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  1. It took me a little over a week, but I've poured through the 50+ offerings from Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) 2018, and these, in no particular order, are the top 10 titles that have my interest piqued for the coming year: Barrier (Image) I assume the entire series will be printed in the landscape format and I am totally ok with that (as long as I don't have to keep turning the book). This is a captivating story with a dual perspective across the Mexico/United States border. The Mexico story is told entirely in Spanish (appropriately) and the American side is told in English. This will be an excellent opportunity to improve my multi-linguistic abilities! Events are hurtling toward one another from both sides when an entirely unexpected third party suddenly intervenes. I'm very excited to see where it goes next! ShadowMan (Valiant) Coming off of my enjoyment of the epic X-O Manowar, Valiant has once again stirred up my interest with ShadowMan, another long-lived property I know nothing about. I'm already in love with the New Orleans setting and all of the voodoo mysticism, so I am excited to find out more about who ShadowMan is and what's going on in the bayou! The Mall (Scout Comics) This one was a real shocker. I was totally ready to toss it into the "nope" pile based on the cover and concept alone. But then it hooked me with a totally relatable main character and all the 80's Miami mob intrigue you could want. The main character evokes a young Peter Parker, only his superpowers are video games and sheer chutzpah. He's left in a world of trouble at the end of this preview issue and I really need to know what happens next! Die Kitty Die (Astro Comics) Apparently Die Kitty Die is a thing and I have totally missed it. But the thing it appears to be is an irreverent, self aware, ironic riff on Archie style comics. It's poppy, it's goofy, and it looks like a lot of fun. I need more comics like this in my rotation. Shadow Roads (Oni Press) Oni Press has always felt like the "you're not cool enough to read these edgy comics" publisher, so I've not really given them a fair look. But Shadow Roads is scratching a Western comics itch that I caught back when Marvel did (and then promptly abandoned) Red Wolf a few years ago. To be sure, there are some supernatural elements at the core of the story, but I really like the diversity of the characters and the way the story is being told. Let's hope I'm cool enough to keep reading it... Berlin (Drawn & Quarterly) At first I thought this was an incredible mini-series about to launch, then I did some research and it appears this comic is actually very old news. Berlin is a highly acclaimed graphic novel set in Germany in 1928. It's told from two disparate perspectives and appears to provide a street level view of Berlin in the time between wars. My wife has a degree in History and we always talk about these sorts of things so I expect this to be a great topic of conversation for us. It's being recollected in hardcover which is why it's here in the FBCD pile. Strangers In Paradise XXV (Abstract Studio) Terry Moore won me over with Motor Girl, and SiP is hailed as his great masterwork. Now he's dipping back into that world and I'm very curious about it. This preview issue felt like I needed to already be familiar with the characters and their world, so I feel a bit lost, but I'm going to try to pick up some trades and read the old stuff along with the new. Maxwell's Demons (Vault) Child protagonists seem to be hitting a chord with me lately and Maxwell is no exception. Maxwell seems to escape his miserable home life by traveling to other dimensions and having amazing adventures with a proper father figure. But, much like with reality, that father figure also turns on him and that's when reality and hyper reality collide. This looks like it's going to be equal parts dark and fun. Crush (Yen Press) Jorge is a pretty chill dude. He puts an end to static whenever it pops up and he's always a great guy to have as a friend. But when the artsy and awkward Jazmine comes onto the scene, Jorge is at a total loss. She's kryptonite in girl form. How will Jorge deal with this completely alien experience? This might sound super mundane, but the characters are instantly likable and the story is one we can all relate to. I expect to thoroughly enjoy Crush. The Joe Shuster Story (Papercutz) In the back of the Papercutz FCBD feature, there was a short preview of The Joe Shuster Story, the biography of the artist who created Superman. While there were only a couple of pages of story, I was instantly enthralled by the simplicity of the storytelling and the quaintness of the art. I love tales of comics early days, so I am definitely going to check this out when it lands. Honorable Mentions The Wormworld Saga (CubHouse) Theo's dad paints pictures that become portals to other worlds (think Narnia). Theo shares his dad's secret and often travels with him to these exotic places. Ever the awkward boy, Theo decides to share this secret to impress his friend Laura in an attempt to avoid losing her to rival Tom. Upon coming back from a harrowing adventure, an alien bug from that other world sneaks into our world just as Theo and Laura escape certain peril. That's probably not good. This series looks and feels a lot like the super disappointing Finding Gossamyr from several years back, so I am interested, but cautiously so. I don't like getting wrapped up in a beautifully illustrated and magically captivating world only to have the story never be finished. So I'll keep my eye on this one, but may not jump through the painting just yet... Disney Princess (Joe Books) I've seen these on the shelves and passed on them because they are with the "kids" comics, but I was surprised to find how much fun this comic is. Not a full length story, but instead a collection of comic strip shorts, this has the same quick-hit fun appeal as the Ducktales comic I already get. While I might not get every issue, if I see one featuring a character I really like, I will probably pick it up. Another great FCBD in the can and some really exciting stuff coming out this year. Of course, as I read it, I'll share my thoughts any maybe point you toward some great things you should be reading as well! View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  2. Climber 5Developer: Dennis DebroAvailable: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=261 The turn of the century truly was the Golden Age of 2600 Homebrewing. All of the big names were active and working to break all the conceptions of what could be done on the VCS. This was the era of Thomas Jentzsch, Andrew Davie, Manuel Rotschkar, Peiro Cavina, Paul Slocum, and Dennis Debro. Those other guys, I have no doubt you’ve heard of. The list of incredible games they developed is a who’s-who of amazing homebrews from that era. Debro, on the other hand, might have snuck past you. The only game he released, that I am aware of, in cartridge form is Climber 5. However, there is something to be said for doing something once, nailing it, and then moving on to other projects. And, while a few of those heavy hitters above are still producing mind blowing games for all to enjoy, most of them, including Dennis Debro, aren’t seen much around the community anymore. And if you play Climber 5, you’ll lament that fact like the rest of us do. What’s All This ThenIn Climber 5, tragedy has struck. During an otherwise typical baseball game, an overly zealous homerun ball left the park and came to rest atop a suspiciously nearby construction project. Sadly, for this particular youth baseball program it seems they could only afford the one ball. Therefore, unless the ball is retrieved, the game will be over. What’s the logical course of action? Send the ball boy after it of course! What could possibly go wrong? Clearly no grounds for any kind of serious litigation could stem from that decision, right? That’s where you come in! Cast in the role of the put-upon ball boy, it is your job to scale the construction site and retrieve the ball. As if climbing up an in-process building wasn’t chancy enough, this building features moving girders (stood up vertically through some voodoo) and falling objects like hammers and lunchboxes! Avoid the hazards, make it to the top and the ball is yours. Take too much time and the ball might roll or fall to another part of the building. Once you snag the wayward dinger, you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the building with a new ball at the top and faster moving girders. Looks like it’s going to be a long day! How’s It Play?Beautifully. Dennis Debro is a master at tight programming. Climber 5 is finely tuned and plays very smoothly. Collision detection is sharp, character movement is fluid and obstacle movement is consistent and challenging. Best of all Climber 5 feels like a game that could have come out in 1980, so it's right at home on the VCS. As with the best video games out there, the gameplay is simple: scale the building, avoid the obstacles, collect power-ups and reach the goal. It’s a formula that is tried and true and when executed properly, as with this game, it’s sheer magnificence. Climber 5 also features 3 game variations to provide different challenges. The “Original” variation is basically a direct port of the Atari 8-bit game that inspired this version. Ladders are static and the girders move in one direction. The “Normal” variation introduces variable ladder placement and random girder movement. You also get a timer and the ball moves if not retrieved quickly enough. The “Advanced” variation adds in dropping items; some award bonus points, others cost you a life. For my money, the “Advanced” game is where it is at. “Original” is great if you really want a challenge. It’s way harder than you think it is going to be. But the VCS version of Climber 5 surpasses it’s 8-bit predecessor with all of the new features in the “Advanced” game. Climber 5 is extremely well balanced. The base goal of getting the baseball at the top of the structure is simple, but the challenge of getting past the girders, using your ability to change their movement, catch falling bonus items while avoiding deadly ones keeps this game from being another other than just a "simple game.” Player and girder speed also change to keep you on your toes. The time limits and ball relocation help keep bonus point farming at bay and using your power to change the girder movement costs you points, so you can’t just cheese your way to the top. If there is one downfall to Climber 5, it’s that once you achieve a certain level, the movement of the girders, the ladder placements, and the falling objects are no longer random. They fall into what amounts to about 6 distinct patterns and when you learn those patterns you can play the game forever (or until you roll the score). I discovered this years ago when I first got the game and was playing it for hours on end. My wife and I even charted the patterns, named them, and tested them repeatedly. I have kept quiet about them for a decade because I was afraid releasing them would be a game breaker for other players and I have always felt that discovery of the patterns is part of the fun in playing. That said, I will tell you that the key to identifying the patterns starts with paying attention to what items drop and when. The other key is to never die. If you die, the