German game studios didn’t have massive distribution power or marketing budgets. Globally, they were probably ranked fifth (assuming the US, Japan, the UK and France were ahead). Still, some left a lasting mark, especially in the 80s and 90s.
One such studio was Rainbow Arts, which created classics including the Turrican series. Turrican II (1991) was an absolute masterpiece—not surprising given the team: Manfred Trenz, Andreas Escher and, of course, Chris Hülsbeck, all part of the crème de la crème of German gaming history. If you had an Amiga, you knew who Chris Hülsbeck was. And what Andreas Escher conjured up in terms of graphics was simply art.
To this day, I consider the Turrican series the best shoot ’em up on the Amiga. The graphics, music, massive levels, power-ups and gameplay were all top-notch. Sometimes I would just start the game and let the intro run non-stop.