Oliver Frey (1948–2022)

Adapted from BOX=ART

Oliver "Oli" Frey’s artwork has become somewhat representative of the UK's 1980’s video game scene thanks to the artist’s contributions to popular gaming magazines CRASH, Zzap!64, Amtix and The Games Machine.  Some of his magazine covers would translate to box art (see, Feud and Knight Games) but the majority would be originals and published under Thalamus.

Another repurposed artwork would be The Demon's Forge (1987), which originally appeared on the cover of Zzap #13 (1986) and under the title Cauldron & Antiriad.  It is one of a handful of Oli's box art paintings that the U.S. arm of Mastertronic used exclusively in the United States.  Oli's art promoted the rerelease, with the original 1981 game sporting a very different cover by artist Vicente Segrelles.   

OVGA has included below Oliver Frey's full known box art catalog:

1. Zaxxan (Stazone Software | ZX Spectrum | 1983)
2. Beach Head II (U.S. Gold | Amstrad CPC-EUR, Commodore 64-EUR, ZX Spectrum | 1985)
3. The Ket Trilogy (Incentive Software | BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, Electron, ZX Spectrum | 1985)
4. Knight Games (Mastertronic | Commodore 64-USA, DOS-USA | 1986)
5. Que-Dex | Thalamus | Commodore 64-EUR | 1987)
6. The Demon’s Forge | Mastertronic | PC Booter | 1987)
7. Armalyte (Thalamus | Commodore 64 | 1988)  
8. Feud (Mastertronic | Commodore 64-USA, DOS-USA | 1988)
9. Hawkeye (Thalamus | Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 | 1988)
10. Retrograde | Thalamus | Commodore 64 | 1989)
11. Snare | Thalamus | Commodore 64 | 1989)
12. Delta Charge | Thalamus | Commodore 64-EUR, Sam Coupe, ZX Spectrum | 1990)
13. Heatseeker (Thalamus | Commodore 64 | 1990)
14. Venom Wing (Thalamus | Amiga | 1990)
15. Borobudur: The Planet of Doom (Thalamus | Amiga | 1992)