A tribute to Joffa Smith who died on the 26th June 2010
Posted by jdanddiet on Jun 29, 2010 19:43 (Jun 29, 2010 19:43)
The 26th June 2010 will be a date that any Spectrum fan will not forget for some time to come, for it is the day the scene lost one of it's brightest lights, legendary programmer, Jonathan "Joffa" Smith.
Still active on the World of Spectrum forums (as "Frobush"), Smith featured in the infamous "Commercial Breaks" documentary as a fledgling programmer honing his skills at Ocean HQ.
Taking a brief glance through his softography reveals some of the best moments you could have had on a Spectrum back in the 80's. His output may have mainly been arcade conversions; they may have also been not exactly the most complex of games - but they were all polished, technically impressive and, lest we forget, fun experiences, full of idiosyncratic quirks and delightful gameplay tics.
The breadth of genre impresses as well, giving evidence to Smith's ability to manipulate code. You had the multi-event sports titles (Daley Thompson's Super Test and the brilliant arcade conversion Hyper Sports); the simplistic but amazingly addictive Ping Pong; classic arcade conversions Green Beret, vertically scrolling shooter Terra Cresta and Mikie. This is not forgetting the fantastically original Firefly, which was developed under the SpecialFX banner, and Batman the Caped Crusader from the same team.
But perhaps Joffa's finest hour is earlier, from 1986. Few remember the desperately poor action movie starring Sylvester Stallone; even fewer actually saw it, and I was one of those unfortunate few who did. Being only 14 years old, I didn't think the film was that bad at the time (it was perhaps aimed at my age then!), but the game of Cobra was magnificent. A multi-level scrolling run and gun with echoes of Green Beret, Cobra had everything. Lovely scrolling, compulsive gameplay and some amusing game elements made this game utterly addictive, even when you had completed it's admittedly slim three levels.
There were Speccy programmers. There were brilliant Speccy programmers. Then there was Jonathan Smith.
I was shocked to hear the news that he had passed away. As others have said he will be sorely missed but he leaves behind him a legacy of memorable games that will hopefully be remembered many years from now.
A huge loss to the Spectrum scene and so he will be sorely missed both for his work and his wonderfully bizarre humour. Hyper Sports is my favourite Joffa game.
Jul 1, 2010 21:32:49 (
Jul 1, 2010 20:32
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