Game of the day...

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like playing any game involving trains, but I can't find anyone... any suggestions?

[R-Tape]

I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like playing any game involving trains, but I can't find anyone... any suggestions?

[Morkin]

I remember learning the word 'ferrocarril' in Spanish, but I can't roll my Rs, so it just sounds like I've got a mouth full of cake when I try to say it.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I don't know why, but I suddenly feel like playing any game involving trains, but I can't find anyone... any suggestions?

Now the complete Powerbox series are complete! Yeah!



P.S: With the correct written accent in the first 'a', well done, you've got a good mark in spanish grammar!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I remember learning the word 'ferrocarril' in Spanish, but I can't roll my Rs, so it just sounds like I've got a mouth full of cake when I try to say it.

Don't try to pronounce it at lunch time at work!

[R-Tape]

Wanted Monty Mole. There are so many classic era games that I've filed under 'no chance', but seeing RoseTinted's stream reminded me that you can complete the old games* if you apply yourself. A couple of hours play over the weekend has got me just over halfway. This is a game I knew about from adverts BITD, but I don't think I ever got the chance to play it. Mostly a great platformer, with a few clunky bits. I want to complain that you die when you fall what looks to be your own height, but over time I've come to appreciate that as part of the gameplay.

If you've completed this without some kind of crusher POKE, I salute you. Not for skill, but for sheer wrestler-jawed determination (or maybe pig-headed desire to get your money's worth).

*Obvs if you removed insane design choices like the random crushers (POKE 64926,6 makes them regular).

[R-Tape]

I posted it in memes as a cheap gag, but I actually tried to play Tractor and it's worth a look (for the challenge if not the farm machinery). I remember it being preserved as part of a bundle of recovered Romanian games a few years' back. I can't remember now, but if it was me that took the original screenshot in the archive, then I probably couldn't even work out the keys.

It doesn't like edge or flashload, so you have to load it slow as nature intended. The keys are QANM (there may be others), and it's a bit sluggish so press them hard, and beware eccentric collision detection. Level 1 you touch the fuel cans, and you can only go up. Level 2 is a tricky scrolling jump game where you actually drive the tractor, so I wonder if there's more surprises yet to see.

[flatduckrecords]

I wonder if there's more surprises yet to see.

Indeed! Wait until you see level three, you won't believe what's happening (you'll also need the space key).

Clue

This thing also comes up (eventually) if you Google for "dominator", funnily enough!

Thanks for highlighting this one @R-Tape!

[R-Tape]

Indeed! Wait until you see level three, you won't believe what's happening (you'll also need the space key).

Yesss. Level 3 is perhaps more tenuously based on tractors. I think I completed it - it just rapidly stops and goes back to the intro doesn't it?

Clue

This thing also comes up (eventually) if you Google for "dominator", funnily enough!

It took me a while to get this. Dirty boy!

[flatduckrecords]

Yesss. Level 3 is perhaps more tenuously based on tractors.

If tractors were Pokémon, this would be the final evolution. That's how I'm chosing to make sense of it.

It took me a while to get this. Dirty boy!

Heheh.

I think I completed it - it just rapidly stops and goes back to the intro doesn't it?

Aye, samsies. A bit abrupt after quite a long level. Such is the way with tractors, I suppose.

[R-Tape]

If tractors were Pokémon, this would be the final evolution. That's how I'm chosing to make sense of it.

I'm more glass half empty and saw it as 'going a bit Renegade 3'!

Aye, samsies. A bit abrupt after quite a long level. Such is the way with tractors, I suppose.

Nietzsche said it first.

[R-Tape]

Not a game but it's quite addictive. I've been adding stuff for the CGC 2008 and discovered Swift Turtle - one of the high quality CGC games.

The compiled version is fast, and the macro mode is really user friendly once you've read the instructions. The only problem is that it keeps exiting to BASIC if you're not careful with your keypresses. I'm trying to get a better run screen for the archive, so far I've got this:



If anyone does better let me know (it must be saved as a .scr)

[Morkin]

Jeez, this is painful..!

This is about the best I could do:

[R-Tape]

Jeez, this is painful..!

The return to BASIC is infuriating, but the macro function is so good that it just makes up for it IMO!

[R-Tape]

Just had a decent blast on Mabus Mania. Got to keep the platforming skills sharp.

[Morkin]

Having a go at Kirel by Addictive Games. Not sure if I'd played it before.

3D real-time puzzler where you have to shift blocks around to get to and diffuse, bombs. The training mode is a nice touch as the time limit in the actual game is very tight.

Have only managed a couple of screens (apparently 70) but I guess once you figure out the solution to each screen you can probably whizz through it next time round.





Was getting a bit lost behind the blocks before realising you can change the view perspective, a la Ant Attack.

[WIWC]

Turrican by Rainbow Arts.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Mountie Mick's Death Ride: A nice game I've never seen before. A mix of Stop the Express with an horizontal shooter.

[WIWC]

Mountie Mick's Death Ride: A nice game I've never seen before. A mix of Stop the Express with an horizontal shooter.

The sprite looks like a little Lego man.

[R-Tape]

The 8 bit wars.



It's a very polished AGD flipscreener from Cronosoft. It's on the easy side, and completable in an evening - provided you find the hidden section, which I'm still deciding whether it's fair or not.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

H.E.R.O. by Activision



Another game I didn't know. It seems the usual Activision conversion, very well made. Simple concept & addictive.

[R-Tape]

Starlike. A Microhobby scrolling shooter.

It's a howler at first glance: slow scrolling, just 3 types of baddies moving in simple patterns and only one bullet at a time, but it's not half bad if you ask me. The challenge is not wasting that bullet, and negotiating the baddies becomes a varied challenge as they react to the scenery. And the whole play area scrolls so you get to see more interesting backgrounds. I'd have been very chuffed with this on a magazine covertape.

[R-Tape]

I was sorting through some old boxes of tapes and found Mind Your Head. No inlay or case, and the tape itself had seen better days. Still, 36 years on and it loaded first time.

It's a Harry Price MOD of The Icicle Works, so natch I had to play both. This is one of the simpler Harry mods - it looks like he only changed the graphics.

The scroll is pretty clunky and the controls could be better, but it's a decent enough boulder dash clone. I can only complete the first level. The time limit is well savage on the second. It must be possible so that does make me want to play it more.

[Lee Bee]

I've always wished for a sequel to Contact Sam Cruise, and it seems others agree.

I recently discovered a similar game I think people ought to know about. I'd never heard of it before and it's rarely been mentioned in these forums. It's a 1992 title called Night Run, given away on a Sinclair User covertape. (Technically, it's a sequel, but graphically it's a huge step up from the original.)

It's set in London, not America, but aside from that, it's a beautiful game with that late-night detective film noir atmosphere. Perhaps even better than Sam Cruise? You decide:



I must also mention @Ralf's 2011 game Streets of Doom which has a similar style:

[R-Tape]

Hop 'n' Chop. Loaded from Cronosoft cassette. Like most Shaw Brother's games, it's got beautiful graphics, manageable gameplay, and isn't afraid to mix smooth sprites with other objects colourful character cell clunks. It reminds me a lot of Rainbow Islands, even though it clearly looks and plays in the Shaw Bros' style, and the music reminds me of Pang, which is also no bad thing.

Good job it's fun to play, because it's pretty tricky.