Flashback

n/a

Flashback

Publisher: U.S. Gold, Sunsoft (JP),

Sega

Developer: Delphine Software International

System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-CD

Original system(s): Amiga

Sound driver:

GEMS

Genre: Action

Number of players: 1

Official in-game languages:

English

Français

日本語

English

Release	Date	RRP	Code
JP	1993-12-29	¥8,000	T-15083
US	1993-02-20^[2]	$64.95^[1]	T-79066
UK	1993-06^[4]	£39.99^[3]	79066-50
FR	1993-06^[4]	?F	79066-50
DE	1993-06^[4]	DM 129,95^[5]	79066-50
ES	1993-06^[4]	?Ptas	79066-50
AU	199x	$?	?
BR	199x	R$?	045070


US	1994-11^[6]	$?	4448

VRC

ESRA

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Flashback (フラッシュバック), known in the US as Flashback: The Quest for Identity, is a platform-action game for the Commodore Amiga developed by Delphine Software International and published by U.S. Gold in 1992.

Arguably Delphine Software's greatest work, it has been ported to a variety of platforms, including the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Mega-CD, as well as 3DO, Acorn Archimedes, Atari Jaguar, CD-i, IBM PC, FM Towns, iPhone OS, Mac OS, PC-9801, and Super NES. CD-based versions tend to include full motion video cutscenes and an enhanced music soundtrack, but are essentially the same game.

Gameplay

In Flashback the player controls Conrad B. Hart, who having escaped from aliens finds himself in the jungles of Titan with his memory erased. He must recover his memory and save earth from an alien attack. The game is largely inspired by Prince of Persia, though has many notable improvements such as a weapon system. The game was well received due to its fluid animations and stealth-like gameplay.

The Sega versions of the game have one notable difference than other versions - Conrad wears a white shirt, presumably due to a more limited on-screen color palette.

History

Legacy

The game was followed by a 3D sequel, Fade to Black, a PC and PlayStation exclusive which was also intended for release on the Sega Saturn and will be released for Dreamcast in 2018 as Flashback 2: Fade to Black. Plans for a third game in the series called Flashback Legends was due for the Game Boy Advance, but was cancelled. Leaked prototypes show a significant amount of graphical and story changes that barely resemble the world built up in the previous titles. A remake of the game developed by VectorCell was released in 2013.

JoshProd released a new version for the Sega Dreamcast in 2017.

Production credits

Mega Drive version

The FlashBack Team is...

Programmers: Benoist Aron, Philippe Chastel, Paul Cuisset, Frederic Savoir
Graphic Artists: Patrick Daher, Thierry Levastre, Denis Mercier, Thierry Perreau, Christian Robert, Fabrice Visserot
Hardware Engineer: Thierry Gaerthner
Story: Paul Cuisset
Level Design: Paul Cuisset, Patrick Daher, Denis Mercier, Frederic Savoir, Fabrice Visserot
Music: Jean Baudlot, Fabrice Visserot
Sound fx: Benoist Aron, Philippe Chastel, Paul Cuisset, Fabrice Visserot
Actors: Benoist Aron, Patrick Daher, Thierry Levastre, Denis Mercier, Thierry Perreau, Christian Robert, Fabrice Visserot
Video directors: Patrick Daher, Thierry Perreau, Fabrice Visserot
Video Co-directors: Thierry Levastre, Denis Mercier, Christian Robert
Video sfx: Paul Cuisset, Thierry Perreau, Fabrice Visserot
Testers: Phil Bradley, Patricia Cuisset, Simon Hadlington, Daniel Llewellyn, Jean-Pierre Luck, Martin Smith
Many thanks to...: Lori Christensen, Patricia Cuisset, Anne-Marie Joassim, Jean-Pierre Luck, Marc Minier
Special Credits to...: Cross Products for the SNASM development system., Sega of America for GEMS sound tool.
Directed by: Paul Cuisset
Produced by: Delphine Software / US Gold
(c) MCMXCIII

Source: In-game credits

Mega-CD version

Flashback SEGA-CD Team:

Programmer: Benoist ARON
3-D Graphics: Denis MERCIER
Additional 3-D Graphics: Thierry PERREAU
Musics composed by: Fabrice VISSEROT, Jean BAUDLOT, Marc MINIER, Patrick SIGWALT
Musics recorded & mixed by: Marc MINIER, Patrick SIGWALT
Additional Engineering: François COUSIN
In-Game Musics: Pierre-André ATHANE, Pascal PERINO
Photo Director: Alain RAMOND
Voices recorded & mixed by: Yves BOURVON
Voices: Randall PRICE, Bruce BENINGTON-PORTER, Joe MAY, Cary GUY, Lori CHRISTENSEN, Olivier TOUSSAINT, Manone THUMIAH, Anne-Marie JOASSIM
Testers: Dan LLEWELLYN, Jason SHELDON, Richard HOLDSWORTH, Brian SCHORR, Thomas MARX, Mike SCHMITT
Art Director: Denis MERCIER
Project Manager: Benoist ARON
Directed by: Paul CUISSET
Music digitally recorded and mixed at: DELPHINE Studios, PARIS.

