Psygnosis

[Duddyroar]

UK software houses seem to be dropping like flies these days. One software house that's no longer with us (in its original form anyway) is the legendary Psygnosis. Owners of easily the greatest company logo of all time (thanks to Roger Dean - he of 'Yes' album covers fame), Psygnosis blazed a trail in the late 80s and early 90s with a string of classic games (as well as some dodgy ones).

Shadow of the Beast is probably the game that put that on the map, with its amazing visuals. The gameplay wasn't ground breaking but it sold thousands of Amigas on looks alone. However the biggest hit Psygnosis were involved with was without a doubt Lemmings (coded by DMA and published by Psygnosis). This game sold bucketloads and is still a well-respected licence, even today.

But let's not forget games like Blood Money and Awesome - not classics in any way shape or form but good, solid games regardless. And they all had amazing boxart which was the norm for the company's releases.

As the CD revolution dawned it seemed fitting that Psygnosis were one of the leaders in the field. With impressive looking games like Microcosm and Novastorm, Psygnosis attracted the attention of Sony who were about to enter the console market with their Playstation. Psygnosis were taken on board as Sony's 'first party' developer and actually created many of the software tools used to code PSX games. The string of hits continued with the Wipeout and Destruction Derby series. However, the Psygnosis brand was dropped as the company became more and more part of Sony.

Personally, I think this was a huge mistake on Sony's part. The Psygnosis brand was one of the strongest in the industry, with recognition on both sides of the pond. Plus, THAT logo didn't deserve to die!

Anyone else have a soft spot for these guys?

[Baseley09]

Are you deliberately trying to make me cry??

Just look at the logo

*dies*

After Amiga, they bossed the Playstation for sure, but really the Amiga style, sound and grsaphics......best.

[Zanza]

If you had an Amiga, you knew who psygnosis where, what an awesome developer!
They also did the first F1 games on the psx, which imo still trample all over the ones released today.

[Mr_Sands]

I've always liked Psygnosis. The Lemmings games were faves of mine as a kid. Especially Lemmings 2 and All new world of Lemmings. I've still got the book that came with Lemmings 2 somewhere

The Discworld games deserve a mention as well. Oh the memories.

[anephric]

I have fond memories of PS1 Shadow Master as well, if you're talkin' proggy '70s illustrators (Rodney Matthews).

Psyggy must've had a thing for them.

[steamy pile]

Can,t say im that bothered about Psygnosis being no more i think in a lot cases with their early games. they seemed more concerned with flashy graphics, flashy artwork and boxes and the odd free tee shirt.i think alot of their output at that time (Amiga/ST) lacked real substance,The Lemmings games being the exception, but what they did produce at that time seemed to be marketed and packaged incredabley well.

i did enjoy alot of their Playstation output though, Wipeout and the F1 games on the psx being the main ones.And i can,t help feeling during this time they spent more time on the content of the actual games rather than on producing nice boxes and fancy artwork.

[Wil]

Roger Dean/Designer's Republic

Yes/Chemical Brothers

Never has a company dabbled visually at such opposite ends of the spectrum.

You can't beat a bit of proggy artwork.

Wil

[Kubrick]

I liked Psygnosis. The games may not have always been AAA, but you could always tell a lot of hard work had gone in to them. Plus, they weren't for pussies- most of them were extremely difficult.

[Corrupt Rose]

The Psygnosis IP is fantastic. Stylistic, and highly evocative. The game's wern't always classics, but they had enough genuinely good stuff under their belts to be remembered as a wonderful developer.

I had a lot of their stuff and my mother in her unthinkingness threw out all of my old Amiga boxes. I wouldn't have minded with a lot of them, but the Psygnosis ones I would have dearly loved to have kept.

If anyone's got the 'widescreen' Awesome box, and would be prepared to do me a super high-res scan of it, I'm willing to pay. Same goes for a lot of the Psygnosis boxes.

edit - I've e-mailed Roger Dean and the other artists involved in Psygnosis stuff asking if I can buy prints off them, but none of them even answer my e-mails, so I can only assume they don't want my money.

[anephric]

I imagine Dean's too busy smoking the herb and listening to the Grateful Dead...

Having you tried going through their agents?

[Corrupt Rose]

That's a fantastic idea. I'll look into it.

[PeteBrant]

Early Psygnosis stuff was a masterclass of style over substance - Shadow of the Beast looked great played ****e, Barbarian and it's baffling use of the mouse for control. However, things picked up with the likes of Menace, and it was no surprise when Sony snapped them up.

[Duddyroar]

Roger Dean's stuff is amazing - getting him involved with the company was a masterstroke TBH.

I'm currently buying all the Yes albums that feature his artwork - thankfully the music contained within is actually half decent (if a little long in places - a song should not last 22 minutes).

[steamy pile]

''Barbarian and it's baffling use of the mouse for control''

That was actually the first Psygnosis game i ever played on my mates ST. at the time i remember being impressed by the visuals,but the control via the use of those icons with the mouse just made playing the thing a complete chore.

[steamy pile]

Roger Dean's stuff is amazing - getting him involved with the company was a masterstroke TBH.

I'm currently buying all the Yes albums that feature his artwork - thankfully the music contained within is actually half decent (if a little long in places - a song should not last 22 minutes).

Theres a band i think they were called 'Budgie' of all things and old Roger did some rather fetching artwork on some of their albums.