness W ...

Rainbow Arts Rainbow Arts Software GmbH was a German video game publisher based in Gütersloh. The company was founded in 1984 by Marc Ullrich and Thomas Meiertoberens and acquired by Rushware in 1986. The company's decline began in the early 1990s: The di ...

, and was

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

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 is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic ...

'' and ''

Psycho-Nics Oscar is a 1987 side-scrolling run and gun arcade video game developed and published by Data East in Japan and North America. Set in the futuristic Ordio City, players assume the role of the titular mecha to fight against enemy invaders. Headed by ...

''. 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

. ''Turrican'' was released for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first per ...

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 Si ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

and

CDTV The CDTV (from Commodore Dynamic Total Vision, later treated as a backronym for Compact Disc Television) is a home multimedia entertainment and video game console – convertible into a full-fledged personal computer by the addition of optional ...

Factor 5 Factor 5 GmbH is an 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 studio's name. In order to have a str ...

handled the Amiga, Atari ST and CDTV versions, while the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum were developed by

Probe Software Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game publisher from Long Island, active from 1987 until filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on September 1, 2004. Through a series of acquisitions between 1990 and 2002, Acclaim built itself a large portf ...

. 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 Innerprise Software Inc, was a North American video game developer and publisher located in Maryland. The company was founded in 1989 and went out of business in 1992. During the company's existence Innerprise Software managed to publish titles f ...

. 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 The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

and

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

were handled by

The Code Monkeys The Code Monkeys Limited was a British video game developer based in Dewsbury, England and founded in February 1988 by Colin Hogg, Mark Kirkby and Elliot Gay. It was known for porting video games to various platforms. In February 2011, sha ...

and published by

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing or adoubement) ( la, benedictio militis) was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the term ''accolade'' was used much more generally to ...

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 The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it competed with the 16-bit Sega Genesis, the Super NES and th ...

was under discussion by German studio Softgold, but work on the port was never stated beyond the discussional phase.

Music

Chris Huelsbeck Christopher Hülsbeck (born 2 March 1968), known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer. He gained popularity for his work on game soundtracks for '' The Great Giana Sisters'' and the '' Turrican'' series. Car ...

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 The ''Symphonic Game Music Concerts (''shortened to: ''Game Concerts'') are a series of award-winning orchestral video game music concerts first performed in 2003 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, notable for being the longest running and the ...

in 2004. The event took place in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, 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. The title screen of ''Turrican'' is based upon the

Manowar Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery) and mythology (particularly Norse mythology and Greco-Roman mythology), as well as ...

album cover ''

Kings of Metal ''Kings of Metal'' is the sixth album by the American heavy metal band Manowar, released on November 18, 1988 by Atlantic Records. The album was the last to feature guitarist and founding member Ross "The Boss" Friedman, who later went on to r ...

.''

Reception

The Spectrum version was voted number 36 in the ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

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 o ...

). The

Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

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

, and later followed by an

port under the title of ''Turrican 3: Payment Day''. PC (MS-DOS), Acorn Archimedes and

Amiga CD32 The Amiga CD32 (stylized as Amiga CD32, code-named "Spellbound") is a 32-bit home video game console developed by Commodore and released in Europe, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It was first announced at the Science Museum in London on July 16, ...

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 The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eu ...

by Factor 5. They were released in 1993 and 1995, respectively.

Unreleased games

''Turrican 3D'' was intended to introduce

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D 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 th ...

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

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

) and

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

. Screenshots and videos show how the world of ''Turrican'' would have looked.Screenshots and videos of Turrican 3D
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 by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

and later for the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the ...

. All that is available from this game is a piece of preliminary music composed by

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. ''Next-gen Turrican'' in April 2007, a

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

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.

Gallery

Amiga-Computer.jpg, ''Turrican'' played on an Amiga, photographed in England in the early 1990s. Games Convention 2006 - Turrican auf Amiga und C64.jpg, ''Turrican II'' on an Amiga (left) and a C64 at the

Games Convention The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its c ...

2006. Play! A video game symphony XVII (526691535).jpg,

Play! A Video Game Symphony PLAY! A Video Game Symphony was a concert series that featured music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts from 2006 to 2010 were conducted by Arnie Roth. From 2010, Andy Brick took the position of principal conductor and m ...

live concert of the ''Turrican'' soundtrack. Left bottom, a monitor with the game.

References

External links

*
''Turrican''
at Hall of Light Amiga database
Turrican
at thelegacy.de {{Authority control 1990 video games Accolade (company) games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Atari ST games Cancelled Atari Jaguar games Commodore 64 games Commodore CDTV games Game Boy games Mobile 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