Contributions > Descriptions by Katakis | カタキス (43087)

An alien race known as the Vortenians have taken a keen interest on Mars, specifically the ten atomic power plants on its surface, which they need to destroy the space/time continuum. As the commander of a fleet of destroyers, your job is to go along a horizontally-scrolling landscape and prevent this from happening. To make sure you don't succeed in your mission, they will release an army of followers, including Androids, Super-Androids, Spidercrafts, and Magnetrons. Each one of these aliens have their own attack pattern, and are gradually introduced throughout the game's five levels. A small radar is provided at the top of the screen to keep track of the aliens. If you make contact with any alien or its projectiles, you lose one of your three lives, and losing all of them means the game is over.

ABZoo is an educational game with an animal theme, and uses the computer's speech facility to read out the names of different animals. It guides you through three levels, which are as follows:

* Beginner: You type a letter from A to Z, and the game will display a picture of an animal starting with that letter. The level does not end until all letters are pressed.

* Advanced: The game will display a random picture, along with the name at the top of the screen. After a few seconds, you have to type all the letters that are displayed. As a reward, you get to see a large version of the animal.

* Expert: This level is similar to Advanced, but each letter in the word is hidden from view.

If you type a letter that is not in a word, the game will ignore their input.

Several options can be set before a game, selectable with the left mouse button. There are "Funny" and "Serious" settings, which determine what animals are displayed. You are also given the opportunity to use upper- or lower-case letters.

Minitron is a one-player game in which you have to kill robots that are in constant pursuit of you. While navigating the game's maze, you must also be on the lookout for any mines that are in your path. You can also rescue humans trapped in the maze with you. If you touch any mines or the walls, or bump into any robots, you lose a life. Lose all your lives, and the game ends.

Gekitotsu Yonku Battle ("Yonku Clash Battle") is a top-down vehicular combat game featuring "yonku" cars, miniature RC toy cars consisting of a four-wheel drive system. The player controls one of these yonku cars, and the object is to wipe out the other cars in constant pursuit of the player, either by smashing into them or steering them into hazards. Various power-ups can be collected around the course, and these include temporary invisibility and full health. If the player's car is damaged, their life meter will be depleted, and the game is over if it is empty.

For every car destroyed, a flag appears somewhere on the map. The player can collect this flag for some bonus points. Subsequent destroyed cars increases its value from one to two to three to four. If the value increases again, the flag becomes a crown which is worth five points. The player's "teki" meter decreases as cars are destroyed; once this reaches zero, the player is transported to the next stage. Occasionally, bonus stages appears, and the object of these is to collect as many flags as the player can before time expires.

Kikugi is an ancient Japanese game of concentration and strategy. The aim is to jump one peg over another, removing from the board the peg that you jumped, ending up with one piece which should be in the center of the board. If you win the game, you are rewarded with a fortune cookie. Fifteen game boards are available; each one has a different set number of pieces, and they have different sound effects. Options allow you to back up one move or preview all available moves; meditate, allowing you to rest and review your jumps; play a solitaire or two-player game; save or load a game; and watch the computer play itself.

In Taxman you take control of Humfrey who must go around collecting tax in the game's ten levels. The tax is collected by killing "Herberts" which appear on both sides of the screen. When killed, they release coins which must be collected immediately before they make their way to the top of the screen and disappear. Occasionally, a dart will making its way towards you, so don't spend too long in the one spot. If you gather enough coins, you will proceed to the next level. The further you progress through the game, the more faster the Herberts become. Contact with any of them or letting a dart hit you will result in your life force being drained, and the game ends when this is depleted. Bumping into any force fields will result in instant death. Taxman is a score-attack game; if all ten levels are completed, the game loops back to the first level, but your score does not reset.

Taxman is a variant of Pac-Man where the object is to go around the maze eating money dots, while avoiding the four taxmen that chase you around. The tables are turned if you eat a star scattered around. This will allow you to eat the taxmen, causing them to return to the center of the maze. If you eat all the dots, you will proceed to the next maze. Making any contact with the taxmen will result in a loss of life, and losing all of them means game over.

