Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Review - What's Not To Llove About Epic Llamas?

Whether you’re a gamer, retro fan, historian, or have a deep connection with Peruvian sweaters, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is an essential interactive documentary you need for your PC or console.

We’ve been here before with The Making of Karateka, and this is very much the same with its playable games, talking heads, and scanned documents covering everything from coding to newsletters – artwork to 80-page game manuals. Remember those days? Game manuals?

Back then, it was customary to have manuals that explained everything in minute detail. With Minter’s collection, that makes sense. You’ll see why they were invaluable in just a few seconds of Mama Llama. Now we have in-game tutorials for the most inane actions; press X to jump. 

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Review

Jeff Minter was never really a household name for kids in the 80s, but we knew about Llamasoft and were familiar with the cover art. If you are finding it hard to access timelines, this was before the internet, so we only found out about games through the cassettes in the local newsagent, then later as cover disks (and discs) on gaming mags.

Despite playing a handful of his games, I never really liked them. They were hectic, didn’t make much sense, and what was with all the camels?! Yet, as a gamer and old git, his name was/is synonymous with game development, and he’s a bona fide auteur. There’s nobody else like him, and when I originally covered Digital Eclipse’s first collection, I included him as a pioneer. He is, without question.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story follows the same model of covering classic computers, then up to the PS4 era and split into four chapters. Not that it’s relevant, but I was chuffed to hear he’s from the same county as me. I might use that in an anecdote – ‘Yeah, Jeff and I are both from Hampshire. Hello? Anybody…?’

His Name Is Jeff

Each chapter includes interviews with Minter, journalists, fans, and fellow developers, box art, photos from game conventions, and, arguably, most importantly, the games. These range from Centipede to Gridrunner, Hover Bovver, Tempest 2000, and light synth Colourspace—all of which are playable and feature custom settings such as screen resolutions and effects.

While my tastes may differ from yours, the light synths stood out most, and I tended to skip over some games. The others weren’t for me, except Attack of the Mutant Camels and Psychedelia, which I played in the 80s. I was most likely playing Green Beret, Ninja Scooter, and Pajamarama. So perhaps Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is a bit of a miss if you’re not a fan of Llamasoft? Definitely not.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is another must-have purchase. How it’s delivered puts Minter on a pedestal to some extent. At one point, one of the interviewees says that he was prevalent through at least four decades of gaming history, and you can see him progress. However, this is the inspirational bit: Jeff Minter has progressed but always remained true throughout, making the games he wants to play, not yielding to trends, and being a true industry visionary.

A Heart Of Neon

Though his back catalogue might not be the titles on my retro shelves, I can’t help but convey how much respect I have for him, and Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story truly flies the flag. His mindset, influences (Pink Floyd and llamas), and endearing attitude towards his fans, from interacting at conventions to SAEs for his latest newsletter, are impressive. Can’t we all just go back to the days of shareware and cover disks?

As with The Making of Karateka, there’s an additional product to plug. That’s not the purpose of this documentary, but like Mechner had REPLAY (read about it here, hint hint), there’s an upcoming documentary by Paul Docherty called Heart of Neon. After digesting everything in Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, I don’t doubt you’ll want to watch this.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Review Summary

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is a real eye-opener. It’s inspirational, engaging, and challenging—the old-school games are the hardest! I also admire his stubbornness in doing his own thing (says the person intent on writing articles and not bending to TikTok screamin’ and streamin’). His works have guaranteed a devoted fanbase, and I’d consider myself part of that group from this alone.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is another essential title for your collection. Now, I’d like to see a Tim Schafer project.