Imagine weren't really a 'legend', and they didn't 'continue'; in fact they are remembered nowadays for failing to continue. They were the first spectacular failure of the UK leisure software market and were essentially the dot.com crash, but in 1983. Full-page colour adverts were extravagant for software houses in 1983, at a time when most software houses made do with half-page, black and white apologies.

The Imagine name was bought up by Ocean Software, who used it to release arcade conversions. The adverts continued to be very attractive, although the name was put to rest in the early 1990s. Ocean Software was very successful and survived into the 16-bit age, something they achieved by releasing competent-quality games based around films from which they have bought the rights. Ocean even managed the impressive feat, for an old 8-bit company, of lasting into the PC/Playstation age, although they were bought after a period of silence in 1998 by Infogrames, who proceeded to do to Ocean what Ocean had done to Imagine. The next year Infogrames bought Gremlin, another of the few substantial surviving British 8-bit software houses, and did to them what they had done to etc. Nowadays only Codemasters and Psion still exist as independent entities, although the latter is in difficulty. Good old Ultimate is called Rare and is owned by Microsoft, which is good news if you have an xBox.

Of the games on this page, Jumping Jack is a classic, Zzoom was rubbish but has a certain nostalgic interest (it was a flying game in which you had to rescue prisoners, although you could shoot them, and they died quite realistically, which was fun if you were six), whilst the others are dreck (Ah Diddums in the bottom-left, Zip-Zap). Frantic was never released and probably never existed beyond the name and the picture here.