FREEZE! Issue #00 FREEZE THE ULTIMATE GAMING & CHEAT FANZINE FOR YOUR COMMODORE 64 FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH KEYSTONE KAPERS EXCLUSIVE POKES ‘N’ CODES RATSPLAT IS PLUCKED FROM THE MOULDY CUPBOARD ISSUE #32 JULIAN RIGNALL ZZAPS BACK TO MAY 1986 CORONA FREE WE DON’T DO REVIEWS! W.T.F. FROM TFW8B.COM HARDWARE REVIEW OF THE TAPUINO1 LOADING DEVICE £3.99 FREEZE! Issue #00 LOAD “ISSUE 32”,8,1 LOADING... TEXT 02 | LOAD “ISSUE 32”,8,1 NUMBER # To Bombay, a traveling circus came... # CRUNCHING 03 | FOUND ISSUE 32 IN THIS ISSUE: Did you find FREEZE64... or did it find YOU! :-o 04 | COVER FEATURE: CJ’S ELEPHANT ANTICS 17 As C64 platform games go, CJ’s Elephant Antics is right up there with the best RATS TO of them, and so we thought it was time to share some elephant love. SPLAT! 08 | OUT OF THE ‘MOULDY CUPBOARD’ 2 The Mouldy Cupboard is full of RATS! Time to SPLAT them! EXTENDED 10 | DIARY OF A GAME – THE MAKING OF BADLANDS INTERVIEWS We’re about half way through Steve’s fab diary of a game, and there’s a lot more juicy information to share with you about the making of Badlands. 51 12 | BITS ‘N’ BYTES ELEPHANTS We share some news of a delightful Commodore 64 game in the making. 42 13 | JULIAN RIGNALL’S ZZAPBACK! The fab Julian Rignall celebrates SIZZLERS from ZZAP!64 issue 13 – May 1986. SCREENSHOTS 16 | SECRET SQUIRREL INVESTIGATES 13,258 Our bushy-tailed friend shares a few secrets about Kentilla and LA Police Dept. AVERAGE WORD 18 | THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC: ASHLEY HOGG COUNT The great Ashley Hogg chats with us about his time producing SID music for the Commodore 64 games market. 26 | WE DON’T DO REVIEWS! We check out a new cartridge title from TFW8b.com called W.T.F. 28 | HARDWARE REVIEW: TAPUINO LOADING DEVICE There are a variety of digital loading devices out there in the C64 market, and we’re going to check one out for you. Is the Tapuino device any good? 30 | THE MAKING OF... CJ’S GRAPHICS WITH JONATHAN (SMYTH) TEMPLES “I was offered lessons We chat with graphics artist Jonathan (Smyth) Temples to find out about the on the violin, which creation of his beautiful graphics for CJ’s Elephant Antics. didn’t really interest me until I was offered 34 | NEW & EXCLUSIVE POKES ‘N’ CODES a packet of crisps New & exclusive POKES ‘N’ CODES for Keystone Kapers. to say yes.” 35 | MY C64 HEAVEN WITH DAN TOOTILL I’m a Hacker too! ASHLEY HOGG Dan shares his collection of Commodore 64 warez for all to see. C64 Musician 2 FREEZE! Issue #00 FREEZE FOUND ISSUE 32 TEXT THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM! Welcome one and all to yet another helping of Commodore 64 goodness, which is all neatly wrapped up in a colourful FREEZE64 cover. And what a humongous issue we have for you... First up – we celebrate one of our all-time favourite C64 platformers, CJ’s Elephant Antics, which was released back in 1991 by Codemasters. And how are we celebrating the game? Well – not only are we giving it a retrospective view and providing a cheat or two, but we’re also chatting with its musician, Ashley Hogg, and also its graphic artist, Jon (Smyth) Temples. Both have a lot to share about the making of this fine game. We also have a few wise words about the game from our good friend and partner in crime, Frank Gasking. FREEZE64 TOWERS WE DON’T DO REVIEWS is back, but with a difference! Not only [email protected] Twitter: @FREEZE64UK are we reviewing a new cartridge game from TFW8b.com, but Facebook: /FREEZE64.co.uk we’re also checking out some new hardware in the form of a YouTube: youtube.com/C64endings C64 loading device by the name of Tapuino, which is from Instagram: freeze64uk www.FREEZE64.com Arananet.net. There will be more hardware reviews in future issues of FREEZE64. FREEZE64 is designed, written, produced and published by Vinny Mainolfi. And that’s not all we have! Dan Tootill is sharing his Big thanks and respect go to: Commodore 64 collection in MY C64 HEAVEN; our Julian is back Frank Gasking with another helping of ZZAPBACK!, which transports us all Julian Rignall Steve Collins back to May 1986; Steve Collins continues his quest to produce Ashley Hogg the perfect arcade conversion of Badlands in his diary entries; Jonathan (Smyth) Temples and finally, we have some exclusive POKES ‘n’ CODES for Mick Hedley Lucia Mainolfi Keystone Kapers, which was recently released as part of an Thomas @ Pixelwizard Activision trilogy set. thefuturewas8bit.com Eduardo Arana And to top it all off, Secret Squirrel, the Mouldy Cupboard, and Dan Tootill