Up next is the second game in the Joseph series, with this one being a game I’ve taken a lot of interest in recently, and I’ve even been wondering if I could recreate the game and run it on a late-90s computer (if I actually knew how to code!). But hey, I’m getting ahead of myself, here is some info on this game:
Name: Joseph World
Developer: Sierra On-line
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Platforms: Playstation, Sega Saturn, PC
Released:(PS, SAT): November 5th 1996 (North America), November 15th 1996 (Europe), December 13th 1996 (Japan)
(PCs): July 1st 1997 (North America), July 11th 1997 (Europe), August 22nd 1997 (Japan)
Genre: 3D platformer
Synopsis: A few months after the events of the previous game, The Dark Lord learns that only thing that can seem to beat Joseph is himself, so he creates “Robo-Joe”, who can do everything Joseph can do and more. Now, it’s up to Joseph, with the help of his brother, Liam, to stop the army of two from destroying the world.
Background: Following the success of the first game, John Harrison was willing to create a sequel for the game, even though the development team was split in half, with one lead programmer for the first game leading a team focused on porting the game to computers, as this would be considered more profitable for Sierra, as they were better known within that market. The original idea for the sequel was that it would be a 2D platformer like the original game, with versions available for the SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis and Playstation, with the latter having enhanced graphics, a CD-quality soundtrack and a fully 3D special stage, whilst carrying the name, Joseph 2. This all changed, however, when John and his wife, Mary, were made aware of Nintendo’s recent announcements at the Tokyo Game Show, which included Super Mario 64. The concept blew away the two, and John believed that the game would represent the future of gaming. As a result, the first plan was canned, and the whole game was reworked, with the versions for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis being cancelled, as a game this ambitious would need to use the most powerful systems, at the time. After some testing, the team chose to use 2D sprites, with a fixed camera on the player and cube-based 3D environments, to simplify the development of the game. A version for the Sega Saturn was later developed, at the request of Sega executives, after viewing the game at a press conference, believing that the game appeared remarkably similar to the now-cancelled Sonic Xtreme. Harrison would later joke that they probably would’ve threatened to sue in any other case. Developing the game for the Saturn was actually much simpler than the team expected, as the Saturn’s quadralateral-based polygons worked well with the environments within the game. The game was released to critical praise and commercial success, with the latter likely being influenced by the “A World for Christmas” campaign, where Sierra teamed up with Toys R Us, to sell the game at half the price of other retailers, with an extra game being available for free, depending on the system.
