We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.Atomic Robo-Kid
Atomic Robo-Kid, Original arcade game by Universal Play Land 1989. C64 conversion by Software Studios and published by Activision in 1990.
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Player's Review
"THE CUTEST BRAVEST ROBOKID IS HERE! The Atomic Robokid has just graduated from the Universal University of Space Combat and is on his first mission to travel deep into enemy territory and destroy everything that gets in his way. Trundle through subterranean passageways sprinkled with metal and bones, black and rubber blobs, floating space mines and fighter satellites. jet through mazes of terrifying terrain and get caught in a cube with a horrific hybrid! This kid will go where no man dares to go. Are you brave enough to go with him?"
A shootemup that's a little bit different. You get to move around the levels at your own pace and not forced along as the game scrolls. However you want to keep moving as enemies are spawning all the time and don't hold back. Preferably keep moving forward as enemies you though you killed will come right back if you dare to backtrack. Also, the enemies wont kill you upon colliding with them, but they will slow you down. Don't make a habit of it as if they fire, you are gone!.
The C64 conversion overall feels unpolished and even unfinished. Great music and graphics but the game chugs along with a lot of slowdown in places where there is a lot of action causing the gfx to break up. It also slows down the music and this isn't something were used to seeing on a C64. The game really needed more time in the oven for some optimisation. Backgrounds are all static without even some random flashing pixels to break up the emptiness.
The game is quite challenging. Even though the levels are small, the enemies are constantly spawning and firing at you and they can be hard to avoid as your hitbox is huge making for some frustrating and suspect collision detection deaths. One notable design choice or dare I say bug is that you have to press F1 to enable music on each level which also selects your weapon which soon gets annoying. Spacebar also selects weapon. Speaking of weapons you get a choice of four, first by collecting the colour coded pickups which can be shot at to change them. All have there uses but the bomb could be seen as Over Powered as even though it is short range, it also destroys projectiles which is very handy for the boss stages. Completing the game reveals an ending which isn't a common occurrence on the 64. However it is just a credit roll and doesn't mention anything about how your story ends.
Overall, the game is a bit of a let down for a game released in 1990 on the C64. Much like Robocod, the game needed just a little more time to bugfix and polish up. The game is different enough to stand out amongst other shootemups on the C64 though so it would have still been a refreshing change to play and its asking price of £9.99 for the tape and £14.99 for the disk isn't to bad. The multiloading off tape is quite horrific though. The Easyflash release was played here for quick loading.
00:00:00 Title Music
00:01:50 Gameplay
A shootemup that's a little bit different. You get to move around the levels at your own pace and not forced along as the game scrolls. However you want to keep moving as enemies are spawning all the time and don't hold back. Preferably keep moving forward as enemies you though you killed will come right back if you dare to backtrack. Also, the enemies wont kill you upon colliding with them, but they will slow you down. Don't make a habit of it as if they fire, you are gone!.
The C64 conversion overall feels unpolished and even unfinished. Great music and graphics but the game chugs along with a lot of slowdown in places where there is a lot of action causing the gfx to break up. It also slows down the music and this isn't something were used to seeing on a C64. The game really needed more time in the oven for some optimisation. Backgrounds are all static without even some random flashing pixels to break up the emptiness.
The game is quite challenging. Even though the levels are small, the enemies are constantly spawning and firing at you and they can be hard to avoid as your hitbox is huge making for some frustrating and suspect collision detection deaths. One notable design choice or dare I say bug is that you have to press F1 to enable music on each level which also selects your weapon which soon gets annoying. Spacebar also selects weapon. Speaking of weapons you get a choice of four, first by collecting the colour coded pickups which can be shot at to change them. All have there uses but the bomb could be seen as Over Powered as even though it is short range, it also destroys projectiles which is very handy for the boss stages. Completing the game reveals an ending which isn't a common occurrence on the 64. However it is just a credit roll and doesn't mention anything about how your story ends.
Overall, the game is a bit of a let down for a game released in 1990 on the C64. Much like Robocod, the game needed just a little more time to bugfix and polish up. The game is different enough to stand out amongst other shootemups on the C64 though so it would have still been a refreshing change to play and its asking price of £9.99 for the tape and £14.99 for the disk isn't to bad. The multiloading off tape is quite horrific though. The Easyflash release was played here for quick loading.
00:00:00 Title Music
00:01:50 Gameplay
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