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Mastertronic - Artwork

I was fortunate to be able to preserve a small collection of some of the artwork used to create the covers of Mastertronic computer games. They were painted onto board and then photographed to form the backing artwork on top of which were overlaid the company logo and graphics for the game title and details. In our early days the artwork was framed and kept in our offices - later on as the pictures piled up they were slung in a cupboard and forgotten. I took them before they went in the skip when our offices moved.

Most of these pieces have been sold - the remainder are no longer available for sale.

The colours may seem different to the printed covers. In some cases the print emphasised certain colours. Some of the artwork may have faded over time and perhaps some of the inks are more susceptible to fading than others. The photographs of the artwork were taken in July 2002.

The description beneath each thumbnail is the title of the game, the computer formats on which it was released, the label under which it was published and the year of first publication.

Click on the thumbnail to see the full size image - use your browser's back button to return

 

billy the kid original.jpg (41443 bytes) caves of doom original.JPG (103673 bytes) doodlebug original.jpg (62672 bytes) journeys end original.jpg (64144 bytes)
Billy the Kid, Amstrad / Spectrum, Virgin Mastertronic Plus 2, 1990 Caves of Doom, Amstrad / Spectrum, Mastertronic 199,  1985 Doodlebug, Vic, Mastertronic 199, 1985 Journey's End, Spectrum,
Mastertronic 199, 1985
kane original.jpg (60243 bytes) master of magic unpublished original.jpg (85503 bytes) masterchess original.JPG (92019 bytes) neutron zapper original.jpg (34248 bytes)
Kane, C64 / Spectrum /Amstrad / c16 / BBC, Mastertronic 199, 1985. (and also for Kane 2, C64 1988) Master of Magic  C64, Mastertronic USA only 1985
The UK version had a standard MAD games cartoon cover.
Masterchess, C64 / C16 /Atari /Amstrad / Spectrum / MSX, Mastertronic 199, 1986 Neutron Zapper, Vic,
Mastertronic 199, 1984
orbitron original.jpg (56408 bytes) phantoms of the asteroids original.jpg (65535 bytes) space scramble and star force fighter original.jpg (47914 bytes) spectipede original.JPG (104016 bytes)
Orbitron, C64, Mastertronic 199, 1984 Phantom of the Asteroids, C64, Mastertronic 199, 1986 Space Scramble, Vic, Mastertronic 199,1984
and
Star Force Fighter, C64, Mastertronic 199, 1987

Spectipede,C64 / C16 / Spectrum /
BBC / Electron,
Mastertronic 199, 1984
tank trax original.jpg (50972 bytes) the captive original.jpg (58642 bytes) Starace.jpg (57948 bytes) Into Oblivion.jpg (43896 bytes)
Tank Trax, Spectrum, Mastertronic 199, 1984 The Captive, C64, Mastertronic 199, 1985 Starace, C64, Mastertronic 199, 1984

Into Oblivion, Amstrad, Mastertronic 199 1986 and probably used on another cover much earlier as the painting was made well before the game was published

 

video poker original.jpg (54227 bytes) whodunnit original tbc.JPG (70782 bytes)
Video Poker, C64 / C16 / Amstrad / Spectrum / MSX, Mastertronic 199, 1986 Whodunnit, Spectrum, Mastertronic 199, 1984.