Mika ‘Misfit’ Keranen a cool piece of game news wrap up yet another mammoth issue of your favourite Commodore 64 fanzine. FREEZE64 is the copyright of Vincenzo Mainolfi ©2019. No part of this So – grab a warm cuppa, a big slice of cake, sit back, relax and publication may be copied, stored or enjoy this new and exciting issue! transmitted in any way without express, written permission from the Editor. So don’t even think about it! [email protected] Ivory much like this issue. EDITOR FREEZE64 Why not drop me a tweet on @FREEZE64UK and ©2019 Vincenzo Mainolfi let me know what you think of this issue 3 Not endorsed or officially linked to the THEC64 mini FREEZE! Issue #00 PLAYING FOR PEANUTS! Back in 1991 Codemasters were flying the flag for budget software on various home computer platforms, but the Commodore 64 was given an extra boost in the form of a cute platformer, which was produced by the Genesis Software team, and was a perfect contender to compete against the Spectrum’s overrated Dizzy games [did I really just say that!]. But CJ’s Elephant Antics was no ordinary budget platform game; it oozed quality right from the moment the loading intro sequence appeared, and this was down to the coding expertise of Dave Clarke, the gorgeously drawn graphics by Jonathan (Smyth) GAME PROFILE Temples, and the wonderful sonix by Ashley Hogg. NAME: CJ’S ELEPHANT ANTICS PUBLISHER: Codemasters YEAR: 1991 WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? TEAM: Dave Clarke, Jonathan Smyth, Somewhere over France, an aeroplane carries CJ the Ashley Hogg elephant, captured and boxed, ready for a zoo in OUR GAME RATING: 10/10 England... until suddenly, turbulence hits the plane and “This is the best Commodore 64 his cage bursts open! Grabbing a nearby umbrella, CJ budget game we’ve seen for jumps out and begins his long trek across foreign lands years and should kick-start to reach his family back in deepest Africa! a series to rival the Spectrum’s Dizzy mania.” THE OBJECT OF THE GAME ZZAP!64 – 94% - April 1991 CJ must reach the EXIT at the end of each level, where a large foe will challenge him. He can jump, using the UMBRELLA to break his fall, and fire PEANUTS using his trunk or THROW BOMBS at anything in his way. Eating CAKES and BANANAS will keep CJ in tip-top condition. INVINCIBILITY pills will make him immune for a while. 4 FREEZE! Issue #00 THE LOADING INTRO... LOADING ... Part way through loading, a beautifully crafted As with the majority of releases from animated intro sequence tells the story of how CJ Codemasters, CJ’s Elephant Antics is the Elephant was stolen from his family in Africa beautifully packaged in more ways than one... and is on an aeroplane heading for a secret zoo somewhere in England. Not only does the tape inlay look inviting and colourful, but during loading there is a separate intro sequence, which sets the premise of the game (see box-out on the right). The intro is then followed by a colourful loading bitmap by Jonathan Smyth, which he chats about on pages 30-33. PLAYING THE GAME... Once loading is complete, a bright and colourful title screen bursts onto view along During the journey, the plane hits turbulence and with some joyful SID-music by Ashley Hogg CJ’s cage bursts open. Grabbing an umbrella (more from Ashley on pages 18-25). During (that’s handy), CJ heads for the exit and leaps out! the title sequence you also get a glimpse of each of the four tasty levels: Paris, Egypt, Switzerland, and Africa. Whacking the FIRE BUTTON takes us straight into the first level, which is France. CJ has to make his way through the horizontally scrolling level, avoiding the ‘wildlife’ and collecting the various items such as bombs to assist him on his journey. As well as being armed with bombs to throw at the enemy, CJ also has the umbrella that We then see a wonderfully animated sequence of allows him to float down from high platforms a large aeroplane flying in the clouds, and CJ without injuring himself. There’s also an leaping out to freedom... or so he thinks! invincibility pill to collect, which will make him immune for a short period. CLOSING 5 FREEZE! Issue #00 VERDICT END OF LEVEL BOSS There is no doubt that CJ’s Elephant Antics is pure At the end of each level, CJ has to battle class – and to think that it was a budget title! I against a large boss, which takes extra effort would happily have paid full-price for this to beat. The first boss that CJ encounters is delightful game knowing that I was still getting Quasimodo, who you will find at the foot of value for money.