Qogo on Memotech MTX512

[StuartTibbs]

Fantastic to see this after 26-27 years. This was one of a number of games for the mtx 512 that I felt were better than those on the beeb. Think I got to a level 7 or 8 when you have to jump on the spaces twice each, you'd have two bouncy balls and a boomerang or two. Thanks for doing this (but feel free to practice for 5 mins first!) Cheers

[lettersfromtheleft]

This looks like a good game completely hosed by difficulty settings.

[AlfredRusselWallace]

that yellow ball is pure evil lol

[skankingrudeboy]

YouTube makes some really odd suggestion on this video!

[LeShark75]

Tell you what Steve, I have been impressed by all the game I have seen on this system so far.

[28steryan]

The GAMEBOY version of this is amazing it even features Q*Bert's swearing sample, there was also a great Shareware version for the AMIGA called Q*Bic, they might have it as a .Lha on AMINET.

[DeviouslyDevious]

Christopher Sawyer? That wouldn't be the bloke who wrote Transport Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon would it?

[irclifford]

@DeviouslyDevious

Yep. Both amazing games.

[Fuzzy192006]

I think it's pronounced "throat wobbler mangrove".

[musicmaniac1965]

oh, this takes me back a long time. Q-bert was indeed the game i played, but this looks so close to it. could it be done by the same developpers?

anyway, it's a fun game to play, but as far as i could remeber Q-bert, the enemies where much slower on that one. does this game have a dificulty setting where you could make them a bit slower?

anyway, thanks for sharing. have a nice day.

kind regards, ronald.

[wrestletube1]

This is one of the best MTX games you played so far. At least it's playable unlike many of the others which were too fast to remover a sniff.

[SteveBenway]

@UKRetroGames I'm not sure if it would've been too easy or not, but yes, it does feel pretty harsh. I think it's just the usual "too fast" that spoils it though.

[AfroedNinja]

The enemies are too fast compared to Q-Bert D:

[SteveBenway]

@AfroedNinja Yeah, they are. That seems to be a common theme on MTX games.

[Trusteft]

I am horrible at qbert games, but this is the first time I understand how painful it is to watch someone bad at it, play. lol

The music is hilarious, I would play the game 5 times before never ever running it again lol. That's one less than if there was no music. I am very glad that C.Sawyer has moved to much better games since then.

Having said that, the animation is really good and the sound, for the limited it is, it is quite good.

Thanks for playing the game for us.

[SteveBenway]

@Trusteft Oddly, back in the day, and with a lot of time to waste, I think I'd have played this quite a lot. My reactions aren't what they used to be though, so I don't think any amount of practice now would help me :)

[vincentx77]

I thought these MTX games looked (and sounded) an awful lot like SG-1000 games. Now I know why. I do have to say, though, that as good as this version of Q-bert looks, losing your place every time you lose a life would seriously tick me off.

[SteveBenway]

@vincentx77 They're all pretty much based on Colecovision hardware, it seems :)

[senorverde09]

As an American, I am glad to say that I've learned all my British insults from Steve Benway :D Great review as always!!

[SteveBenway]

@senorverde09 Not just entertaining, but educational too ;)

[Jago666]

nice Qbert clone there Steve! i admit i'm impressed with the graphics

[Zoogle88]

So that's the same Christopher Sawyer as the maker of roller coaster tycoon? D:

[SteveBenway]

@Zoogle88 It seems so. I've never heard of him myself, but then I was never into those tycoon games.

[brownaleboi]

'This game is like Qbert, I like that!'

You have the right attitude! Most people are annoyed when they see their favorite game being copied. I guess that was the biggest trick the gaming companies ever pulled. Surely the value of a game shoud be measured in how fun it is to play to the consumer, not through loyalty to a particular company.

