Split Personalities Longplay (C64) [QHD]

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Published on December 2, 2020 10:27:17 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB4mjF_ORcg

Game:

Split Personalities (1986)

Duration: 37:52

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Developed by Ernieware and published by Domark in 1986

Quirky real-time puzzle game, where the objective is to arrange tiles on a 5 x 5 grid to complete a picture of a well-known personality or celebrity. I got a copy of the game on a Commodore Format Power Pack tape (issue 3, December 1990), although I didn't really have the patience for something so cerebral back then. You can add pieces to the board by moving the tile selector on to the arrow square (located top-left), although the game may surprise you with a fizzing bomb, which needs to be disposed of before it blows up; either jettison it off the board via one of the trap-doors, or douse the fuse with a water tap tile, which will earn you bonus points in the process.

Various versions of the game were released, each with a different set of puzzles. The original UK version (shown in this video) features personalities that would have been recognisable to a British audience at the time, while other revisions changed things up a little. According to the game's Wikipedia entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_Personalities_(video_game) - the version bundled in the "Night Moves" Commodore 64 bundle replaced Regan with Helmut Kohl, Nelson Mandela and Mikail Gorbachev. I guess some of this was to stay relevant (Reagan's presidency was already over by the time the Night Moves pack was released in 1990), and the fact the game was part of a Commodore promotional bundle meant Sinclair and Sugar had to go.

I must admit, I enjoyed Split Personalities a great deal more as an older - and hopefully wiser - player with more patience; definitely worth checking out if you enjoy puzzle games.

Credits:
Coding: Mark Greenshields
Graphics: Richard Naylor
Music: David Whittaker

Time Codes
00:00 Main menu (music by David Whittaker)
1:12 Puzzle 1: Ronald Reagan
4:46 Puzzle 2: Margaret Thatcher
7:43 Puzzle 3: Neil Kinnock
10:43 Puzzle 4: Sir Clive Sinclair
14:18 Puzzle 5: Alan Sugar
17:40 Puzzle 6: Humphrey Bogart
21:08 Puzzle 7: Prince Charles & Princess Diana
24:26 Puzzle 8: Prince Andrew & Sarah Ferguson
28:13 Puzzle 9: Mick Jagger
33:00 Puzzle 10: Marilyn Monroe

#puzzlegames
#c64
#retrogaming