No.85: Nemesis The Warlock - Martech, 1987

As a 2000AD fan, seeing games based on its characters was always a bonus on the Speccy, especially if they came with lovely covers such as this one by Bryan Talbot. Nemesis The Warlock was published by Martech Games, and written by Jas Austin, with graphics by Dave Dew. It wasn’t the most complicated of games - within each virtually-identical screen, the alien player character had to kill terminators with his sword and, occassionally, spit - but it was enormous fun.

Martech’s boss, David Martin, recalls how the licence came about. “One of my boys was mad about 2000AD - he collected every issue and knew all the characters, artists and writers. Being a small company, we never licensed movies and tended to stay focused on individuals, but we found ourselves in a meeting with IPC to discuss us creating games based on 2000AD characters.”

Working with Martech was coder Jas Austin (as part of development house Creative Reality), another 2000AD nut. “Jas gave us the lead with which characters to go for,” continues David, “And told us that we must go for Slaine and Nemesis The Warlock. The strips had some fantastic artwork and looked great, so that’s what we did.”

“I think I just gave them my two favourites!” Jas himself grins. “There was an initial meeting where I gave my thoughts on the game’s design and that was it! We picked a few things from the comic to feature: the spitting acid, the sword and gun.”

But perhaps Nemesis The Warlock’s most remembered feature is the player’s gruesome ability to pile up the bodies of vanquished foes in order to reach higher platforms. Recalls Jas, “I always get asked about that! The idea must have come from the comic, we were just plucking ideas out and hoping they’d stick.”

As with many Spectrum fans, the technique is also fondly recalled by Martech’s owner. “It was a brilliant idea - they weren’t sure I’d go for it, but I loved it. And the bodies would even occassionally sprout little aliens!”

Despite some luke-warm reviews, Nemesis The Warlock was a solid hit for Martech. “It was a dream to work on,” remembers Jas warmly. “And although I never got to meet anyone from 2000AD - not even Tharg - I was personally quite pleased with the result. It wasn’t a Crash Smash, but I still get lots of comments about Nemesis today.”

Thanks as usual to www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk for images