Vivid Image (1988)
Independent British Development Studio Behind First Samurai, Street Racer, and 32-Bit Console Action Titles
Established in England following the 1988 completion of Last Ninja 2 by Turkish-British designer Mevlüt Dinç alongside programmer John Twiddy and artist Hugh Riley, Vivid Image operated throughout the 1990s as an independent multi-platform studio producing Hammerfist, First Samurai, Second Samurai, Street Racer, and S.C.A.R.S. prior to Dinç's return to Istanbul.
Origins After System 3 and 16-Bit Home Computer Production
Vivid Image originated in Essex, England, after Turkish-born programmer and designer Mevlüt Dinç collaborated with coder John Twiddy and graphic artist Hugh Riley on System 3's isometric action release Last Ninja 2 in 1988. Seeking creative autonomy and direct royalty ownership over original intellectual property, the trio established their own independent development house and secured an initial publishing agreement with Activision. Their debut 1990 slate demonstrated technical versatility across 8-bit and 16-bit European home computers: Hammerfist paired dual-persona cyberpunk side-scrolling combat with fluid sprite animation on the Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari ST, while Time Machine combined environmental puzzle solving with prehistoric time-travel mechanics. Vivid Image consolidated its standing in the European Amiga market with First Samurai in 1991—co-programmed with Raffaele Cecco and published by Mirrorsoft's Image Works label—which integrated exploratory platforming, weapon progression, and digitized audio cues, followed in 1993 by the faster-paced sequel Second Samurai for Amiga and Sega Mega Drive through Psygnosis, cementing the company's technical reputation across British and continental European computer magazines.
Global Console Expansion, 3D Transition, and Institutional Legacy
Following personnel shifts in 1993 that saw Hugh Riley depart and John Twiddy return to System 3, Mevlüt Dinç redirected Vivid Image from European home microcomputers toward international cartridge and optical-disc consoles. Partnering with French publisher Ubisoft, the studio released the kart-racing title Street Racer on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in late 1994, subsequently managing conversions across Mega Drive, Game Boy, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, MS-DOS, and Amiga that sold hundreds of thousands of copies across Europe and North America. As fifth-generation hardware mandated real-time three-dimensional polygon pipelines, Vivid Image developed the futuristic combat-racing game S.C.A.R.S. (Super Computer Animal Racing Simulator) in 1998 for PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Windows PC, alongside isometric action prototypes and the handheld fighter Dual Blades. In 2000, after more than a decade leading commercial production within the British game industry, Dinç returned to Istanbul to transfer Vivid Image's engineering workflows and international publishing networks into Turkish studio Dual Software, later renamed Sobee Studios.