patterns get jumbled a bit and it takes a while to settle back into them. But if you learn the patterns and successfully execute them, you can play the game somewhat effortlessly forever. I have discovered, however, that in my recent replaying of the game for this review, getting back into those patterns isn’t automatic, so there is still plenty of fun to be had with this game, even if you suss out the patterns. You can also go and try that crap on the “Original” variation and get your head smashed in.One of the patterns called "One Switch" because you only have to switch the girders once. Take the yellow ladders to success... Whistles and BellsClimber 5 is from the era before innovations like AtariVox and SaveKey so it doesn’t have some of those fancier goo-gaws, but it does have some other niceties for your appreciation. In addition to the aforementioned gameplay variations, Climber 5 features a beautifully designed Atari Silver Era instruction manual with a full color mini-comic in the back. It also features a really nice title/options screen that is likely the precursor to many of the title screens you see on more recent homebrews. Finally, Climber 5 pulls off all of its graphical beauty without any flicker. For those in the know, that's something to be proud of. Again, Dennis Debro knows how to fine tune a game. Final AssessmentIf you like classic style arcade games, then you are going to love Climber 5. The gameplay is pick-up-and-play simple, well balanced and engaging, and there is plenty of “just one more” replay appeal. The three game variations provide unique play opportunities and challenge for even expert gamers. Solid graphics and sprite work make the game bold and impressive to look at. As I said in my store review of 14 years ago, Climber 5 is a must have for any Atari homebrew collection. I still love it as much today as I did the day I first got it! Tips and Tricks(these tips are all for the “Advanced” variation, you're on your own for the "Original" variation) Be a Switch Hitter!: Don’t be afraid to use the switch power to move those girders around. Sure it costs points, but once you are in the flow, the small amounts of points you spend to get to the ball will pale in comparison to the points you get for completing the level. Don’t Push It: Just because I told you to use the switch power liberally doesn’t mean you can abuse it, particularly when a girder is flashing, indicating it is about to change direction. Girders tend to get stubborn around this time and you will drain all of your points only to have it push right back into your face. Best to use your switch when the girder is not in a changing zone. Ladders of Opportunity: I find I have the most success taking the first available ladder whenever possible. This doesn’t always work, nor is it always applicable, but if you use it as a general guideline, you’ll get to the top faster. Watch Your Head!: When you are on the top two floors, move briskly and don’t dally. Get to that baseball as fast as you can. There will be absolutely no warning for a new falling item and if you are unlucky that item will be hammer. So there you have it! Climber 5, a more classic Atari 2600 homebrew there isn’t! Great arcade action, tons of replayability, and enough challenge to keep you climbing to new heights! View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  3. LeadDeveloper: Simone SerraAvailable: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=932 Simone Serra games are completely and utterly underrated. I said it. I started this whole Homebrew of the Month thing off with Omicron, another really great game from Serra, and now, having played Lead for over a month, I can confirm that Serra is one of the top developers you’ve probably never heard of in the 2600 homebrew field. I don’t know why these two games aren’t on the tip of the tongue of anyone who answers the popular question: what are the must-have homebrews for the Atari 2600. Both games are addictive, fun, and extremely smoothly programmed. Since Omicron has already had its day, let’s take a look at Lead. What’s All This Then?Lead is an extremely fast-paced action shooter that requires quick reflexes, keen wits, and determination. That last quality will not be an issue as “just one more” might be the subtitle to this game. In Lead you control a ship that travels through tunnels featuring various types of obstacles. Your only mission is to survive. There are four distinct levels with different objectives. Fire! requires you to shoot all incoming enemy ships (miss one and it’s GAME OVER), Dodge! requires you to avoid looming asteroids, Scramble! requires you to fly in close proximity to deadly sentinels, but avoid setting them off, and Catch! is a bonus round wherein you must try to catch as many satellites as possible. This kind of variety is the hallmark of a Simone Serra game and it’s part of why these games are so appealing. It is highly unlikely that you will get bored very quickly with Lead. Each level presents a new kind of challenge and there isn’t a lot of handholding; you are expected to be pretty good from level 1 and get increasing better as you play. How Does it Play?Ridiculously well. The animations are smooth, the collision detection is pretty much spot-on, and the level design is very smart. The challenge each level brings is well balanced by the brevity of the the levels. Sure, when you’re playing level 3 Fire! it feels like the level lasts forever, but the actual play time is only around a minute. This helps keep the frustration low and the replay value high. Since you basically get one life per game, you’ll see the GAME OVER screen a lot, however the ability to continue on any given level means you can still practice and make a high score run after you’ve mastered all four levels. Keeping the levels short and having a continue feature prevents the inevitable controller throw that usually comes with games that demand perfection. The game also features a unique power-up system. You can collect one smart bomb per level that can be used to wipe the screen of obstacles, or you can stockpile smart bombs and trade them in for even better power-ups like shields, more powerful lasers, and bonus points. While I’m not quite good enough yet to write a testimonial for each power-up, I can say this adds a layer of depth and strategy that makes the game even more addictive.Visually, the game features the same colorful gradient graphics that are typical of a Simone Serra game. While spartan, the contrast of the colorful game elements against a sea of black gives a classic arcade feel and creates an almost hypnotic effect during game play. I love it!Individual games of Lead will be rather short, but play sessions of Lead will likely tick up into the hours. It’s just that much fun. Whistles and BellsTONS. For a game that is mostly straightforward, Lead features a lot of great bonus features. There is an entire menu that allows you to customize your sound settings. (great music and SFX are another signature Serra feature). You can also play proto versions of Lead that include just the Fire! (1K) and Fire! and Dodge! (4K) levels. These are great for sharpening your skills and practicing for a high score run on the main game. There is even talk of the game having two possible endings based on which difficulty level you play on. I’m yet to see either, but the fact that they exist is plenty cool!As with most games of its era, Lead features AtariVox and SaveKey support to save your high scores and audio settings. Final AssessmentSimore Serra strikes again with yet another sharply programmed and addictive shooter. Lead will demand perfection, dexterity, and concentration, but the pay-off is a real and immediate sense of accomplishment when you reach the end of the tunnel. This is a “pick-up-and-play” game that will eat up hours of your day and deftly avoid the kind of rage-quitting frustration that similar games induce. Smart level design and sharp graphics combine to make up one of the most underrated shooters in the modern homebrew catalog. Whether you lead or are lead, Lead should be in your collection. Tips and TricksDon’t Be a (Dead) Hero: Use those smart bombs! Especially early on when you are learning. Sure, it’s cool to save up for those power-ups, but don’t hesitate to use a smart bomb to get out of jam. Since you only get one life, you really can’t take them with you when you go. Like a Garden Hose on High: The Fire! levels pretty much want you to hold down the button to shoot. I like to use this like spraying a garden hose to just carpet as much of the screen as I can. When I see a stubborn enemy that requires more attention, I focus the stream on it, but otherwise, I’m waving that beam in the air like I just don’t care. Ever Vigilant: The Scramble levels get pretty tight with Sentinels. It is best to avoid the walls entirely and stay toward the center when possible. It’s far too easy to get crushed between a wall and a Sentinel. So there you have it! One of the best, underrated homebrew shooters available. It’s been flying under your (and my) radar for ten years. I’ve rectified that mistake on my end, now it’s your turn. View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  4. Recently, in the Atariage High Score Club, we played a game called Red Sea Crossing. This game is one of the rarest, most hotly debated games in recent Atari history, however when it was created it did not have a manual. What follows is my effort to correct that 34 year old mistake. The unofficial manual created below was created by me with some very helpful contributions from community insiders like Rom Hunter who runs the wonderful resource Atarimania.com, and fellow gamer who goes by Leto on the Atariage Forums, so big thanks to both of those cats for helping me get this right. Also a nod to forumite Omegamatrix who did some peeking around the code for me. Red Sea Crossing (Unofficial Manual)Inspirational Video ConceptsProgrammed by Steve Schustack “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their left and on their right.” Exodus 14:21-22What the Lord apparently failed to tell Moses was that his trip across the Red Sea bed was going to be fraught with perilous sea monsters and other obstacles. That’s where you come in! Relive the untold story of Moses crossing the Red Sea by guiding the Israelite leader as he leaps over chomping sea monsters, ducks spears, and dodges slithering serpents. Along the way pick up articles of faith including stone tablets, white doves, and staves to increase your score. How far can you go? Getting StartedInsert your Red Sea Crossing GAME CARTRIDGE into your Atari VCS. Turn the POWER switch to the ON position. Red Sea Crossing is a SINGLE PLAYER game program that uses the JOYSTICK controller. Make sure your JOYSTICK controller is plugged firmly into the left joystick port on the back of the console. Hold the JOYSTICK controller with the RED BUTTON in the upper left corner. Console SwitchesUse the GAME RESET switch to start a new game.The GAME SELECT, B/W COLOR and DIFFICULTY switches are not used in this game. Basic Controls Push the JOYSTICK left or right to make Moses move in the corresponding direction. Press the red button to make Moses jump. You can move the JOYSTICK left or right while Moses is jumping to make him move left or right while jumping. Object of the GameThe object of the game in Red Sea Crossing is to help Moses cross the Red Sea without succumbing to the