Tweet
There's a distinct feeling of déjà vu as I sit opposite ZX Spectrum coding legend Jon Ritman. The location may be different - we have graduated from his local curry house to a popular pub nearby - but the conversation is still firmly entrenched in the 1980s. "My memory's not what it used to be," admits Ritman, a caveat I've heard many times before while interviewing games industry veterans. "And it wasn't much good back then..." Fortunately, as I discovered when talking to him two years ago for a feature on his famous football game Match Day, Ritman's short term memory seems to be more the issue. "Only a few months ago I was contacted by somebody about whether I did some loading screens for Crystal Computing," he muses while taking a swig from his pint of lager, which, in keeping with the theme of our conversation, is housed in retro glass mug, complete with handle. "Erm, that was me Jon," I reply, somewhat embarrassed. Ritman is delightfully unconcerned. "Oh, right. Well, yes, I did do some as it turns out..."
Match Day may have been Ritman's breakthrough hit, but it was with his next game, Batman, that his name became firmly associated with high-quality arcade adventures. "I was handing over Match Day to Ocean's David Ward," he explains, "and he said I needed to look at this." Ocean were acting as distributor for Ultimate, a fellow software house that had already become renowned for its exceptional standard of games thanks to a roster that included Jet Pac, Atic Atac and Sabre Wulf.
Read more…
More...