For more details on the history and development of Mastertronic games, please visit the Mastertronic website

 

Mastertronic Archives
WizWords Article

The Empire Fights Back

‘Mastertronic Archives’ Cover Art

A ‘definitive’ guide to the history of the 1980’s computer games company Mastertronic, for which Mark produced many pieces of cover art is now in the process of production.

Click the image above for more details.

‘A Tale of Two Artists’

An article by ‘Wizwords’ – a freelance writer, retro computer games fan and blogger. The article covers Mark and his opposite number, cartoonist John Smyth’s days back in the early 1980’s producing cover art for Mastertronic.

Please click the image above to read the full article.

 

‘The Empire Fights Back’ Cover

Mark says of this image; “there’s no hiding the Chris Foss influence here – I absolutely loved his style, and still do! I take no responsibility for the blatantly derivative title here, I just did the artwork!”

Thanks to Anthony Olver of Player One Books for supplying this image!

StarAce
Phantom Attack cover

Alien Kill

‘StarAce’ Cover

Cover design which Mark freely admits was heavily influenced by the work of SF illustrator Chris Foss. An aspect you will find in much of his work, and which even now shows itself in his current 3D Fractal pieces.

See: MarkJayBeeFractal.com

‘Phantom Attack’ Cover

Apparently this was basically just a very slightly modified version of the classic ‘Space Invaders’ game.
Mark says: “I had no interest in the actual games themselves, and only had the – rather vague! – design briefs I was given to go by”.

‘Alien Kill’ Cover

This was very much a rush job, and was completed in around two days, it probably shows….!

Another image kindly supplied by Anthony Olver of Player One Books

Dark Star 1

Dark Star 5" floppy cover

Space Walk

‘Dark Star’ – Cassette Version

“Make it look BIG, they said, so I gave it my best shot….!”

‘Dark Star’ – 5″ Floppy Version

The Chris Foss influence is very much in evidence in this one….

Thanks to Anthony Olver of Player One Books for supplying this image.

‘SpaceWalk’

Mark’s interpretation of NASA’s MMU (Manned Maneouvering Unit)

Mind Control

Bullseye

City Fighter

‘Mind Control’

“I honestly don’t think even the agency really knew what this game was about, so I basically had free rein with this one.”

‘Bullseye’

Mark says: “This was just a simple electronic darts game, but they wanted it to look ‘spacey’, so there you go….”

Thanks to Anthony Olver of Player One Books for supplying this image.

‘City Fighter’

“They insisted on having London as the ‘city’ of the title; hopefully this scenario will never come to pass!”

Bullet

bmx racers

KikStart 2

‘Bullet’

Apparently the ‘flying car’ in this image was based – very loosely! – on the agency bosses own car, a Jaguar XJ-S!

Thanks to Anthony Olver of Player One Books for supplying this image.

‘BMX Racers’

Seemingly this particular game was one of Mastertronics’ most popular titles, having sold over a million copies!

‘Kikstart’ – 5″ Floppy Case

This hand-rendered cover image from the early ’80’s bore absolutely no resemblance to the game content itself. Nowadays you’d expect better imagery in the actual game!

Neutron Zapper cover

Neutron Zapper 2

Sub Hunt

 ‘Neutron Zapper’

“This was one of my favourite pieces from the Mastertronic range, although it was really just a simple ‘Asteroids’ game as far as I know.”

Very heavy Chris Foss look here….

Original ‘Neutron Zapper’ Artwork

“Another original which has unfortunately faded over the years. But these artworks were never meant to last longer than the time it took for the printers to make their plates. Ah, the days of ‘disposable’ art!”

 ‘SubHunt’

One of the earliest SciFi type covers Mark produced for Mastertronic.

skyjet

TankTrax cover

tanktrax

‘SkyJet’

“This was an almost ‘overnight’ rush-job; ‘We need a picture of a helicopter under fire, and carrying technical gear over mountains’.
Actually, I think it was over 48 hours without sleep – I’m sure I actually hallucinated a little on the way to deliver it to the agency!!”

‘TankTrax’

A basic ‘shoot-em-up’ game seemingly set on the planet Mars

‘TankTrax’ – Original Artwork 

This is the original – framed under glass – artwork for ‘TankTrax’. This piece was ‘rescued’ by ex-Mastertronic employee Anthony Guter from a cupboard in their offices after the company moved premises!

Check out Anthony Guters’ Mastertronic site.

1985

 ‘1985: The Day After’

Shouldn’t this really have been titled ‘2185….’? Very advanced tech’ for the year after this was published! Not exactly an optimistic scenario either….

Orbitron

‘Orbitron’ Cover

Mark says; “My thanks go to Anthony Olver of Player One Books for supplying this image of the ‘Orbitron’ cover.

Orbitron Artwork

Original ‘Orbitron’ Cover Artwork

Above is the original ‘Orbitron’ artwork, fortuitously rescued by ex-Mastertronic employee Anthony Guter, and which is still in his possession. As you can see, the inks used – which were never meant for longevity – have sadly faded quite dramatically.

 

Spectipede cover

‘Spectipede’ Cover

Thanks to Anthony Olver of Player One Books for supplying the ‘Spectipede’ cover image.

spectipede

Original ‘Spectipede’ Artwork

This image is what remains of the original artwork. Alas, the years and storage conditions have not been kind to it. The water-based inks used have unfortunately faded and ‘bled’ due to moisture in the air. The original was not in Mark’s possession!

DoodleBug

‘DoodleBug’ Cover

Doodlebug

Original ‘DoodleBug’ Artwork

Another original piece of cover art fortuitously rescued by ex Mastertronic employee Anthony Guter.