perils of the deep. As you move Moses across the screen, he will encounter a variety of hazards intent on preventing him from progressing. To overcome these obstacles you must time your moves precisely to avoid contacting them. Sometimes this means evading the obstacles’ movement patterns, sometimes this means jumping over an approaching obstacle, and in later levels, success will require both techniques at once. “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) Three ChancesWhen you start the game, Moses will have 3 chances to get as far across the Red Sea as he possibly can. Certain dangers along the way can cause Moses to lose one of his chances. There is a certain item Moses can find to gain extra chances. There may be other ways to gain extra chances so keep your eyes open! The total number of chances Moses has remaining is indicated by the last 2 digits in the score counter at the bottom of the screen (see figure 1). When the indicator says “1,” Moses is on his last chance. Contact with a deadly danger will result in the end of the game. Press the RESET button to start again from the beginning of the game. Time LimitYou have a limited amount of time to cross each screen. When a new screen starts, the fish at the top of the screen (swimming in the wall of water on Moses’ left) will start swimming toward the right side of the screen. If it reaches the right side of the screen, Moses has taken too long to progress and will lose 1 chance. The fish will turn red when you have approximately 10 seconds left to advance to the next screen. Perils As he crosses the dried sea bed, Moses will encounter many dangers that threaten his progress. Some of these dangers will merely slow Moses down or cost him points, while many of them will cause him to lose 1 chance. The following are the dangers Moses will face: Seaweed: Moses must avoid getting tangled up in the seaweed that is strewn across the sea floor. If he touches it, it will cost him 1 point for every second he touches it, and it will also slow his progress. Other creatures on the screen will freeze in place until he is free. Swarms: Swarms of stinging locusts are buzzing about and Moses must not touch them. Contact with a swarm will cost him 1 point for every second he touches it and his progress will be slowed. Other creatures on the screen will freeze in place until the swarm has been evaded. “Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.” (Exodus 10:14) Sea Monsters: Giant leviathans will poke their massive heads from out of the right wall of water attempting to snare Moses in their gaping maws. Moses must jump over these beasts or step carefully to avoid getting caught. Contact with a sea monster will cost Moses 1 chance. Spears: Moses must not forget that Pharaoh’s soldiers are hot on his heels. These soldiers will lob heavy spears over Moses’ head. Stay low to avoid them as touching them will cost Moses 1 chance. Pharaoh’s Archers: Some of Pharaoh’s soldiers are armed with mighty bows with which they will lob a relentless volley of arrows at Moses. Their aim is deadly accurate, so Moses will need to leap up to avoid their razor tips. If Moses is struck with an arrow he will lose 1 chance. Serpents: Some of the most dangerous creatures Moses will encounter, serpents move about the screen in various ways. Watch them carefully and determine the best way to avoid their deadly touch. Contact with a serpent will cost Moses 1 chance. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” (Genesis 3:1) Giant Clams: When the Lord pulled the waters apart, giant clams were left resting on the sea floor. These clams will block Moses’ path unless he can figure out a way to safely leap over them. Octopi: These little pink beasts may seem cute, but touching one will cause Moses to lose 1 chance. Learn their movement patterns and move smartly to avoid them. Articles of FaithThough passage through the Red Sea bed is treacherous, it is not without signs that Moses has been favored by the Lord. As Moses progresses through the various screens he will find tokens of faith that bolster him on his journey. White Doves: These harbingers of peace can be found darting about quite often in the air between the walls of water. If Moses catches one he will be awarded 10 points. “‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.’” (John 1:32) Stone Tablets: Perhaps as a portent of the things to come, large stone tablets can occasionally be found floating in the air above the sea floor. If Moses can collect them he will gain 10 points. Staff of Moses: The most valuable of all of the articles is the Staff of Moses. Should Moses find it, he will be awarded 10 points plus 1 extra chance. These are extremely valuable, so be sure not to miss them! “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) ScoringAs Moses progresses through the Red Sea floor he will earn points for every screen he successfully completes. Points per screen will vary based on the obstacles Moses faces in each. Moses will also earn points for collecting Articles of Faith. Likewise, Moses will lose points when he contacts a non-lethal peril like Seaweed or Swarms. He will lose 1 point per second he is in contact with these perils. Crossing the Rea SeaAs Moses progresses across the floor of the Red Sea he will encounter a wide variety of different screens. Some screens will feature only one peril or article of faith, while later screens will feature combinations of game play elements. Each screen can be successfully completed without losing points or a chance, but you must study each screen carefully to determine the best course of action to reach the other side. It is sometimes wisest to observe the location and movements of all obstacles before rushing into action. “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8) History of the GameRed Sea Crossing was an independent project by a self-taught programmer named Steve Schustack. Schustack programmed and released the game in 1983. The game was only sold directly through mail order via advertisements in religious magazines like Christianity Today. Schustack confirmed an extremely limited run of a few hundred copies. It was sold without a manual or box, but did feature an accompanying audio cassette tape featuring the voice talents of country western singer Dale Evans. The game vanished from all knowledge until a copy was discovered at a rummage sale in Cincinnati, OH in 2007. The discovery caused quite a stir in the Atari 2600 community and an oft-heated debate raged for several years over the game’s veracity. The discovery of an aforementioned advertisement for the game found in 2011, confirmed the game’s authenticity, however, it wasn’t until the game was purchased by another collector and the ROM dumped that the community had first hand exposure to the game itself. As of the time of this manual’s creation there is still only one known copy remaining in existence. The ROM image is available at atarimania.com along with a picture of the original advertisement in Christianity Today. Curious fact: Steve Schustack claims the game has an ending, but no player has been able to confirm that fact. He also eluded to the possibility of an easter egg in the game. Happy Hunting! “Red Sea Crossing” is entirely the property of Inspirational Video Concepts and Steve Schustack. This manual was created solely for the purpose of recreation and free use by video game enthusiasts. The creator of this manual will in no way seek profit from the distribution of this manual and makes no claims to the intellectual property described herein. All Bible quotations are from the NIV. View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  5. OystronDeveloper: Piero CavinaAvailable: Atariage Let’s go back, way back to the dawn age of modern Homebrewing. A time when sitting down and punching out code for a new Atari 2600 video game was more than just a labor of love, it was an act of self-sacrifice and skill. These were the days of the Stellalist: a small, cloistered corner of the internet where those few who possessed the knowledge and talent for writing in a coding language more obsolete than Latin is to human languages swapped secrets and mined the VCS library for whatever wisdom could be gleamed from it’s hallowed halls. At this time you could count the number of homebrew games without taking off your shoes. Games like Edtris and Dark Mage were dipping their toes in the water to see if it was deep enough to swim. From that primordial homebrew soup would soon come incredible games, games like Qb and this month’s selection: Oystron. I had not yet entered the classic gaming scene when Oystron began forming, but it, and I, burst onto the scene at about the same time. I remember hearing about it, and others like it, but had no real clue what homebrews really were, or if they were anything to pay attention to. No, I was too busy trying to track down copies of H.E.R.O and Pitfall II; desperately chasing those nostalgic nuggets of my past unable to see the future of VCS gaming jogging along side me. So now, nearly twenty years later, I aim to catch up! I’m probably the last person on earth to play Oystron for the first time, but maybe not. Maybe you too are saying, “Hey! I just got here! You mean there were homebrews before Draconian?” There sure were. What’s All This Then?Oystron is a space shooter with some interesting twists. You are in space harvesting pearls from space oysters. As you harvest them you drop them in the collection zone. When you have collected a full row of pearls they become powerful bombs and clear room for more harvesting. This would likely be a tedious job excepting that you are not alone. Space seems to be occupied by a bevy of creatures like yourself, that find these space pearls enthralling. As such, these other space creatures will do whatever they can to steal your pearls. So while you are busy harvesting you must also fight off your rival creatures to keep them from stealing or outright destroying your crop. If you can hang around long enough, you will enter the Oystron phase. It is during this phase that space goes absolutely mad as the mysterious Oystron appears. Oddly enough the Oystron isn’t really hostile, he just seems to dance around a bunch during which time you can blow him up with bombs or you can just wait until he gets tired and mutates into a space oyster. Yeah, maybe the most bizarre boss fight I’ve ever seen. Either way, after the Oystron has done whatever it is it has set out to do, you’ll enter the Warp phase, during which everything speeds up dramatically and the risk of death is greatly increased. Survive the Warp phase and new level will begin. Repeat until dead or 100K points, which ever comes first. Spoiler alert: it’s most likely death. How’s It Play Pretty damn solid for a game from the Homebrew Stone Age. Ship movement is smooth (mostly, more later) and collision detection is solid. The game starts out pretty difficult, but once you get the hang of the action things settle down and you can really get into the gameplay. Difficulty definitely ramps as the levels progress and you’ll find particular challenge during the Warp phases when the speed goes completely out of control. However, it’s not all good news. While the main part of the level is great and the action is well executed, once you enter the Oystron phase, the wheels start to come of. Perhaps in an attempt to ratchet up the excitement and create a sense of disorientation, during