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Mortadelo y Filemón: El Sulfato Atómico

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Mortadelo y Filemón: El Sulfato Atómico
Spanish cover art
Developer(s)Alcachofa Soft
Publisher(s)Zeta Multimedia
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseNovember 1998[1]
Genre(s)Graphic adventure
Mode(s)Single player

Mortadelo y Filemón: El Sulfato Atómico (transl. Mortadelo and Filemon: The Atomic Sulfate) is a 1998 graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Alcachofa Soft and published by Zeta Multimedia.[2]

Gameplay and plot

An adaptation of the Spanish comic series Mort & Phil by Francisco Ibáñez,[2] specifically the 1969 first long story El sulfato atómico,[2][3] it follows the secret agents Mort and Phil as they attempt to steal a chemical weapon from the villainous Republic of Tirania.[1] The player controls the two agents separately to solve puzzles,[4] in a manner that has been compared to the gameplay of Maniac Mansion.[5]

Development

El Sulfato Atómico was the first original, non-educational game bankrolled by Zeta, and was created with input from Ibáñez.[2] Alcachofa head Emilio de Paz noted that the author provided model sheets for the cast, sketches for the backgrounds and other assistance.[6] According to de Paz, Alcachofa chose to adapt Ibáñez's first story because it was longer-form than most Mort & Phil comics, although the team borrowed "gags and other elements from many other" installments in the series.[7] He noted that the game's budget was "very, very limited".[2]

Reception

El Sulfato Atómico was commercially successful. With sales above 70,000 units, the game "multiplied by 50 the money [Zeta Multimedia] invested in the development", according to El País.[8] Carlos Burgos of PC Manía praised El Sulfato Atómico, writing that it "will delight young and old."[4] MeriStation's Jordi Espunya was less positive, criticizing the game's length, simplicity and audiovisual fidelity.[9]

Legacy

El Sulfato Atómico was the first installment in a series of adventure games based on Mort & Phil. While the comics had previously inspired arcade-style games during the golden age of Spanish software, such as Mortadelo y Filemón II: Safari Callejero, Alcachofa Soft's project marked the beginning of a new strain of adaptations.[10] Zeta Multimedia proceeded to publish a follow-up to El Sulfato Atómico in 1999: Mortadelo y Filemón: La Máquina Meteoroloca, developed by Vega Creaciones Multimedia rather than Alcachofa.[2] Based on the Mort & Phil comic El Estropicio Meteorológico,[10] the game was again created with assistance from Francisco Ibáñez.[2] According to the magazine Dealer World España, Zeta pushed La Máquina Meteoroloca as one of its "star products" during the Christmas 1999 shopping season.[11] The game drew a positive review from PC Manía, whose Carlos Burgos deemed it "excellent" and more faithful than El Sulfato Atómico to Ibáñez's series,[12] while Spain's PC Actual declared Vega's game "a bit monotonous".[13]

Vega was shuttered in the first half of 2000, and Alcachofa returned to creating Mort & Phil adventure games after La Máquina Meteoroloca's release.[2] The developer handled the remainder of the series,[10] which became its best-known body of work before the launch of Murder in the Abbey (2008).[14][15] Micromanía reported that the Mort & Phil games helped to put Alcachofa on the map.[16] Summarizing the company's history in 2008, Julio Gómez of Vandal wrote that Alcachofa ultimately saw "its fortunes joined to" El Sulfato Atómico.[17] Alcachofa's second Mort & Phil title, Mortadelo y Filemón: Una Aventura de Cine, debuted in 2000.[10] It launched as two games—respectively subtitled Dos Vaqueros Chapuceros and Terror, Espanto y Pavor—sold separately for 3,995 pesetas each.[18] Combining the two opens access to a third episode, Parque Jurásico, to complete the full Una Aventura de Cine product.[10][18] The combined game also features local and online cooperative multiplayer support for two players.[18]

