Rocky Interactive Horror Show

Rocky Interactive Horror Show
European cover art
Developer(s)On-Line Entertainment
Transylvania Interactive
Publisher(s)On-Line Entertainment
Producer(s)Andy Leighton
Michael Hodges
Peter Donebauer
Designer(s)Clement Chambers
Joe Fisher
Programmer(s)Jon Mullins
Marcus Hamilton
Sebastian Haig
Artist(s)Mark Khan
Wayne Kresil
Writer(s)Richard O'Brien
Composer(s)Andrew Hewson
Simon Kidman
SeriesThe Rocky Horror Show
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Rocky Interactive Horror Show is a point-and-click adventure game developed by On-Line Entertainment in conjunction with Transylvania Interactive and published by On-Line exclusively for Microsoft Windows.[3] A spiritual successor to CRL Group's 1985 video game adaptation,[4] it is the second video game to be released and based upon Richard O'Brien's musical of the same name, who is also a member of the cast.[5] Following the plot from 20th Century Fox's 1975 musical horror comedy film of the same name, the player assume the role of either Brad Majors or Janet Weiss in order to rescue one of the two playable characters, who has been transformed into stone by Dr. Frank-N-Furter's Medusa Transducer, within a set time limit before the mansion becomes a spaceship and takes off to the planet Transsexual Transylvania.[1][6]

Taking over four years to create and developed as a joint production through Transylvania Interactive with On-Line,[3] Rocky Interactive Horror Show was originally announced in 1995 and began as a project intended for both the Atari Jaguar CD and PC, which were planned to be published by Atari Corporation and Atari Interactive respectively,[7][8][9][10] however due to the commercial failure of the Atari Jaguar platform in the market and the closure of the then-newly formed PC publishing division as a result of Atari Corp. merging with JT Storage in 1996,[11][12][13][14] left the Jaguar CD version unreleased and the PC version shelved until it was released by On-Line for Windows in 1999.[15] Series creator Richard O'Brien was heavily involved in its production, in addition of casting himself as one of the in-game characters.[6]

Upon its release, Rocky Interactive Horror Show garnered mixed reception from critics who gave praise to multiple aspects such as the humor, campiness and surreal nature, with many singling out the audio as the game's most strong point, but was criticized for the clumsy user interface, gameplay, presentation and outdated visuals. A PlayStation conversion was announced and planned to be published alongside the Windows version, but it never released for unknown reasons.[6][16]

  1. ^ a b Steinberg, Scott (November 14, 2000). "Rocky Interactive Horror Show - Just like the movie - campy, outdated, and bursting at the seams with offbeat humor". IGN. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  2. ^ "The Rocky Interactive Horror Show Game - Press Kit". IGDB.com. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  3. ^ a b Jeanne. "On-Line Entertainment Ltd". MobyGames. Archived from the original on 2018-06-24. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  4. ^ Warden, Frank (Summer 2012). "Virtual Fear: A History Of Horror Video Games". Shadowland. Vol. 1, no. 5. Andrew Parietti. p. 16.
  5. ^ McHorse, Shawn. "Rocky Interactive Horror Show CD-ROM". rockymusic.org. Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  6. ^ a b c "TimeWarp - The Rocky Interactive Horror Show Game". timewarp.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-11-16. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  7. ^ "Jaguar Tackboard - AEO Development List 2.06 - Titles in Development". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 4, no. 5. Subspace Publishers. July 20, 1995. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  8. ^ Vendel, Curt (August 26, 1995). "Payment Schedule for Jaguar games to Developers" (PDF). atarimuseum.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  9. ^ Dragon, Lost (July 5, 2017). "The Ultimate Jaguar Unreleased/Beta/Source/Dev Master List! - Page 5". atari.io. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  10. ^ Wallet, Adrian (February 2, 2018). "Dan McNamee (Atari) - Interview". arcadeattack.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-03-16. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  11. ^ "Atari and JT Storage Reorganisation Plan". One Cle. Archived from the original on December 9, 2006. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  12. ^ "ATARI CORP Annual Report (Regulation S-K, item 405) (10-K405) ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  13. ^ "Adios, Atari". GamePro. No. 92. IDG. May 1996. p. 20. ...the recently formed PC division, Atari Interactive, has been completely liquidated.
  14. ^ Biggs, Brooke Shelby (July 19, 1996). "'Success' killed Pac-Man creator Atari". bizjournals.com. San Jose Business Journal. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  15. ^ Reutter, Hans (January 12, 2001). "Unreleased Or Unfinished Jaguar Games - The Interactive Rocky Horror Show". cyberroach.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  16. ^ Obejas, Achy (April 8, 1999). "ROCKY XXI". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 11, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2019.