the Oystron phase the screen begins to flash with a level of seizure inducing flash that only the most rigid mind can possibly tolerate. Everything is blinking or flashing or moving or all three at the same time. If the effect is to throw you off your game, it succeeds beyond what is reasonable. Sadly it is so distracting and so busy that it totally breaks your concentration and makes this part of the game extremely difficult to play and enjoy if you can keep from writhing on the floor. Somewhere during all of that screen vomit, the Oystron makes his appearance and you have an absurdly short amount of time to regain your senses, find him, and plant your bombs without being hit by the rest of the crap flying around. It’s a mess, and not in a good way. Things calm down a little bit once you enter the Warp phase, and you’ll only have to deal with a change in screen color and a dramatic shift in enemy speed. Gameplay remains the same as in the normal level, things are just much, much faster. I found, that I was still suffering from the effects of the Oystron phase and generally spent the Warp phase bleeding lives and crashing into stuff hoping the madness would stop. If you have any lives left, you get to start level 2. So overall, 80% of the game is really fun space shooting action, and the other 20% runs the risk of causing vertigo. The 80% that is fun is really great and that’s what I keep coming back for. I find that I just grit my teeth and do my best to survive the other 20%.There are a couple of game variations to keep you interested and challenged if the base game is too easy. There are novice, medium, and hard options as well as an option to make your spacecraft “bounce” when it gets near the edge of the screen instead of just stopping. It’s the best I can do to play the novice difficulty level, but I am willing to bet expert players enjoy the challenge of the other two. I found the “bounce” option for the ship movement to be more annoying than anything else and honestly made the game feel sloppy and broken rather than more challenging. Keep those difficulty switches on B, kids. Whistles and BellsBeing from the early days of homebrewing, Oystron is its own Whistle and Bell. The fact that it existed was super special for its day. This is long before AtariVox or SaveKey were anything other than “wouldn’t it be cools.” Oystron does come with a nicely designed full color manual, however the manual is riddled with typos and mislabeled images. For instance, the space oysters and space creatures are mislabeled, and the manual says Difficulty setting B will cause your ship to bounce, when it is in fact the A setting that causes this. There are some other inaccuracies in the manual that might simply smack of coming from a time when video game manuals weren’t being written or scrutinized as much as they are today. There are also some things the manual leaves out, like how you must line up pearls to obtain the bombs with which to defeat the Oystron, or that lining up pearls causes them to disappear. After 20 years I think the manual is due a rewrite. Final AssessmentOystron is a fun and engaging space shooter for the Atari 2600. It features a novel concept with intriguing and challenging gameplay. It takes a few minutes to fully comprehend what is going on, but once you get the hang of collecting pearls and fending off the bad guys, you’ll be having fun in no time. Just be forewarned about the completely disorienting and psychologically jarring Oystron phase. If you are even slightly set off by flashing lights, you may want to give this game a pass. What happens during the Oystron phase is very similar to what happens to Alex in A Clockwork Orange. But if you can make it through that with your wits intact there is much to enjoy about Oystron. Don’t be wary just because it’s one of the earliest homebrews out there! Tips and Tricks Rapid Fire: You can rapid fire by holding down the fire button. This is nice not only because you keep shooting, but because you automatically drop off any pearls you pick up. Early on you don’t have enough to worry about placement, so just grab and drop. Later in the level once the collection area gets fuller, you can start being more judicious about where you place your oysters. Play It Safer: Enemies come from the right and they spawn on screen. So while you can venture outside the collection zone, there is really little reason to ever do so. If you keep left you can get a clearer sense of the action and intercept the space creatures before they can steal your horde. The Best Offense is a Great Defense: I know you want to get out there and just grab all the pearls you can, but the space creatures need to be your top priority. Wait until a new wave spawns, locate and destroy the space creatures first, then harvest as many oysters as you can before the next wave starts. Space Zoology 101: Know your space creatures. Some just come and take pearls, others will obliterate them. Some cannot be killed and some can only be killed from behind. Some space oysters have harder shells than others. All of this goes to show that you will be best served learning the special characteristics of each kind of space creature, so that you better understand how to survive their onslaught. This isn’t just a shoot ‘em up.These arrow looking guys can only be shot from behind Oystron Phase: I don’t know what to tell you. As soon as your screen goes completely berserk, try to regain your composure and look for the Oystron. He usually dances about mid-screen and bounces between rows. Set bombs in the rows he’s dancing in and just get out of the way. Do your best not to die, because if you do, you’ll have to do the Oystron phase again. Warp Phase: This phase is just wicked fast. It doesn’t last forever, so my best strategy is to stay in one row and shoot until it’s over. If you are brave enough to stick your nose out and try to harvest pearls, that’s all you. So there you have it! One of the, ahem, pearls of the early Atari 2600 Homebrew library dusted off and shined up, ready for action again. It’s nice when an older game like this can hold up against some of the extremely impressive games that are coming out today. Oystron’s not going to blow anybody’s socks off these days, but it is still fun to play and still provides plenty of good solid action and challenge. If, like me, you’ve been passing over it for a while, it might be time to go back and see what you’ve been missing.View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  6. Drive!Developer: Nick WilsonAvailable: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1095 In the Big Atariage Homebrew Release of 2017 there were heavy hitters like Assembloids and Scramble that made everyone ooo and aaah. There were also unassuming games that flew right under everyone’s radar. Games that you really shouldn’t overlook. Previously for the HotM I examined one such game: The Gizzle Wap and the Strange Red Tree. This week we take a look at another hidden gem: Drive! What’s All This Then?You’ve plundered the treasure from an ancient temple in the year 2050, but now the structure is crumbling around you. There’s only one way out: DRIVE! As you race to escape, you’ll want to nab any additional treasures you come across. Survive to a score of 99,999 and you win. Crash three times and you’re history, future history perhaps. Drive! is a fast-paced, obstacle-dodging endurance game that pits you against a random assortment of walls you must navigate on your way to the finish! Best of all, Drive! is one of the few homebrew games developed for the use of the Paddle Controllers! The game play is simple and straightforward, but there is a lot to like about this game. The basic idea is to navigate your vehicle through gaps in the walls at breakneck speed. As you zoom through you will find different treasures. You can carry a maximum of five, but hoard them at your own peril. You see, you can “burn” a treasure in order to jump over a wall if you find yourself in a tough spot. This becomes very helpful when things start to speed up. In addition to giving you jump boosts, the treasures are also imbued with special powers. Some allow you to pass through walls like a ghost, others give you unlimited jumping ability or even extra “lives.” That’s it. Jump in your car and hit the gas! Please excuse the crappy screenshots. Is not easy to get good screen shots of a fast paced paddle game off your tv... How’s it Play?Really well. Taking into account that my paddles are really, really jittery until you play a dozen or so games and warm them up, Drive! plays really well right out of the gate. The player moves smoothly through the obstacle course and the collision detection is sharp. There are no cheap crashes. Because of this you’ll want to be precise with your jumps, because even landing part of your car on a wall is crash time. But don’t let your mad driving skills fool you. Playing the base game with both difficulty switches on B is for old ladies and children. What you want to do is switch both difficulty switches to A. The left switch makes the gaps in the walls smaller and the right switch causes some of the walls to move. Not so smart now, are ya? Oh, still cocky? Ok wise guy, now hit SELECT. This will turn the title screen red and let you know you are entering the Speed Freak Mode. Speed Freak Mode starts the game at the top possible speed. If you survive long enough you might even enter that zen-like zone where everything just slows down. If… Whistles and BellsWell the first and most obvious Whistle and Bell for me is the fact that this game was developed for paddles. (I've only mentioned it like 3 time so far) I don’t know why more games do not utilize this controller (or other controllers like the Keyboard or Driving Controllers). Just having a new paddle game is a pretty special thing. Drive! also supports AtariVox/SaveKey so you can hold on to your high scores and comes with the now pretty much standard high quality, full color manual. Final AssessmentDrive! is a great twitch-esque game that might seem really simple at first, but once you start implementing some of the game variations, you’ll soon find there is plenty of fun and challenge to be had. Those endowed with great paddle skills will find it easy to jump right into the driver’s seat and race for that perfect score. Those, like me, who are paddle-challenged will not be put off as the game variations give you plenty of opportunity to warm up to the task at hand. The action is fast-paced and fun and will keep you coming back for more. Finally, a new paddle game for the VCS! Tips and TricksPractice! Don’t discount the value of playing the Difficulty B variations to warm yourself up before going for Speed Freak Mode. Even I was able to get 80K points in just a couple of runs on the dual B setting. This will help familiarize you with the fundamentals before things get out of control. Burn Baby, Burn! You can only keep 5 treasures at a time, so do not hesitate to burn one here and there when things get tight. It’s better to have jumped and lost a treasure than to never have jumped at all. You treasure tally is only taken when the game is over, so until then use as needed. Sneak in Some Rest. This is an endurance game. You’ll not get to 99K in a couple of minutes, so I use the invincible power-up to give my hand a break. This power-up also gives you a change to test out some riskier maneuvers consequence free, if you are all rested up and