Stellar Dodger is a variant of Lunar Rescue where you control a ship that is seen docked to the mothership that endlessly goes left and right across the screen. When the fire button is pressed, the ship is ejected and makes it way to the supply dumps on the bottom of the screen, avoiding the asteroid belt along the way. You must then make your way back to the mothership, avoiding the asteroids again. This time you can shoot them to clear more of a path, and you can also use your thrusters if you want to slow down. Be aware, though, that you have a limited amount of fuel that depletes as you go down, and depletes more when the thrusters are used. If you run out of fuel, make contact with any asteroids or the mothership, or miss the supply dumps, you lose one life. The game ends if you lose all of them.

Risky Challenge is a story-based puzzle game running on Irem's M-90 arcade system. Vic and Vinnie are professional treasure hunters, who, one day went down deep into the dungeon in search of treasure belonging to an ancient kingdom. While they were exploring, an earthquake causes the dungeon to collapse, trapping them inside. Now they must reach the top by making use of falling blocks. Like Tetris, these blocks can be rotated left or right and dropped down, and a life is lost when a stack of blocks reach beyond the top of each screen. Using these blocks, guide the protagonists through each stage, being careful not to trap them. Occasionally, a bomb will fall, and this can be used to destroy unwanted blocks or any monsters on screen. The two protagonists will always be on the move, so watch where they are going. Spend too much time in each of the stages, and water will rise up from the bottom of the screen. Lives are also lost when Vic or Vinnie get crushed by a falling block, they come into contact with a monster, fall to their deaths, or get drowned by the rising water.

The SNES port has some changes from the Arcade game. Differences include being allowed to alter Gussun’s walking speed, only having a limited amount of continues, additional bonus levels added, more endings. a versus mode, and a level editor.

Pound for Pound is a boxing game released on Irem's M-85 hardware. The object is to defeat eight unique boxers to become a champion. The player has a wide range of moves including jabs, straights, hooks, and uppercuts at their disposal. To perform these moves, the player uses two buttons in conjunction with a trackball. For example, to perform an uppercut, the player needs to hold down the A button while moving the trackball backwards. The player is given the opportunity to enter training stages so that they can improve on their skills. In between bouts or matches, your coach gives you hint on how to defeat a certain opponent. The game is over when the player is counted out, gets knocked out three times in a row, or when their total score is less than their opponent's. In a two-player game, two human opponents can fight a match, and the game is over when one person wins.

Scorpion is a clone of Centipede for the VIC-20, but there are a few tweaks. The centipede in Atari's popular game has been replaced by a group of scorpions that make their way down a field of cacti towards the player who must go left or right, shooting at the scorpions to destroy them. Spiders appear and fly across the screen to make your job even harder, and spores drop down, leaving a line of cacti in its path. Shoot both of these for bonus points. Get rid of the scorpions to proceed to the next level. Contact with any one of the creatures will result in a loss of life, and losing all your lives ends the game.

You are in an abandoned mine shaft, trying to collect gold and treasure chests and bringing them back to your store. Both of these are found in passages accessible by lifts. You can carry up to two sacks of gold at a time. If you decide to carry a treasure chest, remember that this will be too much for the lifts and you have to take a different route up to the top. The game sets a target score; if you manage to reach this before time is up, you proceed to the next mine. The first mine shaft you enter may be easy with no enemies, but later ones introduce enemies and obstacles such as monsters and falling rocks. Any contact with these will result in a loss of life (not shown in the game). Running out of time or getting crushed by a lift will also result in a loss of life.

Digits is a game for the unexpanded VIC-20 in which players move from number to number using the function keys, making sure they don't cross their path. Question marks indicate mystery values. The player needs to plan their route carefully in order to achieve the highest possible score. They can have twenty-five goes before the game ends, after which point they can have the opportunity to play again and beat their previous score.

In Slide Puzzle, the player is given the chance to memorize a pattern set by the computer, then rearrange the squares so that it matches that pattern. Movement is achieved by pressing the numbers one to four. Two difficulty settings are available; in the "Hard" setting, the symbols are replaced with letters.

