With that out of the way, let’s fast-forward about 23 years to 1989. The Nintendo Entertainment System had lit the world on fire and Graeme Devine was chatting with Martin Alper at Mastertronic about what project they’d like to tackle next. SunSoft’s Batman game had been a massive success, and Alper believed that licensed titles were going to be the next big thing. Boasting that he could acquire any intellectual property, he asked Devine what he’d like to adapt into a video game.

Oddly enough, Devine actually picked The Simpsons. Having just started their run the year earlier, Alper didn’t think the show was going to last, and so the pitch was turned down. Next up was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which also got turned down out of fear that no one would buy it. Simultaneously, a Konami executive was less cynical, and thanks his lucky stars for it.

The third time seemed to be the charm, as the Silver Surfer was the next license on Devine’s list. A longtime comic fan, he’d just been blown away by the miniseries Parable, a collaborative effort of French artist Moebius and Stan Lee, starring the Surfer. Though Jim Starlin’s blockbuster Surfer miniseries, Infinity Gauntlet was still two years out, the character seemed to resonate enough for Alper to agree to acquire the license from Marvel.

Thus, it was decided: Devine was put in touch with London-based developer Software Creations who, after some concern that the game being commissioned to be a straight-laced shooter (they actually wanted to develop it as an RPG), agreed to take on the project. Mastertronic’s publishing subsidiary, Arcadia Systems, would distribute the game.

And so, development began Despite issues with the game’s memory requirements inflating throughout the project (starting as an MMC1 NES cartridge, eventually moving to the more complex MMC3 cartridge), Devine and company finished the project within nine months, which brings us to the game itself.