just want to try some new tricks. So there you have it, a cool new paddle game for your Atari that probably slipped past you when you weren’t looking! It may not be as flashy as some of the heavy hitters released last year, but Drive! definitely deserves your attention!View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  7. Gingerbread ManDeveloper: Fred QuimbyAvailable: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=867 I had not intended for this review to coincide with any cookie appropriate holidays, however it timed out so that I was playing Gingerbread Man during the Christmas season, so I’ll let you decide if that’s timely or trite, whichever suits your fancy. There was considerable hype around this game when it came out and it still gets a nod now and then as a top notch platformer for the system so I was long overdue in checking it out. What’s All This Then?Gingerbread Man is a video game interpretation of the famous fable about a baked good that sprang to life and attempted to elude those that would eat him. In this version you must navigate five treacherous screens evading enemies and collecting items to help make good your escape. You take control of the enlivened unleavened cookie while he is still in the oven and flames are dancing all about. Once freed from the oven you must make your way out of the house and as far away from danger as possible, yet somehow trouble always finds you! And if you succeed in completing all five screens, it’s back in the oven for you to do all over again, only this time harder. Much harder. If you can battle through all 19 levels, you will come face-to-face with the final boss and perhaps win your actual release. How Does it Play?Hard. Really Hard. Gingerbread Man features all of your platforming standards: tricky jumps, relentless foes, and fast-paced action. Controls are smooth and despite a few awkward playfield collisions the physics are solid. Where the game separates itself from the pack is in its difficulty. Gingerbread Man is a very difficulty game. The jumps are unforgiving and the enemies are strategically placed to create the most problems. While the collision detection with the playfield can be a little fast and loose, the collision detection with the enemies is crisp. You’ll not be able to get by barely grazing a cat’s ear or bird’s wing. If you even think you’ve made contact with an enemy, you’re dead. To compound all of that there is a time limit for each level and you are awarded no extra lives. Hard.One of Gingerbread Man’s strongest assets, however, is level design. Each screen features a totally unique game mechanic and win device. In the first level you must collect bits of burnt cookie to vanquish fire balls while dodging fire jets. (oh! What an oven!) Level 2 requires you to collect balloons with which to float out of the house while a cat and dog prowl the area trying to eat you. In level 3 you must avoid two cats and a bird while collecting roof tiles to build a bridge to a nearby tree. The fourth level is truly unique in that the goal of the level is to obtain a worm resting on a tree branch and then feed it to the baby bird high in the tree tops. To reach the worm you have to increase your weight by gathering falling leaves and lowering trampoline-like tree roots to the appropriate height for a well-timed jump. The final level might be the easiest. You have to jump about the cave and collect loose stones and throw them at the bird and cat. Three successful hits and you’ve won!If surviving those five levels wasn’t hard enough, once you succeed you are cast back into the oven and the difficulty ramps dramatically. There are more fires in the oven, more balloons to collect in the dining room, and so on. I have not been able to survive all 19 levels to get to the final boss, but if the rest of the game is any indication, he’s no treat either. Whistles and Bells:Not much. Like most modern homebrew games, Gingerbread Man features a nicely illustrated full color manual. Graphically the game is simple, but honestly that all this game really wants. There is a CONTINUE feature to give you an opportunity to practice higher levels and there are three game variations (a feature far too infrequent in modern homebrews) including a version for children, or perhaps more appropriately, first time players. One nice little feature is that when you continue, your score turns black instead of the default white to indicate that you have used the feature. This keeps non-continued scores pure. That’s a smart feature that more games should employ. Final Assessment: If you have ever used the term “guide game” in something other than a derogatory fashion, Gingerbread Man is probably not the game for you. It’s difficult, very difficult. In about three dedicated hours of playing I only managed to make it to level 7, and only then by exploiting the CONTINUE feature. This is platforming at its most challenging. You must be precise with your jumps, you must give enemies a wide berth, and your timing must be impeccable. There is no way to slop your way through this game. That means you are going to be playing the first three levels many, many times. With enough practice you will get good at Gingerbread Man, but no one is going to hold your hand along the way. The game’s strength lies in its varied level design and gameplay. While each level is based on the “collect and avoid” game mechanic, that device is never used the same way twice. This makes for a fun play and helps you overcome the frustration that can result from the heightened difficulty. Tips and Tricks: Let’s take this screen-by-screen: The Oven: Work from the bottom up. The lower flames are the hardest to kill because when you throw the cookie bits, you throw them in an arc like a basketball shot. This makes attacking the higher ones from underneath very easy (you also get less points), but taking out the lower ones, a challenge. Since the last remaining fireball doubles in speed, you don’t want the bottom fireball to be that guy. So take out the lower ones first and then work your way up. The Dining Room: This is perhaps the game’s weakest screen. Timing with the dog and cat is rigidly precise and there is little room for error. You are best to let the dog make a full transit of the room and jump over his head twice before you leave the chair you start on. Once you get past the dog, don’t dally on the tabletop, get up on the light fixture and plot out how to gather the balloons most effectively. One of the reasons I feel this is the weakest level in the game is due to the fact that some of the balloons are completely obscured by the playfield and the only way to obtain them is to jump from precisely the right spot and collide in just the right way with the playfield to register that you have collected the balloon. This seems unnecessary as the balloons could easily be placed in challenging positions on the screen that are not obstructed by playfield. You’ll want to figure out exactly where to stand and when and where to jump to force the collection of the balloons. I recommend saving balloons that require you to land on the floor for last. Typically I work the left side of the screen and then finish with the balloons on the right.I still have not figured out how to collect this balloon on Level 7 The Roof: This is a great screen. Roof tiles will appear at random all over the roof and the bird and cats will provide plenty of interference in collecting them, however I strongly recommend staying on top of the roof until you see where the roof tile appears. Sometimes you will get lucky and be able to avoid the cats altogether if the tiles appear on the upper half of the screen. Each time you place a tile on your bridge wait to see if you can easily collect the next one without too much peril. This is also the screen where it is essential that you learn the “duck jump.” Thankfully, in this game you can jump from the ducking position. This means you can squeeze between the top and bottom cats without being absolutely perfect in your timing. You will use this a lot in this level and in the dining room to avoid cats above you. The Forest: And now for something completely different. The basic tip from the roof works here as well. Stay high in the tree tops while you wait for the leaves to fall. Snag them as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary trips to the forest floor and encounters with the cat. Work the roots consistently until they are low enough for you to bounce and get the worm. There really isn’t much cause to aggravate the baby bird, so the mother bird’s wanderings should only provide minor difficulty. The Cave: Jumping here is tricky as the stones in the wall are spaced just far enough apart that an imprecise leap will find you on the floor. Take advantage of the rising air currents whenever possible instead of attempting finicky jumps. Loose stones appear just about everywhere so try to stay high on the screen (seeing a pattern in the later levels?) so you can collect them without bothering the cat too much. You throw in an arc again so hitting the bird will be easier than hitting the cat. Final Tip: Take advantage of the CONTINUE feature to practice harder levels before you try playing for score. In Game Variation 1 you can continue up to level 14 and in Game Variation 2 (SUPER HARD) you can continue indefinitely, but lose all progress in a level when you die. Trust me, you want the chance to familiarize yourself with the later screens before you make an honest run at the boss. So there you have it. An extremely challenging platforming game the likes of which I have not played since Hunchy II. Gingerbread Man isn’t going to be for everyone, but for those of us who love a brutal platformer, this one will always scratch that itch.View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  8. AtureDeveloper: BeoranAvailable: (ROM ONLY) Atariage.com Pulling from the archive again this month as I await some excellent new games to arrive in the post. Ature was a game I picked up at an East Coast gaming convention back in the days when that was a thing. The game had just been released and Beoran, the developer, had granted a few folks the rights to distribute physical copies of the game. I picked up a boxed copy for around $45 American, I believe. It was very exciting to pick up a brand new game at a convention (this wasn’t quite as common as it is today). Ature was even more of a thrill because it was an adventure game at a time when those also weren’t really a thing. And even seven years later, it still holds up as a solid adventure game for your VCS. What All This Then?Ature is the story of Signe, a young sword fighter whose family has been tasked with protecting the mystical tree that protects the land. All was going well until a black ship carrying the evil queen Ikaza landed on Ature’s shores. Ikaza has threatened to destroy the mystical tree by draining all of its power. She’s turned everyone except you to stone and has started to use her evil to pervert the land. You alone must travel far and wide defeating the queen’s minions and solving the dastardly puzzles she has put in place to prevent anyone from overthrowing her rule. Only by finding the three leaves of the mystic tree can you break the curse and confront Ikaza face-to-face.Ature is a standard adventure game in the vein of well-loved classics like the Legend of Zelda. You travel the land using your sword and some limited magical