THE HISTORY OF SCREAMER

Once upon a time, arcade racing seemed to be very much a genre with a secret recipe which only Japanese developers seemed to have access to. Ever since the Eighties, with classic coin-ops like Pole Position, Out Run and Chase HQ, all the best racers seemed to only come out of Japan. A trend which continued with the jump to 3D and polygonal graphics, thanks to hits like Sega’s Daytona USA and Namco’s Ridge Racer. But by the mid-Nineties, things changed. The new hot series suddenly was Screamer, a newcomer which almost managed to defeat its rivals, at least in the home-computer market.

The first in the series was developed in 1995 by Milan software house Graffiti, a company created by Antonio Farina after leaving his previous job. “Idea Software, where I worked from 1989 to 1992, was not really a software house, rather a single-desk office, mine, where I kept contacts with many developers all over Italy to work on several projects. I acted as a producer while also, sometimes, creating the original ideas for these projects,” remembers Antonio. Indeed, Idea was created by Italian distributor Leader in order to differentiate its market presence, but it did not seem to be a venture it had intention to invest much on. “At the end of 1992,” continues Antonio, “I asked Leader’s management to provide us with more funds, since I wanted to rent a bigger office, and fill it with state-of-the-art computers. My intention was to create an actual studio, like I