In Rainbows, the player is presented with three letters in a sequence and the start of a rainbow below. It is up to them to guess the next three. If the player has guessed correctly, the rainbow continues to build up until all six letters are displayed. If the player guesses incorrectly, then they are given clues ("cool" and "warm"). The game ends when either the rainbow is complete or the number of goes have been exceeded, which is four or six depending on the difficulty level they selected.

Graphic Twister is a game for the unexpanded VIC-20 in which the player is presented with a picture and three empty squares. The object is to rearrange the squares so they match the picture above. The player can press the function keys to flip the squares top to bottom, side to side, and even twist left to right. If they are sure the square contains the correct picture, then they can press Space to move onto the next one. The game is supplied with a clock that works against them.

In Knight's Move, the object is to fill all the squares of a chess board, starting at the marked corner, using the knight's move. You travel around the board using the numbered keys 1-8. At any time during the game, you can give up and view the solution.

In Orbits, three motherships are above water, and a craft of different shapes is ejected from one of them. The water is moving landing pads across the screen, and you need to fit the craft that has the corresponding shape. Three difficulty levels are available. The game ends when there are six attempts, and a summary of your performance appears.

In Dam Busta, you control a scuba-diver armed with a harpoon, and your task is to blow up a dam. To do so, you need to get through two screens full of enemies that try to stop you from doing this. On the first screen, make your way to the entrance near the bottom-right, avoiding a swarm of barracuda that moves left and right in the water. In the second screen, kill the guardians who fire at you until you get a clear shot of a rocket. You are running out of air, and need to replenish your supply by swimming up to the surface, but a helicopter will stop you from doing this by dropping a depth-charge at you. If you manage to shoot the rocket, the guardians will be disabled, allowing you to place a bomb at the base of the dam. You must then return to the spot where you started and the bomb will be detonated. Do this three times and the dam will be destroyed. If you run out of air or get hit either a depth-charge or a guardian projectile, you lose a life and restart from screen one. Run out of lives and the game ends.

Conqueror is a game for up to fifteen players. Each player becomes king, and to hang on to power, you have to feed your people and make sure they have enough money to survive. The overall objective is to conquer neighboring countries by any means necessary; and to help you achieve your goal, you can hire soldiers and a supply of swords. Each year has three seasons in which you can make plough-shares, tax your own people, or wage war. If your people leave or die, you lose the game.

Chicken Challenge is a clone of Frogger, in which you control a chicken trying to get into its five homes across a river. However, your task is made difficult by enemies such as cars and ducks, not to mention the fox that suddenly appears in a home. You need to get to a home as soon as possible as you have a time limit, but getting to a home before time expires will reset it. You can get the egg that appears for bonus points. You have six chickens to play with, and one is lost when either time runs out before you reach a home or you touch an enemy. Lose all of them and the game is over.

Look Sharp! is an educational program that consists of two games that have to be loaded separately, with each relying on good observation. In "Old MacDonald's Farm", there are three mini-games.

• Memory - A picture is displayed on screen, divided into four parts that need to be memorized. The game will cycle through images of four farm animals. When the correct part is displayed, you press the fire button to select it. A wrong selection will cause the game to display the picture again, but a right one will move on to the next memory section. The game ends when all five pictures are guessed correctly. Two difficulty levels are available, with the latter one having a time limit.
• Odd-One-Out - Three pictures are shown below Old MacDonald who is moving across the screen. Look at the pictures carefully to see which one is different and have him stop at the correct one. On level one, a turn continues until you guessed correctly. On level two, only one turn is allowed. The game ends after ten tuns.
• Snap - A one- or two-player game where the object is to complete Old Mac. Each player has separate areas, and two pictures are displayed between these. When the pictures match, press the fire button and a part of Old Mac is displayed in your area. When fire is pressed when pictures don't match, a part of Old Mac is filled in your opponent's area. The game continues until a player completes Old Mac.

"S.O.R.T'. (Space Observer Recruitment Test) consists of three tests. In each test, two rockets labeled Positive and Negative appear on screen. Correct answers will push the Positive one up, while the Negative one will be pushed up if an incorrect one is given. Each test ends when one of the rockets have reached its maximum length. Failure to respond within a certain amount of time will count as an incorrect answer.

