THE MAKING OF GLOVER
Cast your mind back to 1998 and you may recall it being a rather good year for Nintendo 64 games. Players could enjoy the likes of The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Banjo-Kazooie and F-Zero X. Yet also thrown into that mix was Glover, an innovative, quirky adventure with a heavy focus on puzzles. It was easy to overlook given what it was up against yet it proved to be so novel that anyone who played would likely remember it.
Take one look at the screenshots on these pages and you see why. The first thing you can’t fail to notice is that, yes, the central character is indeed a glove but, as you play the game, you realise it’s not just any old glove. Besides having a pair of eyes and a mouth, Glover walks, jumps and leaps. Crucially, the character can engage with a ball in myriad ways, whether that’s by throwing or bouncing, slapping or catching, or even walking on top as it floats on water.
This curious almost buddy-like combo underpins ’s entire 3D platform experience. Progression through the levels and the solving of puzzles relies heavily on the design of the character and his interaction with the ball. But it appears to have come about through a started life as a crazygolf-inspired game following a visit to Pirates Cove Miniature Golf in Florida,” reveals Philip Oliver, the then co-boss of ’s developer, Interactive Studios.