abilities, defeating enemy monsters and seeking out switches and mini-bosses that will open new paths in the world. Every time you defeat a boss or flip a switch you will be granted access to more of the world, special weapons or powers, and eventually the final showdown with Queen Ikaza. By defeating enemies you gain experience and increase your combat ability, health bar and magic points. You can also find helpful items that increase your power. There is a book that lets you consume MP (called Numen Points in this game) to shoot energy beams from your sword. There is a shield that protects you from shooting enemies. And so on. How Does it Play? Really, really well. The world is a pretty decent size, particularly for this era of homebrew. There are many distinct areas to explore and wide varieties of enemies to fight. The game follows pretty standard adventure game rules. You start out with access to a small part of the world and as you defeat enemies or find switches you are granted access to new areas. These new areas often include power-ups or weapons you will need to gain access to the next area. The game isn’t linear, however, and you will want to keep checking back on certain areas to see if something new has been unlocked. You’ll sometimes be able to see an item locked behind a wall that won’t open until much later in the game.Signe controls just fine. You can walk with your sword extended to stave off instant attacks when you enter a new screen. Collision detection with enemy sprites is pretty generous, except with the Invisible Enemy, who is a real pain in the butt. Defeated foes drop power-ups to restore health and magic points. Again, all pretty standard stuff, just not stuff you see much of on the Atari 2600. The game isn’t perfect though and it suffers from a few of the idiosyncrasies of its day. Not all of the mini-bosses respect the boundaries of the play field, so occasionally you’ll be in a room that passes through the boss room, but is not in the boss area, and the boss will march over and crush you. Typically this can be avoided just by moving quickly, but it’s something that should have been cleaned up in play testing. Some rooms are nearly impossible to see on a real TV with real hardware because of the coloring choices. There are two pink rooms in the Ruby Mountains that are really tough for this reason. The manual doesn’t tell you enough about the icons in your inventory so that you really understand what you’ve picked up (if what you’ve picked up shows up at all. In the screenshot below I am very late in the game, on my way to Queen Ikaza, but it’s hard to know fully what I have in my inventory. I have some kind of cross thing, the Numen Shield (that one is obvious), something that looks like a crown, and what looks like bottom half of E.T.’s telephone. With some careful study of the gameplay, you can eventually figure out that you have the Numen Sword, Numen Armor, and the two Mystic Books, but a simple item legend in the manual would be helpful.Let's see I've got 4, uh, things, here. I'm ready to take on the boss!These are minor technical details, but they reveal a lack of polish that would otherwise make this game absolute top tier as far as VCS adventure games go. Whistles and BellsWell my copy came with a swanky box and instruction manual, but that was seven years ago and the guy I got it from has kind of disappeared from the community, so chances are good that’s not going to be your experience. However, because the game is open source and the ROM is available, you can always contact Atariage and have them make you a custom cartridge with whatever swanky label, manual and box you want to create and pay for. The game does feature nice, big graphics with well drawn and thought out play fields and interesting looking enemies and bosses.Apart from that Ature is exactly what it is: a great game strong on fun and light on spectacle. Final AssessmentAture is a great adventure game for the Atari 2600. It takes about an hour to figure out and beat, especially if you get stuck fighting the Invisible Enemy repeatedly like I do. There are lots of places and things to explore and tracking down all of the power-ups and abilities is part of the fun. Once you’ve beaten it, it’s fun to run through it again knowing what you know and seeing how quickly you can save the land of Ature. After that, you can probably shelve it for a while and then pull it back out once you’ve forgotten every last nook and cranny of the map. Pretty standard adventure game stuff. In recent years there have been many more really incredible adventure games for the VCS. People are finally starting to figure out how to make these kinds of game shine on the Atari, and it’s games like Ature that got us to where we are today.None shall pass. Tips and Tricks Home is Where the Heart(s) Is: Signe’s home will always have health power-ups. Leave the screen, return, and the heart will reappear. This is a big help late in the game when you get defeated and respawn at home. Several trips back and forth between screens can start you off with full health again. These Bullets are Too Expensive: I tend not to use the Book of Striking. It costs a Numen point every time you use it and enemy movements are pretty erratic in this game, so you aren’t always guaranteed a hit. I prefer to save my Numen points for healing with the Book of Life. There is only one place where you must use the Book of Striking to hit a switch that is otherwise unreachable.I'm not saying where, exactly... Get Her, Ray!: Most of the mini-bosses can be bum rushed and taken out with speed. There are a few that you will want to strategize for, but don’t be afraid to take the very direct approach. You Can’t See What You Can’t Hit: The Invisible Enemy is one of the most annoying and troublesome mini-bosses in the game. You’ll encounter him late in the game near the Sea Shrine. The only way you’ll know he’s there is A.) you’ll die almost instantly upon entering the screen. OR B.) before you die you’ll see a small dash moving towards you. That dash is the only indication of where the Invisible Enemy is. Don’t mistake it for his shadow, because it doesn’t work like that. Go into the battle with full health and make a dash for the bottom of the screen. As the dash approaches, stab at it from the bottom. You’ll know you’ve hit it if the dash jerks in one direction or another. If things get tight, run a circle around the dash until you can get back to a “from the bottom” attack stance. Stab. Repeat at least 6 times. It will take some practice, but this is the ONLY way I have been able to defeat the Invisible Enemy. He’s a pain.Oy vey, this guy. So there you have it! A solid adventure game for the Atari 2600 that might have flown under your radar. It’s not the flashiest game of its kind, but it’s a lot of fun and is a very welcome addition to an underserved category of games on the VCS. Legend of Zelda fans will feel right at home exploring the world of Ature and vanquishing the evil Queen Ikaza. If you missed Ature before, at the very least, download the ROM and give it a look. View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  9. Swordquest #5 landed this week, and the comic series that started with a whimper goes out with a sigh. If you were hoping the whole thing would marshal in the closing chapter and redeem the four issues of blechhh that preceded it, you were sadly mistaken and extremely naive. Chad Bowers and Ghostwriter X stay true to their formula of bland characters, grade school level art, and dull storytelling to grind this terrible comic to a close. I would warn you that this review contains spoiler alerts, but the word "spoil" indicates that there is something "ripe" here that can go bad, and that would be inaccurate. To briefly summarize, Protagonist (I still cannot tell you his name, is it Chris, or Peter, or maybe Chad?) manages to get the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery and is teleported to Atara where he learns that he is the re-embodiment of Rulero (it hurts to type that) and that Atara has fallen into ruin under the rule of Tyrannus.. He uses the sword to teleport back to earth just in time to kill Konjuro, but not before the villain has stabbed the eye of the big man-bun guy. After explaining to his friends what he learned in Atara, they all decide to return to Atara to fix that world, because they were somehow so competent on this world that their winning ways are sure to carry over. That's it. Oh and Man-Bun turns out to be a minotaur, because sure, why not. But this summary doesn't really do justice to the steaming pile that is issue #5, so let's dig in and really appreciate how bad comics are made. We start with this incredible cover! This is the final issue, right? So it needs a really gripping cover that conveys all the drama and excitement to be found in the concluding chapter of this fantastic story, right? So what do we get? A guy in a suit with a face half-shrouded in shadow. That's it. Who is he supposed to be? All of the major characters in the story have been revealed so the nature of the shadowy face is a curious choice. The suit and mutton chops suggest that its Konjuro, but Konjuro wouldn't wear his tie that loosely, he's (as consistently as Ghostwriter X can muster) always been represented as very well kempt. And again, why would he be in shadow, we already know him well. It cannot be Protagonist because he's a complete mess adorned in a t-shirt and jacket. It cannot be Man-Bun, he's dressed like a biker. It's not the Dunmer because this is clearly a man (although based on Ghostwriter X's skill that's been up for grabs from panel to panel). So it can only be the other guy. But though he wears a suit, Other Guy is black and the skin on mystery cover guy is blue. Unless that's yet another bizarre style choice, that rules out Other Guy. So we have a final issue cover that features a character that is entirely unrelated to the comic book it contains OR is a character we already know but inaccurately represented. No matter who or what that is, it's a boring, boring, boring cover for a final issue. A guy in a suit. Off to a GREAT start. Inside, for certain Ghostwriter X has pulled out all the stops and sharpened all of his/her pencils to give us something special for this big finale. Can anyone tell me what's going on in this panel? Context says that Other Guy is really angry that Protagonist has vanished and is going to try to kill Konjuro, but a robed cult guy has grabbed him to prevent that from happening. But taking this panel on it's own, I'm left to wonder if Other Guy has sprouted some caucasian arms and is doing some kind of lewd dance. If there were more than four colors in play in Ghostwriter X's palette, then maybe it would be clear that there was cult member back there at work, but since everything is gun metal gray, who can really tell. Also, it kind of looks like the cult member's arms are there by accident, as if Other Guy stumbled into his embrace. It certainly doesn't look like he's being restrained. I shouldn't be stymied by a single panel this early in the comic. This is page two, panel two. Hopes are not rising for a big finish. Oh, and dear Dynamite, either swear in your comics or don't, but don't swear and then cross it out. It makes you and me look stupid, and I don't like to look stupid. As the good guys reel from Protagonist's disappearance, Konjuro threatens to blind Man-Bun if Man-Bun doesn't tell him what he