Phenomena

From ExoticA

Phenomena (PHA, 1988-)

SWE> Aqua (swap trade, ex Active, new ca 07/90), Aramon (new ca 07/90),
     Armsmaster (swap, 91), Azatoth (Olle Lindroth, code, +inactive+,
     11/90-93), Celebrandil (Mårten Johansson, code, ex Fairlight, new 90,
     left scene 91), Color (Robert Andersson, gfx, ex Dual Crew, new 12/90-
     92), Core (code, 91), Danko (music, 04/90), Dream Warrior (code, ex
     Triangle, 03/90-91), Firefox (Jimmy Fredriksson, music, 03/90-92), Jas
     (Jacob Ström, code, ex Rebels), Karon (trade, new 04/91-early92), Mace
     (code, ex Dual Crew, new 12/90), Madster (gfx, 91), Mantronix (Martin
     Wall, music, ex Razor 1911, new mid91-92), Mr.Gurk (Gunnar, code, ex
     Triangle, 08/89-91), Paralysis (swap, 91), Syncro (code, ex Science
     451, new mid90), The Punisher (swap, new mid90), Tip (Robert Ling,
     music, ex Dual Crew, new 12/90-92), Twins (code, 04/90-91).

Phenomena was formed around 1988 by Avalon (Mattias Berntsson from
Katrineholm, Sweden), who later left the scene. A successor of the group
Crack Force Five, they were a swedish-only crew, stressing friendship as an
important reason for this rule. Years later, of course, Andromeda would do
the same thing. A pure demo group, they are perhaps the ones that made the
best trackmo of all times; the fantastic "Enigma" [03/91]. While Scoopex'
"Mental Hangover" [04/90] was the first trackmo, "Enigma" was the one that
truly defined the standards of the genre. Unfortunately, after topping the
charts for ages, Azatoth lost his initiative to code.
  Coder Celebrandil was one of the last great innovators if the scene, a.o.
things introducing raytracing to demos in 1988. He also invented the much-
used effects glenz vector and spacecut vector. Today he is working designing
ICs for Stockholm-based firm Mentor Graphics, though he's still coding on
his spare time - though sadly on the PC. Mr.Gurk was the author of one of
the most-loved utils for the coder of the early days; the sinus-generator
Cosaque (version 1.1 30.08.1989).
  Another of their coders, Vogue, would later move to the PC scene, where
he joined a group called Triton, helped code their legendary pc demos
"Crystal Dream" [07/92] and "Crystal Dream II" [05/93], before he and Mr.H
committed the music tracker program known as "FastTracker ][" [94]. He is
now busy co-writing the game "Into the Shadows".
  1988 - Swedish coder and cracker DiMarz left the group for Razor 1911.
  1990 - After Uno's contribution to the Scoopex demo "Chromium" [11/90] in
november, he (gfx), Photon (code), Judas and Invid all joined Scoopex a
month later, in december.

Swedish coder Odeon (ex Majic 12) left to form the new Razor 1911.
Swedish graphician Terminator (03/90-04/91) joined The Silents. Terminator
  worked on several classic Phenomena releases, including "Music Dream" II
  [91] and "Enigma" [03/91].
Swedish coder Antiaction (ex Vortex 42) joined Defjam.

  Innerspace (Demo).

  Joyride (pre 1992, .07, ECS File).

  Lost In Space (pre 1989, .11).

  Music Dream I (ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk).

  Heads Intro (1988/89?, ECS Intro).
  Code: Cobra, Gfx: Crome, Freedom, Music: Crome.

  Who Cares (1989, mid, ECS File).
  Code: Mr. Gurk, Gfx: Eagle, Music: Firefox.

  Bikie (1989, late?).
  Code: Mr.Gurk, Gfx: n/a, Music: n/a.

  Megademo (ECS Megademo).
  Code: n/a, Gfx: n/a, Music: "Its No Secret", "Lets Party", "Like The
  Wind", "Megademo Tune v2" and "Never Ending Love" by Firefox.

  Spectre-Northstar Party Demo (1989, 05.11, ECS File).
  Code: U.F.A., Music: Firefox.

  Jocke Intro (1989/90?, ECS Intro).
  Code: Jocke, Gfx: Terminator, Music: Firefox.

  420 Bobs (1990?, ECS File).
  Code: Mr.Gurk, Gfx: Eagle, Sensei/Censor, Music: Firefox.

  Ice Cold Coke (1990, .04, ECS File).
  Code: Mr.Gurk, Gfx: Twins, Music: Danko.

