Round 5 - May/June 2015 - Game 2 - Fire and Brimstone (Amiga)

Game 2 for this month's wonderful pixel art round is called "Fire and Brimstone" for Amiga.

I didn't even realize Atari ST games could look this good [organic io]
(edit: originally we chose the Atari ST version but eventually changed it to Amiga for compatibility/joystick mapping reasons)

According to A-Lin:

Very challenging and addictive (and gorgeous for the time). Each screen represents a challenge requiring both control and problem solving skills.

Looks awesome! Let's go go go!

Round 5 - May/June 2015 - Game 1 - Misadventures of Flink (Sega CD)

Round 5 is all about beautiful pixel artwork.

Game 1 for Round 5 is: Misadventures of Flink for Sega CD, with pixel art done by the talented Henk Nieborg.

This is a platformer with some exploration elements where you have to collect items to create different potions to get to further places in the game. The game is exactly the same as the Genesis version, except the Sega CD version has better music of course  :)

Saboten Bombers - Post Mortem and Screenshots

Final scores:

organic io - Level 21
A-Lin - Level 20

:)

This is a game all about teaching children to eat their fruits and vegetables. Lol. Not really, but it might as well be , there are so many fruits and vegetables.

So, this is a colorful single screen platformer which is absolutely chaotic. Everybody can throw projectiles. You can get hurt by everybody's projectiles including your own. When a projectile is thrown, enemies and/or yourself can get "rolled up" into it. You have about 2 seconds to jump out of the ball before the whole thing explodes and you die. The key here is anticipating where and when the projectiles will explode and staying away from those areas. And also not trying to shoot certain enemies at point blank range, because you will die from the explosion.

Some enemies take more than one hit before they get rolled up, for example the brown onion looking guys.

There is a boss every 10 levels. The most important pickup is the pieces of cake, which give you an extra life after picking up 8 of them.

I liked this game OK, but it was a bit too frustrating to want to play it for very long...

Here's some screenshots:

 

 

 

 The first boss happens to be an angry boss bee   :)

 

 

WTF at some of the backgrounds? But don't let the kittens fool you, this is no easy game. 

Anyway.   :)     

Let's see what we're going to play next!

Caliber 50 - Post Mortem & Screenshots

Wow! What a round... What a game. Starting off, we could hardly get anywhere in this game. And after practicing, it turns out we could get to the end.

Final scores:

A-Lin - 2cc
organic io - 3cc

You got me again   :)

A bit of strategy info for beating the game:

The most important thing to realize is the gold shells are what controls your weapon powerups. Your powerups are also your hit-points, so it is best to keep this as maxed out as you possibly can.

There are some pickups/powerups. Here's what they do:

- S makes you invincible for a few seconds
- K kills all enemies on the screen (except bosses)
- Black bombs gives you 10 black bombs
- Red bombs gives you 20 red bombs and turn the bomb stock into red (they don't go further, I assume they inflict more damages)

We never figured out what "L" and "A" do.

There's essentially 2 techniques for beating the game. Being conservative and trying to stay far away from the enemies and not get hit. Or alternately, being "Rambo" and going into the middle of the battles. "Rambo" Doesn't sound like it would work very well in a game like this, but if you execute it right it can work very well because of the powerup system with the gold shells. Even though you are getting hit a lot, you are also picking up a bunch of powerups dropped from the enemies, therefore keeping your energy level up and not dying. Of course you can sometimes go too far and then it can be difficult to get your power level back up. It's all a matter of practice.

Anyway. I really enjoyed this game.

Screenshot time!

 

A good example of what the gold bullet shells look like. Get as many of these as you can!

 

 

Lovely graphics

 

Sometimes there are an overwhelming number of enemies on screen. This part is especially hard because those guys all have bazookas which can kill you with one hit, even if you are powered up. I don't know where my character went on this screenshot, he might have been flashing

 

The first of 2 boss fights is some weird giant baboons. I guess we were infiltrating some kind of weird genetic research facility. Crazy and difficult. The best strategy to beating these guys is to get in the corner of the room and keep some distance from them, to where you can hit them but they can't hit you

 

Don't be fooled. The first time I played, I thought these guys were hostages and I tried to "pick one up".... Then I died. it turns out they are suicide bombers.   :) 

 

One of the more irritating things that can happen in the game, is this plane comes by and shoots a missile towards the middle of the screen. When you know it's coming, the best thing to do is get away from the center of the screen and try to kill the plane as quickly as you can.

 

 

The second "boss", is a big tractor that just tries to run over you. It's incredibly hard to avoid because it's so fast. I don't really have any suggestions on how to kill it yet, since I always die once or twice during the fight.

 

Nice shot of the helicopter

 

This is the end sequence. There's no boss, just an area where there's a ton of enemies and you have to climb into the helicopter

Well, that's caliber 50. Excellent. Check it   :) 

A-Lin's Future rounds suggestions

For now here's a small suggestive gaming list for the next round.

1. Beyond the Ice Palace (Atari ST). I used to play this game as a kid but I never managed to finish it. Now would be my chance!
   
2. Black Tiger (MAME). Same thing, I used the play the Atari ST version, the graphics where almost as good as the Arcade version but it was incredibly slower and I suspect less playable.
   
3. Builderland (Amiga). I used to play the Atari ST version, but the Amiga version has a better music. You've got build the land so the character can keep walking.
   
   
4. Doki Doki Penguin Land (MAME). I've stumbled on that one a few months ago and I thought I like it. You've got to move this big egg without breaking it throughout the levels. Could be fun.
   
5. Fire and Brimstone (Atari ST). One of my favorite Atari ST game. Very challenging and addictive (and gorgeous for the time). Each screen represents a challenge requiring both control and problem solving skills.
   
    
6. Ikari Warriors (MAME). One of the first decoupled walking/aiming multi-directional shooter. I used to play the Amdstrad and then Atari ST versions where walking was coupled with aiming. Given how I enjoyed Caliber 50, I'm thinking it would be cool to revisit that one with the same walking/aiming decoupling mechanics.
   
7. Strider (MAME). I used to play the Amdstrad and Atari ST versions but the Arcade version is sooo much better. I found it really tough, never managed to get beyond stage 2. I'm curious to see if I could do better now.
   
   
8. The Killing Game Show (Atari ST). I just like the atmosphere of this one. I played it a bit but it was probably too tough. It's kind of a shooter where you've got to progress rapidly enough not to get drown.
   
9. Wizball (C64). One of my first Atari ST game, a bi-directional non-hectic shooter. I used to play that game with a good friend, we never got really far (I don't think we ever passed the first level ;-). The C64 version is considered superior (better playability I think).
   
   
   
   
   That's it for now!