Bitmap Brothers

Responsible For: Futuristic Sports Games

Key Games: Speedball, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

The Bitmap Brothers were founded in Wapping, London, in 1987 by Mike Montgomery, Eric Matthews and Steve Kelly. Their first game was the critically acclaimed shoot em up, Xenon. Xenon rocked the gaming world and showed people what they could expect from 16-bit technology. Gorgeous visuals, a quality soundtrack and sublime gameplay were the key factors in Xenon rocketing off the shelves and gave the game the distinction of being the first Amiga game to enter the top 40.

Buoyed by the success of Xenon, the brother’s second game was the brutal, futuristic sports game, Speedball. This was another huge hit for the brothers and showed that the first game was certainly no fluke. It was released initially on the Amiga and Atari ST in 1988, though also found itself a home on the PC, Commodore 64, Sega Master System and on the NES as Klashball. The game itself takes place inside a steel arena with two teams of five players each. The object is simple, get the steel speedball past the opposing goalkeeper and into their goal. This is achieved by either throwing the speedball up the pitch to your players, or by running with it and barging your opponent out of your way with extreme force. There are various powerups to be collected during the match and these

can be used in different ways when the end of match siren sounds.

The irony with Speedball is that

it was originally going to be a tennis game, called Real Tennis. Luckily for Speedball fans the Bitmaps publishers at the time (Mastertronic) had a c

hange of heart and decided to pull the plug. The Bitmaps then got to work on Speedball and it was snapped up by Imageworks.

The end of 1990 saw the release of the sequel to Speedball. For Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe the brothers enlisted the talents of renowned comic book artist Glenn Fabry. Fabry's unique artistic style was used to produce the box art for the game

and gave it a dark violent look that suited the theme of Speedball perfectly. The game was instantly regarded as a classic and was likened to the 1970’s cult film Rollerball. Speedball 2 puts you in charge of the newest team to join the ultra violent sport. This team is Brutal Deluxe. Choosing either league, knockout, cup or management competition, it’s your job to turn them into the best team around.

What made the game different was its integrated management options, allowing you to buy and sell players, as well as its distinct metallic look. The game was incredibly popular and ended up on a whole host of consoles and computers,

such as Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Commodore 64, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Gameboy, CD32, Gameboy Advance and also on the Pocket PC.