For one, it wasn’t even a game in its own right, but a ‘mission pack’ that utilised the same engine as the original. Released in 1999, everything about Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 screams ‘cash in’.

Riding that wave of success, it’s not surprising that Grand Theft Auto‘s developers, DMA Design (later known as Rockstar North), wanted to get another product under the GTA umbrella on the shelves as quickly as possible. I spent afternoons in other kid’s houses, lining up vehicles just so we could jump them on our jacked motorcycles, and I remember a lot of time going into pushing a car off a building with enough accuracy to crush a pedestrian below. Half the time we wouldn’t bother attempting missions to push the story forward, and would instead just wreak as much havoc as possible to see how long we could evade police for. Grand Theft Auto was fun to play, had a wicked sense of humour, and didn’t chain gamers to a linear story line – the sandbox presentation being a relatively rare feature for its day. It didn’t matter that this was a PlayStation-era game with Amiga-era graphics.

Of course we were going to love a game the British Police Federation branded “sick, deluded and beneath contempt”. We were f’ing powerless! Much like the furore that greeted Mortal Kombat and other parental-unfriendly games before it, GTA was violent, it was awesome, and for my 12-year-old friends and I, it was a must-play. But I remember the buzz surrounding the first Grand Theft Auto in 1997. To kids who’ve sneakily had a go of their big brother’s copy of open world masterpiece Grand Theft Auto V, the original games must feel as old as the earliest colour films. Check back on the first Monday of every month for the latest instalment. Scrolling Pixels is Dean Van Nguyen’s monthly column focusing on retro gaming.

Gta london 1969 theme song