This was one of the games from my childhood that made the most impact. It was a platformer about a young elephant who had to make his way through Europe and back to his family in Africa. CJ had been captured with the threat of becoming a zoo exhibit, but due to complications with the plane transporting him he was able to escape. Landing in France; he makes his long journey back home.
'CJ’s Elephant Antics' had strong gameplay for a platformer and I remember playing it numerous times because of how much I enjoyed it. The end of level bosses were great and in particular the first level boss, the hunchback of Notre-Dame, has always stuck in my mind as one of the most iconic bosses of yesteryear.
However, another main reason that this game had such a great impact was due to the music by Ashley Hogg. Over 20 years since it’s release, I find it amazing that the themes from this game still continue to be whistled throughout the house today by older family members who had never even played it. It says a lot about video game music when such early examples are having an effect on external parties.
Despite having only had a short-lived career in the musical side of video games, choosing instead to focus on the programming aspects, I consider Ashley Hogg to be one of my earliest inspirations and one of the more underated video game musicians who could have…perhaps…gone on to compose for bigger and better projects.
I am sure that he would at least find it quite strange to know how much of a presence his music has had in my home over the years.
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