Alcachofa followed Una Aventura de Cine in 2001 with Mortadelo y Filemón: La Sexta Secta.[19][10] It was again composed of two individual games, entitled El Escarabajo de Cleopatra and Operación Moscú, that combine to form the complete product.[10] The final entry in the Mort & Phil adventure game series arrived with La Banda de Corvino,[10] launched in 2003.[20] Like its predecessors, it retailed as two complementary episodes, this time under the names Mamelucos a la Romana and Balones y Patadones.[10]

In 2019, Erbe Software re-released the game on Steam,[21][22] alongside several other Mort & Phil titles by Alcachofa.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Staff (November 1, 1998). ""El sulfato atómico", Mortadelo y Filemón se convierten en el título y los personajes de la nueva aventura interactiva de Zeta Multimedia". Dealer World España (in Spanish). IDG. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Prada, Carolina (July 13, 2000). "Desarrolladores "made in Spain"". El Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 12, 2001.
  3. ^ Macías, Gerardo (March 27, 2019). "Con licencia para matar, pero de risa". Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 23, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Burgos, Carlos (November 1998). "Pantalla abierta; El Sulfato Atómico". PC Manía (in Spanish) (73): 323.
  5. ^ El Gran Tarkilmar (December 1998). "El club de la aventura; El eterno conflicto". Micromanía (in Spanish). Third Época (47): 196–198.
  6. ^ Álvarez, Raúl. "Entrevista a Emilio de Paz". Macedonia Magazine (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 26, 1999.
  7. ^ Alvarez, Raúl (December 1, 1998). "Alcachofa Soft". MeriStation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 11, 2019.
  8. ^ Avellaneda, Elena (November 13, 2008). "Un campanazo en la abadía". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 23, 2019.
  9. ^ Espunya, Jordi (January 7, 1999). "El Sulfato Atómico, made in Spain". MeriStation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 29, 2001.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Escandell, Daniel (2015). "La construcción transmedia y sus fronteras entre cómic y videojuego. La industria española frente a la estadounidense". In Florenchie, Amélie; Breton, Dominique (eds.). Nuevos dispositivos enunciativos en la era intermedial (in Spanish). Éditions Orbis Tertius. pp. 264–269, 278. ISBN 978-2-36783-061-2.
  11. ^ Staff (December 1, 1999). "Kit Navidad de Zeta Multimedia especial para dealers". Dealer World España (in Spanish). IDG. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019.
  12. ^ Burgos, Carlos (February 2000). "Un cómic hecho aventura gráfica". PC Manía (in Spanish). Second Época (4): 158.
  13. ^ Martínez, Javier (February 2000). "Niños; Mortadelo y Filemón: La Máquina Meteoroloca". PC Actual (in Spanish) (116): 364.
  14. ^ Otero, César (March 31, 2012). "Regreso al Pasado: Aventuras Gráficas Españolas". MeriStation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on June 11, 2019.
  15. ^ Gavilán, Pep Sánchez (August 24, 2007). "[GC] Los españoles Alcachofa Soft muestran The Abbey en Leipzig". MeriStation (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  16. ^ Staff (March 2006). "Retromanía; Aventuras españolas: Una gran tradición". Micromanía (in Spanish). Third Época (131): 151.
  17. ^ Gómez, Julio (March 14, 2008). "A Propósito de las Aventuras Gráficas". Vandal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on June 1, 2011.
  18. ^ a b c "Incompetentes habituales: Mortadelo, Filemón y la TIA". 26 January 2015.
  19. ^ "Todo sobre Mortadelo y Filemon: La Sexta Secta". www.meristation.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Todo sobre Mortadelo y Filemón: La Banda del Corvino". www.meristation.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  21. ^ González, Alberto (April 17, 2019). "Erbe lanzará Dráscula, Mortadelo y Filemón: El sulfato atómico y SleepWalker en PC". Vandal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on June 29, 2019.
  22. ^ a b Castillo, José Carlos (August 13, 2019). "Mortadelo y Filemón regresan a los videojuegos". El Correo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 13, 2019.
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