  Vectormania (1990, 03.11, ECS File).
  Code: Azatoth, Gfx: Uno, Music: Firefox.
  Winner of the Amiga Halloween Conference 90 demo competition!
  Information: Azatoth's debut demo. According to himself, very inspired by
  Red Sector Inc's "Cebit 90" (1990). Of course, his next demo was to be
  the landmark "Enigma" (1991).

  Fructail (1990, 09.12, ECS File).

  Animotion (1990, 28.12, ECS File).
  code: Celebrandil, gfx: Havok/ex-Ecstasy (logo), music: Tip and
  Mantronix/Razor 1911 (NoisePacker format).
  Winner of Dexion Party demo competion!
  review: Good code and a great tune arre the best parts of this demo,
  which managed to climb all the way to the top at the classic Dexion
  party. The design is decidedly old-school, with a terrible logo at the
  top (Havok would later join Anarchy and Sanity and make great graphics),
  a scroller at the bottom and some effects in the middle of the screen.
  The effects are all quite acceptable, and probably pretty advanced by the
  standards of back then.
    This was presumably Celebrandil's first demo for Phenomena, since
  there's some text explaining why he left Fairlight. ADL mentioned it
  didn't work on the A1200, which puzzles me since it works perfectly
  fine here. [glenn]
  GLE tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

  Obvious Disaster (1990, 29.12, ECS File).
  code: Mace, gfx: Color, Mace, music: Tip.
  Released at the Dexion Party 90.
  info: Needs KillAGA.

  Corkscrew (1991?, ECS File).
  Code: Photon, Gfx: Terminator, Music: Firefox.

  Crystal Symphonies (1991, ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk).
  Code: Jas/Phenomena, Gfx: Uno/Scoopex, Music: Tip & Mantronix.
  Cooperation with Scoopex and Rebels.
  Review: This Scoopex - Rebels - Phenomena coproduction was placed here,
  under Phenomena's entry, since the second CS was a pure Phenomena
  production. The Partial credits are based on text information in the
  bootblock. This classic is unreviewable, since it refuses to work on my
  current machine. Unfortunately my old A500 is long since deceased, so I
  can't get that out to check it out either :( [glenn]
  GLE tested A500 /000-7 /½mb chip, ½mb fast/2.04.
             A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.
                Note: Won't work, see review.

  Music Dream II (1991, ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk).
  Code: Twins, Gfx: Uno, Twins, Firefox, Terminator, Music: Tip, Firefox.
  Information: Tunes are packed with Twins' utility NoisePacker 2, and are
  among others "Chinese Dream" (cooperation introtune), Macrocosm
  (firefox), "Mega_End" (cooperation endtune).

  ECES '91 Invitation (1991, ECS File).

  Interspace (1991, .03, ECS Disk).
  Code: 4042, Gfx: The Sarge, Music: "Interspace_Intro" and "The End" by
  Firefox, Mantronix/Razor 1911, Tip.

  Enigma (1991, 30.03, ECS Trackmo).
  code: Azatoth, gfx: Uno, Terminator (message font), Imbecille/?
  (uncredited), music: "Musiklinjen" by Firefox & Tip.
  Winner of demo competition at the Anarchy Easter Party 91!
  Review: Azatoth proved to be a coder with a talent the like of which is
  seldom seen, when he created ENIGMA! Amazingly, this was only his second
  released demo. As soon as the first bears of the amazing title theme
  opens the show to a 3d starfield with overlaid credits, you sort of feel
  you're in for something a little special... And you have probably never
  been more right. Perhaps the demo with the most new ideas EVER, it set
  the standards for others to follow in the trackmo genre. Just amazing!
    It seems Uno contributed to this AFTER he left for Scoopex, since the
  ENIGMA logo is signed UNO SCX. The logo in the Star Wars scroller part is
  signed Imbecille, though he's not credited anywhere in the demo. I only
  experiences one slight problem when running it, there are some graphical
  errors in the ligtsourced world part. Otherwise everything went smoothly.
  [glenn]
  GLE tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.

  Crystal Symphonies II (1992, ECS Trackloaded Musicdisk).
  code: Jas, gfx: Color, music: Tip and Mantronix.
  review: Now a pure Phenomena production, CS2 still bears strong
  resemblances the the first edition. The fact that the same basic code
  has been used has perhaps a little to do with that... Style-wise, this
  is as smooth as it gets, with exceptional music, smooth graphics and a
  damn-near perfect code. Lots of options, including volume control and
  lots of scrollers to read. A true classic.
    The tunes on the disk are 'The Sweat Shop' (7:50), 'Yummy Gap' (3:15),
  'Liberation' (2:40), 'Disharmony' (3:52), 'Life-Phobia' (2:13), and 'The
  Search For Me' (4:02). [glenn]
  GLE tested A1200/030-50/2mb chip, 4mb fast/3.0.