Jonathan Smith (games programmer)

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Jonathan M. "Joffa" Smith (1 February 1967 – 26 June 2010) was a British games programmer, best known for his titles for the ZX Spectrum. His games[1] were notable for containing a large number of sprites and parallax scrolling, features which were largely unknown on the Spectrum at the time.[citation needed]

His most notable games include Cobra,[2][3] (which was a license extremely loosely based on a Sylvester Stallone film) one of the first Spectrum games to exhibit full-colour parallax scrolling and his conversion of the arcade game Green Beret.[2][4] A notable "trademark" of Smith's was his habit of writing his name (with "Jonathan" and "Smith" spelled various ways) as a mirror-image in his games.

Smith also created the computer displays for the British science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf using an Atari ST.[2]

Notable releases[edit]

Title Developer Publisher Year Platform
Airlock Rage Software Orange Multimedia 2000 WAP
All Star Baseball 2004 Acclaim Studios Manchester Acclaim Entertainment 2004 Game Boy Advance
Apprentise aka Fluffy Software Creations unfinished and unpublished 2001 Game Boy Advance
Batman: The Caped Crusader Special FX Software Ocean Software 1988 ZX Spectrum
Cluster Bluster ? ? ? SNES
Cobra Ocean Software Ocean Software 1986 ZX Spectrum
Daley Thompson's Supertest Ocean Software Ocean Software 1985 ZX Spectrum
Firefly Special FX Software Ocean Software 1988 ZX Spectrum
Green Beret Imagine Software Ocean Software 1986 ZX Spectrum
Hudson Hawk Special FX Software Ocean Software 1991 Atari ST
Hyper Active Special FX Software Sinclair User 1988 ZX Spectrum
Hyper Sports Imagine Software Ocean Software 1985 ZX Spectrum
Hysteria Special FX Software Software Projects 1987 ZX Spectrum
Kong Strikes Back! Ocean Software Ocean Software 1984 ZX Spectrum
Looney Tunes Back in Action Warthog Games Electronic Arts 2003 Game Boy Advance
Momma Can I Mow The Lawn? Gizmondo Studios Gizmondo Studios 2005 Gizmondo
Midnight Resistance Special FX Software Ocean Software 1990 Atari ST
Mikie Imagine Software Ocean Software 1986 ZX Spectrum
Power Drive Rage Software US Gold 1994 Sega Genesis
Pud Pud Ocean Software Ocean Software 1984 ZX Spectrum
Red Heat Special FX Software Ocean Software 1989–90 Amiga Atari ST
Recoil Special FX Software Ocean Software 1989 Atari ST
Retaliot Video Hazard Video Hazard 2009 MSX
Ripping Friends Software Creations THQ 2002 Game Boy Advance
Saucer Shorten Suite Software unfinished and unpublished 2006 ZX Spectrum
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge Software Creations Acclaim Entertainment 1992 SNES
Street Hawk Ocean Software Ocean Software 1985 ZX Spectrum
Terra Cresta Imagine Software Ocean Software 1986 ZX Spectrum

References[edit]

  1. ^ Saukis, Einar. "ZXDB Entry: Jonathan M Smith (UK)". Spectrum Computing. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Developer Profile: Special FX". Wireframe. No. 4. Raspberry Pi Ltd. 10 October 2019. p. 51. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Cobra". CRASH (35): 140–141. December 1986. Retrieved 12 August 2006.
  4. ^ Smith, Rachael (June 1986). "Green Beret". Your Sinclair (6): 30. Archived from the original on 5 July 2006. Retrieved 12 August 2006.

External links[edit]