Special FX Software Ltd.
Moby ID: 4474
Overview edit · view history
Special FX was a software house based in Liverpool, UK. It was founded in 1987 by Paul Finnegan and Jonathan "Joffa" Smith after they left Ocean Software. They were soon joined by other developers from Ocean and Imagine. At its largest, Special FX included Finnegan, Smith, Andy Rixon, Karen Davies, Robbie Tinman, Jim Bagley, Keith Robinson and Ian Moran.
As Ocean had been developing most of their games in-house until then, Special FX sought to become an independent game development contractor. Not keen to lose their talent, Ocean offered a deal that allowed them to option publishing rights to any game developed by Special FX. Hysteria, the first game Special FX created, would also be the only one not to be published by Ocean in Europe: Ocean kept relying on them for the development of several games, mainly movie licensees and arcade conversions.
After a few years of activity, Ocean took over the financial reins of the company, until in 1991 they decided to fold it. Later that year, Finnegan established Rage Software with several former members of Special FX.
Credited on 13 Games from 1987 to 1991
| Hudson Hawk (1991 on Game Boy, Amiga, NES...) |
| The Untouchables (1991 on NES) |
| RoboCop 2 (1990 on Amiga) |
| RoboCop 2 (1990 on Atari ST) |
| Midnight Resistance (1989 on Genesis, Amiga, Atari ST...) |
| Recoil (1989 on Atari ST) |
| Red Heat (1989 on Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64...) |
| The Untouchables (1989 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST...) |
| Batman: The Caped Crusader (1988 on DOS, Amiga, Atari ST...) |
| Cabal (1988 on DOS, Amiga, NES...) |
| Firefly (1988 on Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum) |
| G.U.T.Z. (1988 on Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum) |
| Hysteria (1987 on Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Antstream) |
Trivia +
The Special FX logo was designed by Bob Wakelin.
Location in 1991:
Special F.X. Software Ltd.
Unit 24, Edward Pavilion
Albert Dock
Liverpool L3 4AA
United Kingdom
Phone: 051-708 6523
Frequent Collaborators
Companies- 11 games with Bandai Namco Entertainment UK Ltd.
- 7 games with Hit Squad, The
- 1 game with Alternative Software Ltd.
- 1 game with Data East USA, Inc.
- 1 game with Altron Corporation
- 1 game with Tad Corporation
- 1 game with Software Projects Ltd.
- 1 game with Erbe Software, S.A.
- 1 game with Dennis Publishing Ltd.
- 1 game with Ocean of America, Inc.
- 9 games with Paul Finnegan
- 9 games with Karen Davies
- 9 games with Keith Tinman
- 7 games with D. C. Ward
- 7 games with Jonathan M. Smith
- 6 games with Andy Rixon
- 6 games with Charles Davies
- 6 games with Robert W. Tinman
- 6 games with Jim Bagley
- 5 games with Ivan Davies
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