The Bilestoad, by Marc Goodman, aka, Mangrove Earthshoe, for the Apple II, published by Datamost in 1982, was a commercial flop due, in part, to piracy. It’s a shame too, because while it ended up being Goodman’s only game, it was absolutely brilliant in execution as a more brutal and graphic take on the equally classic and groundbreaking 1979 Vectorbeam arcade game, Warrior.

Interestingly, Goodman also did the excellent cover art for The Bilestoad, which you can see below.

Truly a talented guy! Anyway, color me surprised when I came across this 1987 Eaglesoft-published version of a 1985 Pony Canyon-published game, Crusader. While the original Pony Canyon version features what appears to be unique cover art, not so much for the Eaglesoft version, as you can see below.

Since Goodman effectively left the business after The Bilestoad, how did his artwork make it onto the European version of Crusader, a very different type of game? Is it another case of Goodman’s work being stolen, or did he somehow get to squeeze out just a tiny bit more compensation for his earlier work? We’ll have to investigate further, though I suspect the conclusion won’t be positive.