You’ve all heard of Jeff Minter, but what is his story? We’re about to find out in Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, which is heading to Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC next month.
Minter, of course, is synonymous with Llamasoft, and published some of the most unusual games of the 80s and 90s, including Gridrunner, Revenge of the Mutant Camels, Tempest 2000, and Llamatron.
Produced by Digital Eclipse, this is an interactive documentary (we’re thinking something along the lines of the their earlier Atari 50 collection, but with added Jeff Minter) that explores the programmer’s origin story. Along the way, you get to sample the goods: 42 classic games from 8 different platforms!
The collection spans Jeff Minter’s earliest Sinclair ZX81 and Commodore VIC-20 projects, to games released on the Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Atari 800. It doesn’t end there – games from the Atari ST and Atari Jaguar are also included:
Sinclair ZX81
- 3D3D
- Centipede
Commodore VIC-20
- Abductor
- Andes Attack
- Deflex V
- Gridrunner
- Hellgate
- Laser Zone
- Matrix: Gridrunner 2
- Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time
- Ratman
Commodore 64
- Ancipital
- Attack of the Mutant Camels
- Batalyx
- Gridrunner
- Hellgate
- Hover Bovver
- Iridis Alpha
- Laser Zone
- Mama Llama
- Matrix: Gridrunner 2
- Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time
- Psychedelia
- Revenge of the Mutant Camels
- Revenge of the Mutant Camels II
- Rox 64
- Sheep In Space
- Voidrunner
Sinclair Spectrum
- City Bomb
- Headbangers Heaven
- Rox III
- Superdeflex
Atari 8-bit
- Attack of the Mutant Camels
- Colourspace
- Gridrunner
- Hover Bovver
- Turboflex
Konix Multi-System
- Attack of the Mutant Camels ’89
Atari ST
- Llamatron: 2112
- Revenge of the Mutant Camels
- Super Gridrunner
Atari Jaguar
- Tempest 2000
Plus: a reimagined version of Gridrunner, Gridrunner Remastered, although unsurprisingly, Minter’s take on Akka Arrh is not included.
This launch trailer should give you a good idea of what to expect:
Here’s how interactive movie was revealed on X/Twitter, at around the same time as it went public on IGN’s FanFest:
So, how do you get a copy of The Jeff Minter Story? Well, you should be able to find it in your preferred platform’s online store/library: it’s coming out on March 13th on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and X❘S, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and GOG.com. Learn more on the Digital Eclipse store page.
Prefer a physical release? This should help:
Affiliate Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through those links. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!
Christian Cawley is the founder and editor of GamingRetro.co.uk, a website dedicated to classic and retro gaming. With over 20 years of experience writing for technology and gaming publications, he brings considerable expertise and a lifelong passion for interactive entertainment, particularly games from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.
Christian has written for leading outlets including TechRadar, Computer Weekly, Linux Format, and MakeUseOf, where he also served as Deputy Editor.
When he’s not exploring vintage consoles or retro PCs, Christian enjoys building with LEGO, playing cigar box guitar, and experimenting in the kitchen.