• Test 1: Visual Perception - two columns of three pictures are shown, and you are required to press a key when all the pictures match
• Test 2: Visual Discrimination - six pictures appear in a box, with one of them slightly different than the others. An arrow will move slowly under each picture, giving you time to select the odd one. Incorrect answers will cause the game to reveal the correct answer.
• Test 3: Visual Memory - you have a certain amount of time to memorize each picture in the large box before it disappears. While the game cycles each part one by one, you need to hit a key when the correct one is displayed.

Quick Thinking! is a space-themed educational game for children, and consists of two games:

Sum-Vaders: a spaceship will appear on the screen with a number inside, and it will drop a robot that also has a number. Add or subtract the two numbers before it lands on the moon's surface. Getting an answer right will result in the robot exploding and the next spaceship to appear. A wrong answer will lock the keyboard until the next problem appears, allowing a robot to land on the surface. The game ends when there are five robots on the surface. The game can be customized before it begins, and this mainly determines how simple or complex the problems are.

Robot Machine: a solid circle with a number on it will make its way inside a huge machine, and a multiplication problem consisting of single digits is also displayed. Make a decision whether to accept or reject a block before the light on the machine turns red. Only accept blocks if the right-hand digit belongs in the same times-table as the left-hand digit. Correct answers cause the machine to spit out a good robot onto the rack, and either incorrect answers or taking too much time will cause a bad robot to appear on the rack. The game ends when all ten slots on the rack are occupied. A "Learning Mode" is available, providing players with more examples and a demonstration.

Confict is a text-based board game for two players, in which you have to manage all the resources with making war. You have the option of trading your resources in, plunder, or mine your cash.

The game board is divided into a 26x20 grid, and more than half of it is sea, and the rest of it is split into two territories. You can invade the enemy, or try to occupy as much territory as you can after an agreed number of moves. Revenue can be raised through share dealings, through forays to capture neutral shipping, and through prospecting of oil. The stock market goes up when you buy shares and down when you sell them. Oil can be found randomly on squares in each territory. Ships are blown about depending on weather.

In Zorgon's Kingdom, you are trying to reach the lair of the mighty Zorgon; and to do this, you need to negotiate five screens full of dangers that can be avoided or jumped over. Coming into contact with any of these dangers will result in a loss of life. (The game asks you how many lives you want before the game begins.) Run out of lives and the game ends. Depending on what screen you are on, the fire button is used to jump, dig, or shoot.

Screen one: Similar to Donkey Kong, reach the top of the screen while negotiating a set of ladders, avoiding the one barrel that rolls down toward you. While you are making your way to the top of the screen, the platforms will begin to collapse, so you need to finish this screen quickly. Unlike the others, this screen needs to be done twice.

Screen two: Your aim is to enter four elevators that go from left to right and vice versa, making sure not to fall onto the spikes. The last of these leads to a rope ladder in which you climb up to face falling aliens similar to the ones from The Pit. Get past these in a timely manner so that you can reach the boat swimming across some spikes and get to the bottom of the screen where you meet two aliens, which change their appearance occasionally and have their legs pointing up. Make contact with them in this state more than once, and you will be able to get to...

Screen three: After crossing two sets of electrical wires and jumping over the rockets that approach you, get past the two groups of moving pillars that move in different directions without being crushed. Once done, cross the unstable platform and climb down the final ladder.

Screen four: Get past the one alien ricocheting off the sides of the green tunnel, and then make your way around the rotating elevator to reach the lattice-like area and avoid the deadly alien serpent.

Screen five: Dig holes for the incoming Robots of Death to fall through, making it easier for you to reach the bottom of the screen. Travel down the final elevator to meet Zorgon who will attempt to get you. Shoot your laser multiple times in his direction to defeat him.

In this adventure game presented entirely in text, you need to find and kill the mage who has depopulated your village. You are presented with a description of each scene, and you are required to input commands in the "verb-noun" format. Instead of typing the whole command out, however, you can simply abbreviate each command (ie: N for north, S for south, L for look). A save option is available.