Software:Mortadelo y Filemón: El Sulfato Atómico

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Mortadelo y Filemón: El Sulfato Atómico
Mortadelo y Filemon, El Sulfato Atomico game box cover.jpg
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 () 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, 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. 1.0 1.1 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" (in Spanish). Dealer World España. IDG. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190823031940/https://www.dealerworld.es/archive/el-sulfato-atomico-mortadelo-y-filemon-se-convierten-en-el-titulo-y-los-personajes-de-la-nueva-aventura-interactiva-de-zeta-multimedia. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Prada, Carolina (July 13, 2000). "Desarrolladores "made in Spain"" (in Spanish). El Mundo. Archived from the original on July 12, 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010712080604/https://www.elmundo.es/ariadna/2000/A007/A007pag18.html. 
  3. Macías, Gerardo (March 27, 2019). "Con licencia para matar, pero de risa" (in Spanish). Diario de Sevilla. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190823033007/https://www.diariodesevilla.es/comics/licencia-matar-risa_0_1339666330.html. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Burgos, Carlos (November 1998). "Pantalla abierta; El Sulfato Atómico" (in Spanish). PC Manía (73): 323. 
  5. El Gran Tarkilmar (December 1998). "El club de la aventura; El eterno conflicto" (in Spanish). Micromanía Third Época (47): 196–198. 
  6. Álvarez, Raúl. "Entrevista a Emilio de Paz" (in Spanish). Macedonia Magazine. Archived from the original on August 26, 1999. https://web.archive.org/web/19990826014739/http://www.ciudadfutura.com/macedonia/entedp.htm. 
  7. Alvarez, Raúl (December 1, 1998). "Alcachofa Soft" (in Spanish). MeriStation. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190711203320/https://as.com/meristation/1998/12/21/reportajes/914242200_035995.html. 
  8. Avellaneda, Elena (November 13, 2008). "Un campanazo en la abadía" (in Spanish). El País. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190823032857/https://elpais.com/diario/2008/11/13/ciberpais/1226545345_850215.html. 
  9. Espunya, Jordi (January 7, 1999). "El Sulfato Atómico, made in Spain" (in Spanish). MeriStation. Archived from the original on March 29, 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20010329215136/http://meristation.com/reviews/ElSulfatoAtomico.htm. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 Escandell, Daniel (2015) (in Spanish). Nuevos dispositivos enunciativos en la era intermedial. 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" (in Spanish). Dealer World España. IDG. Archived from the original on August 29, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190829171802/https://www.dealerworld.es/archive/kit-navidad-de-zeta-multimedia-especial-para-dealers. 
  12. Burgos, Carlos (February 2000). "Un cómic hecho aventura gráfica" (in Spanish). PC Manía Second Época (4): 158. 
  13. Martínez, Javier (February 2000). "Niños; Mortadelo y Filemón: La Máquina Meteoroloca" (in Spanish). PC Actual (116): 364. 
  14. Otero, César (March 31, 2012). "Regreso al Pasado: Aventuras Gráficas Españolas" (in Spanish). MeriStation. Archived from the original on June 11, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190611022838/https://as.com/meristation/2012/03/31/reportajes/1333184400_101694.html. 
  15. Gavilán, Pep Sánchez (August 24, 2007). "[GC Los españoles Alcachofa Soft muestran The Abbey en Leipzig"] (in Spanish). MeriStation. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090301060750/http://www.meristation.com/v3/des_noticia.php?id=cw46cea77a0b80c&pic=PC&idj=cw44ed72bb8c52d&idp=. 
  16. Staff (March 2006). "Retromanía; Aventuras españolas: Una gran tradición" (in Spanish). Micromanía Third Época (131): 151. 
  17. Gómez, Julio (March 14, 2008). "A Propósito de las Aventuras Gráficas" (in Spanish). Vandal. Archived from the original on June 1, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110601022458/http://www.vandal.net/reportaje/a-proposito-de-las-aventuras-graficas. 
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Incompetentes habituales: Mortadelo, Filemón y la TIA". 26 January 2015. https://as.com/meristation/2000/12/13/analisis/976724520_016134.html. 
  19. "Todo sobre Mortadelo y Filemon: La Sexta Secta". http://www.meristation.com/sc/juegos/todosobre.asp?c=GEN&j=2492. 
  20. "Todo sobre Mortadelo y Filemón: La Banda del Corvino". http://www.meristation.com/sc/juegos/todosobre.asp?c=GEN&j=4246. 
  21. González, Alberto (April 17, 2019). "Erbe lanzará Dráscula, Mortadelo y Filemón: El sulfato atómico y SleepWalker en PC" (in Spanish). Vandal. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190629084644/https://vandal.elespanol.com/noticia/1350721233/erbe-lanzara-drascula-mortadelo-y-filemon-el-sulfato-atomico-y-sleepwalker-en-pc/. 
  22. 22.0 22.1 Castillo, José Carlos (August 13, 2019). "Mortadelo y Filemón regresan a los videojuegos" (in Spanish). El Correo. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190813094126/https://www.elcorreo.com/tecnologia/fs-gamer/lanzamientos/mortadelo-filemon-regresan-20190813095054-nt.html. 

External links