The Great Giana Sisters

About The Great Giana Sisters

The Great Giana Sisters (1987) is Time Warp's notorious Super Mario Bros.-inspired home computer platformer, pulled from shops after a notice from Nintendo but spread widely by piracy.

The Great Giana Sisters in Depth

Giana dreams of a world of deserted castles full of monsters and can wake only by finding a giant diamond. Players control Giana alone, or alternate between her and her sister Maria in two-player mode, walking and jumping with a joystick across 33 horizontally scrolling levels while avoiding holes and hazards such as nails and fire. Each player has five lives and each level a 100-second limit. Most enemies are defeated by jumping on them, and power-ups grant lightning and strawberry projectiles, clocks that send every enemy on screen to sleep, magic bombs that wipe them out, and lollies worth an extra life.

Designed by Armin Gessert and Manfred Trenz, it was made at the request of Rainbow Arts' Marc Ulrich, who asked for a game like Nintendo's popular Super Mario Bros. but legally distinct. Time Warp was a label for Rainbow Arts' in-house team. After its West German launch it was released in the UK, where Zzap!64 and Computer and Video Games praised its play and secret levels despite its heavy debt to Mario, and Retro Gamer's Darran Jones noted its "fair amount of critical acclaim" on the Commodore 64.

Making The Great Giana Sisters

Time Warp developed it and Rainbow Arts published it in 1987. After its UK release Rainbow Arts received a notice from Nintendo and the game was pulled from shops, but it went on to become one of the most popular home computer games of its era through piracy and emulation.