CJ's Elephant Antics

• Title — CJ's Elephant Antics • Developer — Genesis Big Red (Spectrum) • Publisher — Codemasters • Released — 1991 • Series — CJ Elephant • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga, NES, IBM PC

After being captured in Africa for the purpose of being put in a zoo, turbulence hits the plane transporting CJ to England causing his cage to open, he grabs a nearby umbrella and leaps out of the airplane while somewhere over France. After landing CJ realises he will have to make his way back home to Africa on foot.

CJ can jump, has an unlimited amount of peanuts he can fire as projectiles, and a limited number of bombs he can throw. An umbrella opens to slow down his descent when dropping from heights. The game also includes the option for two players to take part simultaneously in a co-operative fashion, though like many platformers of this era there are inherent problems in keeping both players on screen at once. CJ deals with this by only scrolling with player 1, and killing player 2 every time he leaves the screen; this system forces the players to move carefully in synchronization throughout much of the game. Elephant Antics has a total of four levels each of which includes an end of level boss fight. The levels throughout the game are all countries that CJ must traverse to reach home, the levels are France, Switzerland, Egypt, and finally Africa. There is also a bike riding bonus stage that takes place between levels in which the player must avoid hazards and collect balloons. This mode is missing from the Spectrum and NES versions.

CJ's Elephant Antics spawned two sequels: CJ in the USA for most home computers and CJ Elephant Fugitive for the Game Gear. There were also two games in the series that were cancelled: CJ in Space and CJ's Island Antics. CJ's Island Antics was outsourced by Codemasters to another team. Though the 3rd game in the series, CJ in Space, was never commercially released, the 4th game did see a partial release in Germany for the C64 as a free cover game with one of CP Verlag's digital magazines under the name Jimbo. Codemasters made several games similar to CJ's Elephant Antics: DJ Puff's Volcanic Adventure and Stuntman Seymour. Both were noted for their similarities to CJ by contemporary reviewers.

(All credits were taken from Codemasters' official page.) Designed by David T. Clarke and Ashley Hogg. Original Commodore 64 version: • Code: David T. Clarke • Graphics: Jonathan Smyth • Music: Ashley Hogg ZX Spectrum version: • Code: R. Fred Williams • Graphics: Peter J. Ranson and Chris Graham • Music: Lyndon Sharp Amiga version: • Code: Ashley Hogg • Graphics: Jonathan Smyth • Music: Allister Brimble Atari ST version: • Code: Ashley Hogg • Graphics: Jonathan Smyth • Music: Allister Brimble NES version: • Code: Jonathan Menzies • Graphics: Brian Hartley and Jonathan Menzies • Music: Gavin Raeburn IBM PC version: • Code: Brian Beuken • Graphics: Jonathan Smyth • Music: Gerard Gourley