Flashback GENESIS Team:

Programmers: Benoist Aron, Philippe CHASTEL, Paul CUISSET, Frederic SAVOIR
Graphic Artists: Patrick DAHER, Thierry LEVASTRE, Denis MERCIER, Thierry PERREAU, Christian ROBERT, Fabrice VISSEROT
Hardware Engineer: Thierry GAERTHNER
Story: Paul CUISSET
Level Design: Paul CUISSET, Patrick DAHER, Denis MERCIER, Frederic SAVOIR, Fabrice VISSEROT
Testers: Phil BRADLEY, Patricia CUISSET, Simon HADLINGTON, Daniel LLEWELLYN, Jean-Pierre LUCK, Martin SMITH

Many Thanks to: Lori CHRISTENSEN, Patricia CUISSET, Anne-Marie JOASSIM, Jean-Pierre LUCK, Henri-Paul CARVALAT
Supervised for U.S. Gold by: Stuart HIBBERT
Produced by: Delphine Software International and U.S. Gold ©MCMXCIV
© MCMXCIV

Source: In-game credits

Product Manager: Peter Loeb
Associate Product Manager: John Garner
Product Specialist: Nemer Velasquez
Manual Designed by: Carol Ann Hanshaw

Source: US manual^[7]

Magazine articles

Main article: Flashback/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

{{|}}}}

Mega Drive US print advert 2

{{|}}}}

Mega-CD US print advert

{{|}}}}

PDF

Mega Drive print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US)

#43: "February 1993" (199x-xx-xx)

{{|}}}}

PDF

Mega Drive print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US)

#44: "March 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

also published in:

Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #45: "April 1993" (1993-xx-xx)^[8]

{{|}}}}

PDF

Print advert in GamePro (US)

#48: "July 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

{{|}}}}

PDF

Mega Drive print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US)

#57: "April 1994" (1994-xx-xx)

also published in:

GamePro (US) #57: "April 1994" (1994-xx-xx)^[9]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #58: "May 1994" (1994-xx-xx)^[10]

{{|}}}}

PDF

Print advert in EGM² (US)

#5: "November 1994" (1994-xx-xx)

also published in:

Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #65: "December 1994" (1994-xx-xx)^[11]

{{|}}}}

PDF

Mega Drive print advert in Sega Magazine (UK)

#2: "February 1994" (1994-01-10)

{{|}}}}

PDF

Print advert in Mega Force (ES)

#14: "Junio 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

{{|}}}}

PDF

Print advert in Megazone (AU)

#28: "June 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

also published in:

Megazone (AU) #29: "July 1993" (1993-xx-xx)^[12]

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average

Publication	Score	Source
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)	92	№9/93, p137^[13]
Consoles + (FR)	96	№18, p56-60^[14]
Computer & Video Games (UK)	94	№138, p34-37^[15]
Essential Sega Guide (UK)	93	№1, p46^[16]
Game Power (IT)	94	№19, p39-41
GamePro (US)	100	№43, p36-37^[17]
GamesMaster (UK)	93	№7, p78
No results	94	№19
Joypad (FR)	97	№18, p72-75^[18]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)	90	№10, p14-17
Mega (UK)	94	№9, p52-53
Mega Action (UK)	92	№2, p22-23
Mega Force (FR)	97	№15, p94-98^[19]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)	93	№7, p16-20^[20]
Player One (FR)	96	№29, p64-67^[21]
Sega Power (UK)	93	№43, p32-35
Sega Pro (UK)	94	№20, p42-43
Sega Zone (UK)	94	№8, p36-39
Sega Force Mega (UK)	93	№1, p89^[22]
Sega Force (SE)	96	№4/93, p6-7^[23]
Sega Force (UK)	93	№18, p32-35^[24]
Supergame (BR)	95	№21, p6-7^[25]
Supergame (BR)	90	№22, p20-23^[26]
Supersonic (FR)	93	№8, p10-11

	94
Based on 24 reviews

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart File:Flashback MD US Manual.pdf Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, SE (Rental)