[SteveBenway]

@brownaleboi That was the thing back in the day, we had all these computers who the original developers of arcade games were never going to produce anything for, so the little independent developers just churned out the clones, as they knew the kids would buy them. The interest wasn't in which arcade game was best, but which was the best clone for a given computer :)

[jboypacman]

This looks like a great Q*Bert clone Steve. : )

[SteveBenway]

@jboypacman It's nice and smooth and quite pretty, but in terms of actual gameplay, I think 2600 Q*bert is better.

[retread01]

It's a good job that tune is so amazing.

[atombat]

"YOU SUCK, BLAH..!" This is now your new Tshirt slogan :D

I like the look of this and Goldmine compared to the Shmups.

[SteveBenway]

@atombat I don't dare. The North Koreans might shoot me :D

[RetroRoadshow]

Hey, I think you spelled Q-bert wrong. lol

[ReplayRetro]

I'm about 90% sure i have this clone on Tatung Einstein, i always used to pronounce it "QWO GO" from what i remember the Einy had a different title screen but yeah the ridiculous difficulty was the same, as an 8 year old (or whatever i was) i had no time for this game, might have to dig it out though now and see if i can do any better.

My brother was very good at it though so i think i remember seeing levels where you needed to hit each block like 4 times and had multiple enemies

[SteveBenway]

@ReplayRetro Y'know, I've never seen an Einstein running. What's it like?

[ReplayRetro]

@SteveBenway I havent used mine for a long time, but it was probably my first real experience of gaming, was my brothers system which he modified (startup screen has his name and address on and stuff) i've not got much to compare it with really as i've not played on anything like it but i think it's fantastic, good solid graphics, fantastic sound and i remember it being very fast at loading stuff.

I had a big stack of games for it too, might have to go and dig them out now, DAMN!

[rhydermike]

The usual smooth sprite movement, but even watching it was frustrating due to the difficulty.

[SteveBenway]

@rhydermike Tis a bit too hard, yeah.

[saberblock]

The Memotech really throws those sprites around nicely - not just on this game either, on all the games you've reviewed on it so far I've been really impressed with the speed of it.

[SteveBenway]

@saberblock Yeah, it really does. Now if they could've just managed multi-coloured sprites... :)

[nightbirdds]

I notice that the character doesn't swear when it dies. I suppose, given your commentary on it that it wasn't necessary, since they figured the player would probably supply more than enough profanity to go around. :)

[SteveBenway]

@nightbirdds Original Q*bert swearing always seemed pretty weak to me. I suspect it would've been even more popular if he'd said "Bollox!" and other choice words when he died :D

[AtsumaKarin]

Some interesting points to note here:

I'm not sure how to pronounce the game's name but there is one word in the English language where a: "u" doesn't follow the: "q" - Qatar ("Ka tar"). So, by that logic, I'd say: "Ko go" (phonetic...kinda).

Also: that music was very: "carnivally" and no wonder, it's made by the same guy who developed the Rollercoaster Tycoon series (which was what I thought prior to Googling it).

Also: what WAS that at 4:06?!? ;)

Good SWILL! :D

[SteveBenway]

@AtsumaKarin "Ko Go" sounds about right to me.

4:06 was me demonstrating my special move. Playing the game "ultra badly" :D

[a3HeadedMonkey]

What happened to Gaming Mill? :(

[TheSymbianFreak]

What I want to know is, where are the crappy sports games?!

Could you Imagine Golf or football on it xD

[SteveBenway]

@TheSymbianFreak Good point. I don't have any sports games for the thing. That suits me just fine :D

[JASONMOORE87]

haha this is a classic type of game

lol "im crap at this"

[SteveBenway]

@JASONMOORE87 Yup, it's as good as I am bad :)

[newcoleco]

The video chip in Memotech MTX 512 is the same as the one in the ColecoVision game system. And since you're publishing funny reviews of games for this Memotech system, you are making my day nearly each day of the week.

[SteveBenway]

@newcoleco There was an attempt to port the Colecovision version of Space Invaders onto the MTX. I have it here, but it seems they didn't finish it. Everything looks and sounds fine, but the invaders don't die when you shoot them. Pity, coz it could have been great.