El Mundo Perdido

Topo released Ale Hop, Temptations, and the game we're discussing all at once. Without any fanfare or advertising, all three became minor computer classics. They were all released for the MSX, and 'The Lost World' also appeared on the Spectrum. The slogan for the joint release was something like "making the most of the MSX's capabilities."

The truth is, the first two did make the most of them, and although this one was a Spectrum port, it was also a noteworthy game.

Note January 30, 2004

In August 2003, I made a discovery that truly astonished me: 'The Lost World' had been released in the UK as 'People from Sirius', under the U.S. Gold label, but—get this!—it was distributed exclusively with Your Sinclair magazine (that is, it wasn't sold separately in stores). Right around that time, and it's quite a coincidence, a thread started in the Spectrum news feed asking about the matter. Here's what I told them:

"The truth is, it was only recently—a couple of weeks ago—that I discovered the existence of 'People from Sirius'... Holy crap! That was my first thought, when I thought there were no more foreign versions of Spanish games. And that's when I started investigating (well, 'investigating' is a bit of an exaggeration).

I was surprised that WOS listed 'The Lost World' as a re-release instead of 'People...'. At first, I thought it might be a mistake, like some others on this magnificent site, but I kept looking. Then I saw that the latter had been published a year before the Topo game, and things started to seem off.

I searched on Google and found the answer in an Italian newsgroup! A guy was saying that a friend of his, Mauro Spagnolo, was the creator of 'People...'. This guy said that he had mentioned the Spanish re-release of the game to him, and Mauro had replied..." I had no idea. In short, Mauro Spagnolo and Vania Villa are ITALIAN.

It's one of those curious stories you hear about every now and then—and there's always something new. As we know, U.S. Gold published Topo games (an Erbe brand) in the UK and the rest of Europe... Most of them through their budget label, Kixx. Erbe, in turn, published U.S. Gold games and those of its other subsidiaries in Spain (Capcom, Go!...). But this was a special case, perhaps influenced by the fact that the game had only been released in the UK, bundled with the magazine (something they would repeat later with Dustin, also released exclusively by Your Sinclair). Topo took charge of releasing it alongside Temptations and Ale Hop, with a cover by Azpiri included, and the secret remained hidden until now...".

Regarding the doubt I had about whether it was appropriate to leave the program on Computer Emuzone, the decision wasn't difficult. Fifteen years of keeping the secret well-guarded were enough to consider it Spanish in every sense, not to mention the extraordinary contributions like the cover art by Alfonso Azpiri and the music by Gominolas (and that would be a luxury we can't and shouldn't afford). And besides, what the heck, even the programmer's last name was Spagnolo! ("Spanish" in Italian) :-D

So I opted for the most logical solution: uploading 'People...' as well and explaining the story.