Ocean Software

Ocean Software

Former type	video game developer and publisher
Fate	Acquired by Infogrames in 1996 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998.
Predecessor	Spectrum Software
Successor	Infogrames UK (1998) Atari UK (2004) Atari, Inc (2009)
Founded	1984
Defunct	1998 (Renamed)
Headquarters	6, Central Street, Manchester, England
Key people	David Ward, Jon Woods, Gary Bracey, Marc Djan (ocean france)

The British company Ocean Software (or Ocean Software Ltd. and sometimes known in North America as Ocean of America, Inc. but generally only referred to as Ocean) was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s. It was acquired by Infogrames in 1996 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998, and again in 2004 to Atari UK, and once again in 2009 now known as Atari, Inc.

The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. Ocean developed dozens of games for a variety of systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga, PC, and video game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive.

History

The company's early releases in 1984 (Moon Alert, Hunchback, High Noon, Gilligan's Gold, Daley Thompson's Decathlon etc.) were developed in-house, but later in that year Ocean Software acquired its former Liverpool rival, the defunct software developer Imagine, and focus shifted from development to publication of games. Also in 1984, Ocean struck a deal with Konami to publish their arcade games for home computers.

• In 1985, Ocean Software managed to secure the first movie licences, such as Rambo, Short Circuit and Cobra, as well as the TV show Miami Vice and Robocop who about a year on the top of the charts.
• In 1986, a deal was signed with Taito and Data East for home versions of their arcade games such as Arkanoid, Renegade, Operation Wolf and New Zealand Story.
• In 1986 Ocean Software created with Marc DJAN Ocean Software France. This 16 bit studio will create most of the 16 bit arcade conversation between 1986 and 1991 then became the French marketing and sales subsidiary of Ocean software Ltd.
• In 1987, Ocean Software published original games again, after a marginal season filled with licences, resulting in Head over Heels, Match Day II and Wizball, which are considered to be classics by many old school gamers.
• Ocean was acquired by Infogrames in 1996 for £100,000,000 and renamed to Infogrames UK in 1998.
• Ocean acquired Digital Image Design in 1998.
• The last game released by Ocean was Mission: Impossible in 1998, for Nintendo 64.

Ocean Loader

One of the most recognisable features of Ocean games on the Commodore 64 was the Ocean Loader.^{[citation needed]} Since this computer used cassettes as storage, loading a game could take several minutes. Ocean used a special loading system that displayed a picture based on the game and played music while the game was loading. The Ocean loader music is still popular by fans of chiptunes. Five versions of the tune exist; 1 and 2 were composed by Martin Galway, 3 by Peter Clarke, 4 and 5 by Jonathan Dunn. The Ocean Loader was first used in the game Hyper Sports. Up to 1987 the Ocean Loader was written by the in house Ocean programmer Bill Barna, from 1987 to the end of the Commodore 64's commercial life the loader was replaced by "Freeload" written by in house programmer Paul Hughes.

License games

Screenshot of Highlander for the Commodore 64

Ocean was famous for often buying the rights to make video games from different arcade, movie and television franchises. Many license games combined several styles for example featuring platform action and car driving. The most well received^{[citation needed]} license games by Ocean were RoboCop (1988), Batman The Movie (1989) and Robocop 3 (1992), which featured 3D graphics in 16-bit versions. Also the adventure game, Hook (1992) got positive reviews. The 1986 game Batman got a rating of 93% in Crash magazine.^[1] Among Ocean's license games are:

• The Addams Family
• The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
• Addams Family Values
• Batman
• Batman: The Caped Crusader
• Batman: The Movie
• Cobra
• Cool World
• Darkman
• Dennis The Menace
• Eek the Cat
• The Flintstones
• Highlander
• Hook
• Jurassic Park
• Knight Rider
• Lethal Weapon
• Manchester United Championship Soccer
• Miami Vice
• Navy Seals
• Rambo
• Rambo 3
• RoboCop
• RoboCop 2
• RoboCop 3
• Short Circuit
• Total Recall
• The Transformers
• The Untouchables
• Waterworld
• WWF WrestleMania
• WWF European Rampage Tour

Other titles

Although Ocean was best known for its licensed games^{[citation needed]}, it had many other releases.

• Animal (1996)
• Beach Volley (1989)
• Burnin' Rubber (1990)
• Cabal (1989)^[2]
• Chase HQ (1988)^[2]
• Chase HQ II (1989)^[2]
• Cheesy (1996)
• Choplifter III (1994)
• Combat School (1987)
• Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984)
• Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (1988)
• Daley Thompson's Supertest
• Doom (SNES PAL) (1996)
• Eco (1987)
• EF2000 (1997)
• Elf (1991)
• F29 Retaliator (1990)
• Gryzor (1987)^[2]
• Head Over Heels (1987)
• Hunchback (1984)^[2]
• Ivanhoe (1990)
• Inferno (1994)
• Jelly Boy
• Last Rites (1997)
• Lost Patrol (1990)
• Midnight Resistance (1990)^[2]
• Mr. Nutz (1993)
• Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad (1994)
• Mr Wimpy (1984)
• New Zealand Story (1989)^[2]
• Operation Wolf (1989)^[2]
• Operation Thunderbolt (1990)^[2]
• Pang (1990)^[2]
• Parasol Stars (1992)^[3]
• Platoon (1988)
• Pushover (1992)
• Rainbow Islands (1990)^[2]
• Shadow Warriors (1990)^[2]
• Salamander (1988)^[2]
• Sleepwalker (1993)
• Space Gun (1992)^[2]
• Super Turrican 2 (1995)
• Sword Maker 64 (1997)
• TFX (1993)
• The Great Escape (1986)
• Toki (1991)^[2]
• Weaponlord (SNES PAL) (1995)
• Wetrix (Nintendo 64) (1998)
• Where Time Stood Still (1987)
• Wizball (1988)
• Wizkid (1992)
• Worms (1994)

Footnotes

1. ^ "Batman". Crash (Newsfield Publications Ltd). May 1986. http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=Crash/Issue28/Pages/Crash2800121.jpg. Retrieved 2009-02-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Arcade conversion
3. ^ Computer conversion of PC Engine game

External links

• The Ocean Experience
• Paulie's Ocean Loader Page
• Ocean Software profile on MobyGames
• Ocean 1987 family photo at cpcrulez.free.fr