Revisiting the Frankie Goes to Hollywood video game
For as long as the existence of time, bands have sold questionable merch to their fans and tried to cash in on their popularity. However, Frankie Goes To Hollywood took things one step further when they decided to unleash their own video game on the masses.
The game was launched in 1985, following the success of ‘Relax’, when Frankie Goes To Hollywood were at the peak of their powers. They were approached by local Liverpudlian game manufacturers Ocean Software, who persuaded the band to create a tie-in product for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
All the parties involved agreed to share profits between them, and it was a genuinely pioneering moment in the history of video games. Years later, other artists would also create their games, such as 50 Cent, Prince and Michael Jackson, but Frankie Goes To Hollywood came before them all.
At the time of the game’s release, Ocean boss David Ward explained to Sinclair User magazine: “The game interprets the Frankie Goes to Hollywood concept of life imitating art. The impact of the name and the concept of Frankie Goes To Hollywood translates into a game – you could describe it as an animated strategy adventure played on several levels.”
“Guiding an anonymous yet smoothly animated humanoid figure – based on the band’s logo of a man clutching a star – around a network of almost identical-looking terraced houses, you search for clues among kitchens and living rooms full of kitsch wall ornaments. One house has the murder victim lying awkwardly on the floor.”
Recently, Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson stumbled upon a copy of the game in his home, and he reminisced with his followers: “I have a copy of this early computer game that was developed in Liverpool and released via Ocean Software for both the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 computer platforms. I’ve never owned either computer, so I was unable to play it at the time.
“I hear it takes quite a while to master and finally arrive at The Pleasuredome. We were the only group to have a Computer Game at the time. It was, in retrospect, quite a collector’s item. It also included a version of RELAX on cassette.”
Johnson then shared a link to footage from the game and concluded: “Here’s a run through of the game, although many people couldn’t work out how to solve all the problems to get to the end.”
Surprisingly, a surplus of copies of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood video games are available on eBay for under £20, which is a small price to pay for a piece of such high art.