Mega Drive, FR

File:Flashback MD FR Manual.pdf Manual

Mega-CD version

Sega Retro Average

Publication	Score	Source
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US)	75	№65, p44/164^[27]
GamePro (US)	83	№66, p44^[28]
Next Generation (US)	60	№4, p93^[29]

	73
Based on 3 reviews

Mega-CD, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System

Hash

Size

Build Date

Source

Comments

✔

CRC32	23a9616d
MD5	111e1694facbe6879640ccf83040cd20
SHA-1	bce40031f6adab48670c8a2d73e42f3a3dcba97c

1.5MB

1993-01-20

Cartridge (US)

✔

CRC32	33cd2b65
MD5	55977f8786715847ba2061708e49beeb
SHA-1	225b405274d39541e07488fdd33de8f854624bf1

1.5MB

1993-01

Cartridge (US)

✔

CRC32	6f311c83
MD5	cef0031bd4612df7d4eac6bd71f7648d
SHA-1	31372b2c056eacb747de0a706de3899d224f2c92

1.5MB

1993-01-20

Cartridge (EU)

✔

CRC32	b790e3b4
MD5	9a445d5b0d1cd873ce743743b8faec31
SHA-1	5082180974a125b5f9c01c96410c0fdbfb707d2b

1.5MB

1993-01-20

Cartridge (JP)

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Flashback.

[:File:VG.26CE_US_50.pdf_p32-1] File:VG&CE US 50.pdf, page 32

[:File:EGM_US_043.pdf_p69-2] File:EGM US 043.pdf, page 69

[:File:CVG_UK_156.pdf_p71-3] File:CVG UK 156.pdf, page 71

[:File:Mega_UK_16.pdf_p26-4] File:Mega UK 16.pdf, page 26

[:File:SegaMagazin_DE_01.pdf_p66-5] File:SegaMagazin DE 01.pdf, page 66

[:File:GamePlayers_US_0710.pdf_p12-6] File:GamePlayers US 0710.pdf, page 12

[:File:Flashback_mcd_us_manual.pdf_p30-7] File:Flashback mcd us manual.pdf, page 30

[:File:EGM_US_045.pdf_p22-8] File:EGM US 045.pdf, page 22

[:File:GamePro_US_057.pdf_p124-9] File:GamePro US 057.pdf, page 124

[:File:EGM_US_058.pdf_p52-10] File:EGM US 058.pdf, page 52

[:File:EGM_US_065.pdf_p159-11] File:EGM US 065.pdf, page 159

[:File:Megazone_AU_29.pdf_p96-12] File:Megazone AU 29.pdf, page 96

[:File:ASM_DE_1993-09.pdf_p139-13] File:ASM DE 1993-09.pdf, page 139

[:File:ConsolesPlus_FR_018.pdf_p60-14] File:ConsolesPlus FR 018.pdf, page 60

[:File:CVG_UK_138.pdf_p34-15] File:CVG UK 138.pdf, page 34

[:File:MeanMachinesEssentialSegaGuide_Book_UK.pdf_p46-16] File:MeanMachinesEssentialSegaGuide Book UK.pdf, page 46

[:File:GamePro_US_043.pdf_p38-17] File:GamePro US 043.pdf, page 38

[:File:Joypad_FR_018.pdf_p75-18] File:Joypad FR 018.pdf, page 75

[:File:MegaForce_FR_15.pdf_p98-19] File:MegaForce FR 15.pdf, page 98

[:File:MeanMachinesSega07UK.pdf_p16-20] File:MeanMachinesSega07UK.pdf, page 16

[:File:PlayerOne_FR_029.pdf_p60-21] File:PlayerOne FR 029.pdf, page 60

[:File:SegaForceMega_UK_01.pdf_p89-22] File:SegaForceMega UK 01.pdf, page 89

[:File:SegaForce_SE_1993_04.pdf_p6-23] File:SegaForce SE 1993 04.pdf, page 6

[:File:SegaForce_UK_18.pdf_p32-24] File:SegaForce UK 18.pdf, page 32

[:File:Supergame_BR_21.pdf_p7-25] File:Supergame BR 21.pdf, page 7

[:File:Supergame_BR_22.pdf_p20-26] File:Supergame BR 22.pdf, page 20

[:File:EGM_US_065.pdf_p46-27] File:EGM US 065.pdf, page 46

[:File:GamePro_US_066.pdf_p68-28] File:GamePro US 066.pdf, page 68

[:File:NextGeneration_US_04.pdf_p95-29] File:NextGeneration US 04.pdf, page 95

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Flashback

From Sega Retro

Contents

Gameplay

History

Legacy

Production credits

Mega Drive version

Mega-CD version

Magazine articles

Promotional material

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Mega-CD version

Technical information

ROM dump status

References