| Flashback | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Flashback_cover.png) Original Amiga cover art | |
| Developer(s) |
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| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) | |
| Designer(s) | Paul Cuisset |
| Composer(s) |
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| Platform(s) | Amiga, Acorn Archimedes, Mega Drive/Genesis, MS-DOS, NEC PC-9801, Super NES, Sega CD, FM Towns, 3DO, CD-i, Atari Jaguar, Mac OS, iOS, Symbian, Maemo, Dreamcast, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One |
| Release | 1992 1993 (MS-DOS, SNES, Acorn Archimedes, Sega Genesis) March 1995 (CD-i)[1] |
| Genre(s) | Cinematic platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Flashback, released as Flashback: The Quest for Identity in the United States, is a 1992 science fiction cinematic platform game developed by Delphine Software of France and published by U.S. Gold in the United States and Europe, and Sunsoft in Japan.
The game was directed, written/designed and partially programmed by Paul Cuisset, who had previously created the adventure game Future Wars. Flashback was initially released for the Amiga in 1992, although originally created for the Mega Drive/Genesis.[2] The Mega Drive/Genesis version was not released until 1993. Flashback was also ported to MS-DOS, Acorn Archimedes and Super NES in 1993. CD-ROM versions of Flashback for the Sega CD, 3DO, CD-i, MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh and the FM Towns were released during 1994 and 1995, together with a cartridge version for the Atari Jaguar in 1995. In 2017, the game was released worldwide on the Sega Dreamcast featuring graphic assets and cutscenes taken from the MS-DOS version and music from the Amiga version.[3] An updated port titled Flashback: Remastered Edition was released for Nintendo Switch on June 7, 2018, for PlayStation 4 on November 20, 2018, and for Windows on November 29, 2018.
Originally advertised as a "CD-ROM game on a cartridge", the game features fully hand-drawn backdrops and all animation is rotoscoped, giving movements an unusual fluidity, similar to that of the earlier Prince of Persia. The capture technique of Flashback was invented independently of Prince of Persia and used a more complicated method of first tracing video images onto transparencies.
The game was a commercial and critical success and was listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling French game of all time. It was followed by a sequel titled Fade to Black in 1995. In 2013, a Flashback remake by VectorCell was released for the PC and consoles.
A new sequel, Flashback 2, was announced by Microids in May 2021. It was released on November 16, 2023, for the PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S, with previous generation consoles getting their release early 2024. It is a prequel set eight years before the original.
- ^ "CVG Preview - CD-i" (PDF). Computer and Video Games. No. 159. Future Publishing. February 1995. p. 44.
- ^ Jones, Darran (July 18, 2013). "Flashback to the Future". Retro Gamer (118): 20–25. ISSN 1742-3155.
- ^ "Review: Flashback". www.thedreamcastjunkyard.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-01-02.