Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is the definitive celebration of the legacy developed by Jeff Minter, delivering unique stories and concepts about game development. It's a beautiful look behind the scenes, creativity and context of old games, which move through time, returning to the present with a new and immersive look.

Much like last year's The Making of Karateka, Digital Eclipse’s format sets a high standard for retro collections going forward. It's made the story of these games accessible to all audiences. As a portrait of Jeff, it’s a heartwarming and educational depiction of a personality every gamer should know about.

An industry iconoclast, beloved eccentric and arguably the father of modern high score chasing, the sort of spotlight that the Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story puts on its titular subject feels hugely overdue to say the least. Beautifully put together with a wealth of painstakingly researched historical material, candid looks at Jeff's storied life from Jeff himself and just about all of the games that heralded his rise to prominence in the games industry packed in for kicks, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is a masterclass how you find out about one of the charismatic and genuinely talented legends of the games industry - and you'll have a great time doing it.

Anyone who spends a few hours digitally in Minter’s company couldn’t fail to warm to this talented eccentric and his prodigious body of work. You might not play most of the 43 games here more than once but a handful will pull you back in time after time, if only to marvel at the mad mind of Minter.

Though I am so far impressed with these Gold Master Series, this one is ranked 3rd out of 3, if I include the amazing Atari 50. I respect the hell out of Jeff Minter for being THE indie game creator. There are some games missing that may come at a later date, and some that I'll never play again. But I think that's what Jeff wants. Stay weird, Mr. Minter. Stay weird.

Llamasoft: the Jeff Minter Story is a fairly comprehensive collection of his 80's catalogue which includes curios like Soundscape and Psychedelia. We get a lot of written correspondence from the man himself but very little in the way of video footage. It can feel a little lacking when compared to the other compilations Digital Eclipse has produced. I still found it fascinating to see how his ideas evolved over time and how the Llamasoft aesthetic coalesced. It's just a real shame the game list halts before the company's modern resurgence. Those games easy to find but it would've been nice to hear Minter and Zorzin cover their more recent projects in-depth.

With a vast collection of included games and a great deal of historic documents, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is a treasure trove.

While the collection of games on offer here can be a bit underwhelming, for people who care about the history of this artform, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is an absolute must-buy. It was truly wonderful seeing Jeff’s story fleshed out to this degree, and his reputation as a fascinating, cool-ass dude is well earned. With that said, I can’t help but feel that leaving out more than half of his career is a bit like telling the story of The Beatles and stopping at Rubber Soul. There’s a lot more to Jeff’s career after Tempest 2000, and it’s profoundly disappointing to see this exemplary piece of gaming history stop there.