| The Great Giana Sisters | |
|---|---|
 German cover art for the Commodore 64 | |
| Developer(s) | Time Warp[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Rainbow Arts[1] |
| Designer(s) | Armin Gessert Manfred Trenz |
| Composer(s) | Chris Huelsbeck |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX |
| Release | May 6, 1987 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The Great Giana Sisters is a platform game developed by the West German company Time Warp and published by Rainbow Arts in 1987 for various home computers such as the Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST. Players control Giana, or her sister Maria in the multiplayer mode, to explore a magical world inside their dreams. The two seek out a giant diamond to awaken from their dream. They traverse side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as monsters and other enemies with the aid of power-ups grant them various abilities such as firing projectiles and making enemies fall asleep.
The game was designed by Armin Gessert and Manfred Trenz. They were tasked with developing the game after Marc Ulrich of Rainbow Arts had seen the popular Nintendo video game Super Mario Bros. (1985) and grew exciting of creating a game that did not have an equivalent on the home computer market. Gessert and Trenz were told to create a game that was obviously recognizable as being like Super Mario Bros. while still being legally distinct. Following its release in West Germany, the game was released in the United Kingdom to praise from publications such as Zzap!64 and Computer and Video Games who praised the game for its many secrets and gameplay despite being indebt to its inspiration.
Following its release in the United Kingdom, the game was almost immediately pulled from shops after Rainbow Arts received a notice from Nintendo. Despite being commercially unavailable, the game grew to become one of the most popular home computer games of its era via pirated and emulated versions of the game. A sequel was made for Commodore 64 titled Hard'n'Heavy which downplayed its Nintendo inspiration while various new Giana Sisters games were released in the early 21st century. The music in the game by Chris Huelsbeck also grew to be popular among video game music fans and has been used in later games and performed by symphony orchestras decades after the games release.
- ^ a b Jones 2008, p. 86.