Flight of the Amazon Queen for DOS

Australia, 1995

Videogame

When Joe King arrives at a Buenos Aires hotel to fly a movie star to a photo shoot, he’s ambushed by rivals who steal his clothes to detain him. To escape, Joe disguises himself as a showgirl and sets off to save the star and stop a mad scientist taking over the world.

Featuring a larrikin hero, Amazonian tribes and booby-trapped temples, you can see the influence of Indiana Jones on Flight of the Amazon Queen. Likewise, it features some outdated references and terminology, but John Passfield and Steven Stamatiadis’ game is emblematic of the popular 1990s point-and-click adventure genre, which often incorporated cinematic storytelling elements.

It’s inspired by games like LucasArts’ Monkey Island series (1990), which use on-screen directions like ‘use’, ‘open’, ‘talk to’ and ‘pick up’ to propel the gameplay. In another daring escape – this time down a laundry chute – Joe ‘picks up’ two sheets and ‘uses’ them to create a rope, just one of the many puzzles players solve.

The game has since been ported to smartphones, with the addition of improved graphics, full voice acting, multi-language support and a play through of the interactive interview mini-game with audio commentary by John Passfield, one of the game’s designers.

Curator Notes

Flight of the Amazon Queen is a graphic point-and-click adventure game in the style of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer’s popular games for LucasArts. Apart from the blockbuster Indiana Jones movies, it was inspired by the less well-known US adventure television series Tales of the Golden Monkey. From the moment the player encounters the game’s hero pilot-for-hire Joe King, it is apparent that the game is really leaning into the genre’s reputation for comedy writing. Flight of the Amazon Queen is fun in every sense, with its comic book graphics and humorous puzzles.

Creators John Passfield and Steve Stamatiadis met in the local comic store in Brisbane and translated their love of comics and videogames into the foundation of the studio Interactive Binary Illusions. Working on Amiga computers Passfield, a programmer, created the bespoke game engine JASPAR (John And Steve’s Programmable Adventure Resource) and all the tools for creating Flight of the Amazon Queen. Stamatiadis, a comic book artist, created the art in the Amiga program Deluxe Paint. In 1996, the two-person studio evolved into Gee Whiz Entertainment. At the end of the 1990s, Passfield and Stamatiadis teamed up with business savvy Robert Walsh to create Krome Studios, where they made the iconic Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games.

Where to play

This title is playable onsite at ACMI over WiFi

How are these works connected?

Explore this constellation

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has been digitised but due to rights and access requirements can only be viewed onsite at ACMI over WiFi.

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

developer

Interactive Binary Illusions

John Passfield

publisher

WarnerActive

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1995

Appears in

Group of items

Play It Again II: Games Collection

Explore

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

ARC000090-1

Subject category

Game

Object Types

Computer game optical disc/Computer game/Game

Computer game/Game

Materials

CD-ROM videogame. CD-ROM, CD jewel case with insert, manual, registration card and installation guide in cardboard box

Collected

38 times

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/119638--flight-of-the-amazon-queen-dos/ |title=Flight of the Amazon Queen for DOS |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=29 March 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}