Jeff Minter is one of gaming's forces of nature and his trippy experiences, let's not be rude and call them mere games, have soundtracked and lit up many of our digital lives.
That story will be told in full on "modern systems" soon with a release in 2024 as Atari's and Digital Eclipse's Second Gold Masters collection.
Update: The full game list is now up and you can buy it on Steam, PSN or Switch from £24-£26 depending on platform:
Sinclair ZX81: 3D, 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
Reimagined: Gridrunner Remastered
More details on the Steam page, with Digital Eclipse of Atari 50 Collection fame handling the careful porting of 42 titles telling Jeff's story.
The history ranges from the first home systems and the 8-bit days through all manner of niche devices (including the a Mutant Camels version for the Konix) up to his treatment of hidden Atari gems like Akka Arrh earlier this year.
Games will include a modern re-envisioning of Gridrunner. plus legendary titles including Revenge of the Mutant Camels. Tempest 2000 (borrowed from Atari 50), Llamatron and Mutant Camels in several forms and many more.
All of this presented in a similar way to the gorgeous Atari 50, with interviews, details and interesting dev snippets.
Llamasoft titles were made to be played, to creep under the skin which is why Minter has endured through all the changes across generations of technology. Hopefully he gets lots of new fans through this superb looking collection. All with lashings of llamas, sheep, udders and techno-trippy beats!
Personally, I came across Yak with the Llamatron shareware on the Atari ST, then PC, and then followed him across the Atari Jaguar and into the modern systems, with those silly sound effects and vocals, plus insane visuals demanding I go back and play them regularly even today.
And even when not gaming, there's always a generous helping of sheepies and curries on his (now discontinued??) Twitter feed. Which is a shame, but I'm hope he appreciates the rising tide of love this news is creating across the gaming communities.
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