Screenshot Flashback (Sega Genesis)

Flashback: The Quest for Identity, often just called Flashback, is a computer platform game produced by Delphine Software, which has since went bankrupt and no longer exists. The game was released in 1992. Later a version on cd-rom with new cinematic scenes was released. The style of the game is side-scrolling action-adventure.

It details the journey of Conrad B. Hart, an agent for the Galaxia Bureau of Investigation, and his attempts to recover his lost memory and find his missing girlfriend. Fitting into the cyberpunk genre, there are government conspiracies, bleak world views, cybernetic enhancements, all squeezed into the dystopian society the game presents. The game is set on the planet Titan in the year 2142.

Flashback was released on IBM PC, Amiga, Apple Macintosh, SNES, 3DO, Sega Genesis, Sega CD and Atari Jaguar. It features fully hand-drawn backdrops and for its time remarkably fluid animation.

A sequel, named Fade to Black was produced in 1995. This game has completely different gameplay. Flashback is often mistaken for a sequel to Another World.

A playable demo of Flashback can be downloaded on the website of a former Flashback programmer called Ramal (http://ramal.free.fr/fb_en.htm).

Story

During one of his investigations, Conrad discovers a plot to take over Earth involving aliens called Morphs who disguise themselves as government officials. The Morphs kidnap Conrad, erase all of his memories, and leave him disoriented on an alien planet. Conrad eventually regains his memory and foils the alien's plans, once and for all. He also finds out that people he used to work for have killed his girlfriend to make sure no one would feel Cornad missing.

External links

• REminiscence (http://membres.lycos.fr/cyxdown/reminiscence/) - REminiscence is a rewrite of the engine used in the game Flashback from Delphine Software. This program is designed as a cross-platform replacement for the original executable and uses the SDL library.
• Mobygames' entry about Flashback: The Quest for Identity (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,555/)