wants to know: something about magic or how to get back to Atara, or something. Honestly, Konjuro's motivations have been all over the place, so who can tell. In any event, he's got Man-Bun by the neck and he's weaving a magic dagger with which to stab him in the eye. These are the pages in question: Zoom in and get a good look at the Dunmer's face in panel 2. More on that in a minute. Pretty exciting right, with the eye-stabbing and all. Except, please explain to me how we get from the panels at the bottom of the left page to the dramatic action of the first panel on the right page. Again, Ghostwriter X reveals his/her failure to understand basic storytelling. On the left page Konjuro has Man-Bun by the throat. His left hand is holding Man-Bun's throat. Admittedly, in panel 5, that grasp is somewhat ginger and delicate, but we can assume that this is the beginning of the much tighter grip in panel 7. Let's do that. In panel 6, Konjuro is so close that he can place the tiny magic dagger right up to Man-Bun's eye. Panel 7 confirms this proximity by pulling out a bit to show us Konjuro threatening him with both arms clearly bent. Heck the one is so bent, it's coming from somewhere around his waist, which is anatomically impossible, but that's really par for the course at this point. We also know he's close because he's grabbing Man-Bun so hard his head is tilted back. So we leave the left page with Konjuro rather close to Man-Bun threatening to stab him in the eye. Then suddenly at the top of the right page Konjuro stabs Man-Bun in the eye as promised, but he does it from what has to be at least four feet away (the wife and I recreated this scene sans the eye poke to prove the point). So what happened in the gutter between the left and right page? Did Konjuro back up 2 paces and then lunge at him to stab him in the eye? Why would he do that? All he has to do is pull his arm back and then stab. There is no need to back up and lunge. He's poking an eye not punching through a wall. And the stab is pretty wimpy at that because he only uses the very tip of his magic dagger to complete the act. This should be a dramatic moment, but it is completely devoid of impact by Ghostwriter X's desperate attempt to make it more dramatic. However his/her inability to understand bodies moving in space creates a ridiculous situation. I'm pretty sure a close up eye-poking can be rather dramatic, see also the Joker in The Dark Knight Returns movie. After failing to get what he wants Konjuro prepares to make good on his threat to take both of Man-Bun's eyes, but our hero reappears just in time to vanquish the evil villain. To convey this, we get a full page splash panel of Protagonist stabbing Konjuro in the back, the most noble and heroic way to defeat a bad guy. Sure, it's in line with his established, cowardly loser character, but if this is the final act and his character arc is going to demonstrate some amount of change, beating the bad guy by stabbing him in the back isn't going to cut it. That's bad storytelling with no confidence in your characters to be more than they are. Ghostwriter X's art isn't helping Bowers story here either. Why is the main character's back to the audience during the most dramatic moment of his story arc? Why do we not see his face and the emotion thereupon? If Protagonist is right handed, then maybe turn the scene around to set up a proper moment of victory. It wouldn't be that hard to do if you thought about more than just the panel you are currently drawing. But instead we get a loser dealing a cowardly blow to the enemy with his back to the audience, the stance of a coward, liar or thief. Konjuro looks like the victim here for sure. He's the only one facing the camera. If I didn't know anything about any of these characters and you showed me this panel I would assume the bad guy has stabbed the good guy in the back while the good guy was trying to help the guy at the bottom right. Bad, bad storytelling. Of course, that thrilling moment is followed up by commentary from our favorite Dunmer with malleable features: Five issues and her snaggle-toothed face is still all over the place. So Protagonist goes on to explain that when he got the sword he was instantly transported to Atara where a robed figure reveals that he, Protagonist, is the re-embodiment of Rulero, the true ruler of Atara. And then the robed figure lays it all out for us: not only is Protagonist Rulero, he's also the avatar of Herminus, the thief from the REAL original Swordquest comics, and his two friends, Dunmer and Other Guy are the avatars for Torr and Tarra, and they have relived the quest for the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery. So, I guess, somehow Herminus is really Rulero, which makes absolutely no sense at all if you know anything about the original Swordquest comics, but hey, for this slopfest of a story that desperately tries and fails at fan service, sure, why not? For the record, the lovely wife pointed out the twins thing back in issue #2, though I will admit the Herminus/Thief angle was totally lost on me because Herminus was a clever and conniving character and Protagonist was a mopey loser. I also figured that Man-Bun would be the avatar of Herminus since they both lost the same eye, but he turns into a minotaur when they go back to Atara, so that opportunity was wasted. I guess there is some reveal here after all. It's a miserable reveal, but a reveal nonetheless. The rest of the issue drones on in it's drab and dreary color wash tones as the group is surrounded by the cops, then Protagonist teleports them all away with his magic sword. After a brief stop back at his house in Chicago, Protagonist explains that Atara is in trouble and since he's a dying loser on Earth, he may as well go try to set things right there instead of waiting around for the death he deserves. The twins put up a token resistance and then all decide to go with him and see what adventure awaits. Ghostwriter X will someday be allowed to use more than three colors. So any kind of real, actual fun adventure will happen off panel, after these five miserable issues of whatever this was. Honestly, looking back on it, if everything that had happened in this mini-series had happened in issue #1, with this splash panel: as the final page of that issue, this might have had a chance at being a good story. If we spent 22 pages of setting up a pathetic loser in need of redemption-before-his-death with an opportunity to seek that redemption by living his dream of questing for the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery in a mystical video game realm, and then spent the next four issues telling that tale, we might have had something worth reading. You could have even given the audience and the main character their ultimate dream of completing the never finished Airworld game (and comic). But instead we spend five issues with this band of cardboard characters who are completely devoid of substance and end up with a story that I am hopeful I can forget as soon as I publish this blog post. Seriously, just condense this 5-part story down to it's essence, drop pretty much everything except the idea that your main character needs personal redemption and cannot find it in the real world, then have someone show up to whisk him away to Airworld or wherever to complete the quest. You'd have four full issues to explore Airworld and complete the quest and maybe have some character development. Heck you could even work in Torr and Tarra, and Mentorr and Mentarra, and Konjuro, and all of it. But no. No. We get this. What a slap in the face to the very thing is purports to honor. After a fun little fantasy story constructed by comic book legends like Gerry Conway and George Perez, we get a rotten egg laid by Chad Bowen and Ghostwriter X, someone who doesn't even want to put their real name on their work. If there is any parallel here at all between this comic and the original Swordquest games and comic it's that both ended up being colossal disappointments. Now that this is over, never let us speak of it again. View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
  10. I never could figure out what this game was. Based on the initial interface it looked like a Shadowgate style game where you interacted with the world through a window using commands. But the next series of screens acted more like a world-exploring RPG with a party of characters and turn-based battles. Honestly, every time I popped it in, I rarely got much farther than the first few screens. It just looked like more than I cared to unpack in a casual gaming session. Despite its awesome Mayan theming and Mexico setting, it failed to have a really strong hook that pulled me in for more. That means it is a perfect candidate for the Learning Curve, although in this instance it might be more of an “interest curve” as in, how long will it take for this game to pull me into its world and keep me playing until the end. Over the next five hours we’ll get the answer to that question. Hour 1 As previously stated, this game is an amalgam of other game types. At its core it is very much like Shadowgate or Uninvited. You interact with the world through a window using commands such as “put,” “use,” and “look.” Tombs and Treasure (T&T henceforth) even gives you a few commands you use only once or maybe never… Notwithstanding, the main game is conducted just like that. However, the window interactions are separated by RPG-esque exploration as you take your team through the Mexican jungle searching out various locations for more interactions. There is literally nothing you can do during these sequences except roam the world, but it does break things up a bit and creates some nice atmosphere, so I think it’s a nice bonus. I spent the first hour wandering about the world map to get a general sense of what I was going to be dealing with. I discovered 3 pyramids, a bunch of wall sections, two lakes (which turn out to be “wells” in this game), a sprawling ancient ball court, and a LOT of jungle. All in all this game probably has 3 times as many “empty” or useless screens as it does meaningful ones. That’s just fine when you are trying to create a sense of scale, but it leaves me wanting more of the screens to have something to do in them. Not a big deal, just means there is a big world out there with lots to find tucked away here and there.Most of the places I ventured into featured monsters far too strong for me to fight, all of which resulted in my death. The good news, however, is that death isn’t a big deal in this game. You pretty much continue from where you left off with no penalty. Even better, the combat is extremely basic (just use the “fight” command to swing your sword) and you can always run away. Furthermore, leaving any building or fight instantly recovers all of your health. From that it’s pretty obvious the combat in this game is more there to serve the story than to provide challenge. I’m not upset about that in the slightest.One pyramid was not heavily guarded and I was able to find a secret passage to the crypt of the Hi-Priest. A tile on his coffin enabled me to open a hidden door in another nearby location, the Castillo Pyramid. I was successful in defeating a few of the lesser monsters and was rewarded with a literal treasure trove of items. Oh, what untold adventures they might lead to! One hour in and I was starting to get hooked. Hour 2 Wandering about the map with my new inventory of fabulous items, I stumbled across a few locations I had missed during Hour 1. Indulge me while I backtrack a bit. Your mission in this game is to locate a missing professor who was lost while studying these ruins. Your party is made up of the professor’s daughter and Jose, your guide. The only clues you have come from the professor’s journal which was one of the few things recovered when he went missing. Why wait to tell you all of this now? 1. I forgot. 2. Because in the journal the professor mentions a secret path through the forest that lead to something great. That something great is the voice of Kukulcan. This is important if you are going to play the game without a walkthrough because the voice imparts wisdom in the form a hint about what to do next in the game. I would visit this location many times in the next four hours. T&T is a little bit dense sometimes in being clear where to go or what to do next, so the hints are very helpful. It was just such a hint that lead to my discovery of an entire structure I missed: El Caracol! When I found the Silver Globe, it was hinted that I take it El Caracol. The problem was, I had not located such a place, nor even knew it existed. Further exploration would reveal this structure and advance the plot considerably. It would also lead to an encounter with the game’s most unusual monster: El Slug. A slimy green creature that looked a lot like a sheepdog. Defeating monsters increases your level and basically makes it possible for you to defeat the next monster in the story. If you cannot beat a given monster it’s because you are taking them on out of order. With this in mind, I soon found I was able to beat pretty much any of the monsters that had previously been vexing me as long as I took them down in the correct order. It doesn’t hurt that you can increase the power of your sword by inserting into them the different colored jewels you find. Ultimately, I was finally able to obtain the Sun Necklace, one of the game’s key items that allows you to know the position of the sun. This is vital to solving the game’s three main riddles.All in all, a solid second hour. By this time I was definitely hooked into the game and it’s world, and very excited to find out what discoveries lay in wait during the next hour of adventure! Hour 3 The discoveries of the third hour were somewhat less than the second hour had anticipated. The three main riddles of the game all involved the position of the sun. You were to locate the censer at dusk, turn the Jaguar into a statue at noon, and drink a shrinking potion at midnight. All three of these required you to be in the right place at the right time. I had no luck with the censer or the potion, but I knew where to find the jaguar. In the Warrior’s Tomb there were three statues: a girl, a warrior, and a jaguar. The jaguar statue was drawn differently than the other two so it was obvious that it was going to come to life. Clues in the game had told me that the jaguar could be tamed (reverted to statue form) by playing the pan pipes (found earlier in the Well of Paradise). So I went to the Warrior’s Tomb and to my surprise, the jaguar was gone. Gone, I tell you. In the wall behind where his statue was perched, I found a small hole. In the hole was an iron key, but the hole was too small for anyone’s hand to fish it out properly. A hint was given that a magnet would be useful in such a situation. Back in the treasure room of Hour 1, I had found a metal rod that was magnetic, however I had already joined that rod to a small bowl found in the same room to make a compass, so it would not be able to help me solve this problem. (This would prove to be significant later in our tale) But there was little time to ruminate on this problem as the hour struck noon and the jaguar suddenly appeared in the room before us. Luckily, this was not a combat situation, just a puzzle. However, it was during this encounter that I learned another one of the game’s key strategies: switch characters whenever you aren’t sure what to do. Turns out the main character is terrible at playing the pan flute, but the girl character is a maverick. So to tame the jaguar, switch to the girl character and have her use the pipes. Problem solved, the fearsome cat becomes a statue permanently (another significant act) and the team is able to continue their adventure (at least somewhat…)With nothing else to do in the Warrior’s Tomb, I decided to explore the other “too tough to beat” part of the game: the Ball Court. Having defeated the monster in the Warrior’s Tomb I was now strong enough to defeat the monster in the Ball Court as well. This opened the area up for exploration. It also introduced me to the first element of the game’s major, major downfall. You see, in the Ball Court there is a room you can uncover wherein you find the most powerful item in the game, a jewel that significantly weakens demons. If you remove this jewel from its stand, the door you came through slams behind you forever. You cannot die, there is no monster to kill you. All you can do is stand in the room, look at things, and have the game taunt you with too-late hints like “you should have opened another exit before taking the jewel. Better hit reset.” That wouldn’t be so bad if hitting reset didn’t mean entering both of your characters’ names and the ridiculously long password just to start over wherever you last obtained your password (passwords can be obtained at any time by looking at the Ixmol Jewel you pick up at the start of the game). So unless you are in the habit of writing down 32 character passwords before every single action in the game, this means you are going to be doing a LOT of data entry just to trial-and-error your way through some of the game’s more menacing puzzles. This is a fun killer. A big one. After three unsuccessful attempts to obtain the powerful green jewel from the room, each one followed by several minutes of password entry, I decided Hour 3 was over. Hour 4 I set out in Hour 4 to just leave that stupid jewel alone and come back when I had a better idea of how to defeat the trap. So instead I headed back out in to the jungle to see if there were more areas I had missed in previous ventures. I explored everywhere for about 30 minutes and finally decided to seek out the wisdom of Kukulcan to see if that would point me in the right direction. Turns out there is a second floor in El Caracol that I was not aware of. Again, if you are stuck for what to do, try switching characters. Turns out Jose, the guide, is strong, strong enough to move the pedestal in El Caracol to reveal a hidden staircase. After discovering this, I was able to solve the riddle of the censer and locate the censer itself. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the censer itself. The Kukulcan clue about getting the iron key before turning the jaguar into a statue is neither helpful nor encouraging as I still no idea if there is any way to get that iron key since I don’t have the magnetic rod any more, and seeing as to how I had already stoned the jaguar… Hour 5 I spent 45 minutes of Hour 5 desperately, and ultimately in futility, going about the time-honored tradition of traveling to every location and trying every command with every character with every object, just to see if I could accomplish anything. I could not. I did locate the hole that the iron key fits, but without the key this was a hollow discovery (slightly clever pun unintended, but pleasing). Time was growing short and frustration was mounting, so I did the only thing a person in the modern era can possibly do when faced with such an impasse: I spent my last 15 minutes searching the internet for a walkthrough that would explain what went wrong.Remember that iron rod that I used to make a compass back in Hour 1 that seemed like a mistake by Hour 3? It was. Not only was it a mistake, it was a game-breaking mistake. You can never remove the rod from the compass, so once it is joined, the rod is lost to you for the rest of the game. Which means that if you did what I did, you can never get the iron key. Not that it would have mattered, because you see, I got the hint about "getting the key before thwarting the jaguar" AFTER I thwarted the jaguar, another game breaking mistake. Once the jaguar is reverted to statue form, it will never come alive again, meaning that unless you get the key first, you can never complete the game. Turns out T&T suffers from at least 5 of these game-breaking mistakes from which there is no return, unless, as I said before, you are writing down 32 character passwords before every single move in the game.This is no end of frustrating and discouraging. I completed my five hours with T&T utterly defeated and discouraged. What had started out as a really fun explorative adventure was ground into utter aggravation by game-breaking mistakes that are way too easy to make. It doesn’t seem like the game would allow this because it is constantly cautioning you against leaving a room too soon, or grabbing the wrong item. There are tons of places where the game helps you not screw it completely up, but there are at least 5 times where you can make the game unwinnable by doing something very, very simple. Maybe if the game had employed a SAVE system like Shadowgate does, these kinds of screw-ups wouldn’t be as galling, but with the massive password system, running into one of these honest mistakes is worthy of the controller throw.This felt like the mantra for Hours 4 & 5 Final Appraisal: Tombs and Treasure is an incredibly fun adventure/puzzle game with a unique take on a classic formula, however it features several game-breaking mistakes you can make that cause the game to be unwinnable. Furthermore, its cumbersome password feature makes trial-and-error puzzle solving tedious and frustrating. There is a lot of fun to be had with this game, but the drawbacks for playing it wrong threaten to drain all of the enjoyment right out of it. If you decide to take the game on, it can be a very rewarding play, just make sure you DO NOT join the rod and the bowl until you enter the maze, DO get the iron key before you freeze the jaguar, DO NOT grab the green jewel until you have two doorways open, and DO NOT take the handle from the Castillo machine. If you do the converse of any of those things, you are doomed. You have been warned. Learning Curve: It doesn’t take as long as I thought to get really invested in this game. It’s a lot of fun, it features a unique setting and theme, and there is a lot to explore. While the game can be obtuse in telling you exactly what you need to do next, there are plenty of clues and if you learn a few of the games essential mechanics: look at everything, switch characters often, beat enemies in the right order, and avoid the game-breaking mistakes, you will be having a lot of fun in no time. I would say it took me just over an hour to be fully committed to this game. Will I Finish It? I did. After Hour 5’s crushing revelations, I decided I would see the end of this game. So I started a new game and played all the way through avoiding the game-breaking mistakes. All in all it took me probably an hour and fifteen minutes to beat, knowing already how to complete 3/4 of the game before I started. As I assumed, it was a very satisfying experience. Again, this is a great game with a few very serious flaws. View the full article on The Electric Frankfurter
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