Mission Alphatron on Memotech MTX512

[andyzkey]

Thank you for reviewing my game.

I'm glad someone is still getting some enjoyment out of it.

In answer to some of the questions that have arisen:

It was deliberately written to be that fast, and indeed, gets faster on later levels.

It uses character scrolling as we didn't know how to pixel scroll back then.

I didn't have anything against fish, and I don't remember where the snowflake laying mines idea came from.

{{{ Andy

[OnAnElephant]

@andyzkey You wrote Mission Alphatron? Awesome! This was my favourite game from my childhood. Admittedly the selection on the Memotech was a little limited...

Never could get past those Bouncing Zoids, myself.

[MarkTheMorose]

"Get some! Get some! Get some, get some, get some! Anyone who runs is a Dipole Zoid. Anyone who stands still is a smart Dipole Zoid!" (With apologies to Full Metal Jacket)

[markvergeer]

The system is quite fast but the games seem almost too fast....

[RetroRoadshow]

lmao! It's like a medley of death! 

[nightbirdds]

Do you think those games were supposed to be so fast or were they maybe programmed with an older CPU in mind?

[SteveBenway]

@nightbirdds It's a good question and really I don't know... but it does seem odd that they'd deliberately design a game to run this fast.

[nightbirdds]

@SteveBenway Yeah, it seems like it verges on the unplayable. Half that speed would be about right and match up with what Scramble ran at.

[TheSymbianFreak]

@SteveBenway I Dunno look at F-Zero on the Nintendo Consoles xD

[17R3W]

It looks like he's bombing Jesus fish.

[SteveBenway]

@TehUberCyberBeast Yes, they do, oddly.

[SteveBenway]

@UKRetroGames fast... fast... fast... dead.

Yup :D

[RomeoKGT]

Very similar to Penetrator on the Spectrum.

[SteveBenway]

@RomeoKGT There are masses of games that have this style of play. All clones of Scramble. Which is nice, as I really like Scramble :)

[edwardszzz]

I never thought the Z80 CPU could be so fast.

[SteveBenway]

@edwardszzz The bog standard Z80 was probably a creaking old thing, but the Z80A seems pretty impressive. And at 4MHz, it compares well with the Spectrum Z80 @ 3.5Mhz and equal to the Amstrad CPC464.

[telemetry9]

memotechs were a class act. Unfortunately the chassis of most of the systems was haunted.

[SteveBenway]

@telemetry9 I heard a story that some people got electric shocks from them. I've never had one yet.

[wrestletube1]

Looks impossible to play like it's a recent game made for the emulators with slowdown controls.

[SteveBenway]

@wrestletube1 It's not impossible, like that stupidly fast galaxian thing I played, but it's definitely very fast.

[Fawltykog]

The first ever computer game to induce motion sickness!

[JASONMOORE87]

@Fawltykog lmao thats a good selling point :L

[davidhass3lh0ff]

cool vid and the game looks like a lot of fun

[SteveBenway]

@davidhass3lh0ff It's not bad, though there's better to come :)

[alecjahn]

Well that was a fast game!

I always contemplate how much I would play a game like this if I had purchased it, new, when I was young (with the few dollars I had a week) versus nabbing it on eBay or wherever today.

[SteveBenway]

@alecjahn I think back in the day, as a kid with no cash, it would've got quite a bit of play from me.

I'd either have developed reflexes like a... well... very fast reflex endowed thing, or died of a brain hemorrhage.

[28steryan]

I thought the title screen said "YOU HAVE THREE SHITS" for a brief second.

Is this the Memotech with 060 and over clock?

[SteveBenway]

@28steryan It certainly feels overclocked on some games... and then you get laggy slow crap like tapeworm.

[ForViewingOnly]

Some nice touches like the nuclear power station and the enemy ships that launch at 45 degrees, but yet another impossibly fast game for the MTX. What the hell were the developers thinking back in the day? But interesting to see so many positive comments on this game. Steve, I challenge you to find a game that runs slowly on the MTX!

[SteveBenway]

@ForViewingOnly Tapeworm, a couple of videos back. It was slow and the controls were laggy :)

[ForViewingOnly]

@SteveBenway I'm starting to think that Tapeworm was either written in BASIC or was very badly coded! It

[STONEYKAT1]

Great job man

[SteveBenway]

@STONEYKAT1 Thank you :)

[pocketmego]

I have to admit that this particular machine hadn't been impresssing me at all. But, this game is totally worth having the thing just to play. Looks loads of fun to play and like you say...fast. I am impressed.

[SteveBenway]

@pocketmego There's better stuff to come, trust me :)

[Trusteft]

I know I wouldn't continue playing this game after the first 1 min.

[SteveBenway]

@Trusteft It's worth playing a little longer than that... but maybe not 2 minutes if you don't want your head to explode :)

[ImperialProductions]

HAHA, the amount of times you failed had me loling there! xP

[SteveBenway]

@ImperialProductions *mumbles* and I would've succeeded too if it weren't for you meddling kids... er... wait...

[rhydermike]

Is it possible that these games are running too fast for some reason?

It's amazing that they'd put together something a technically competent as that without honing the gameplay. But that was the 80s - it had to ship on time no matter what.

[MrDebauch]

@rhydermike yeah I found myself wondering the same thing after the last game from that system... this one looks like it is running too quick for the frame rate or something.

[rhydermike]

@MrDebauch It's weird too, because I'd understand how some computers might run slow in a PAL country with 50Hz electricity.

[MrDebauch]

@rhydermike good point.. as I am here in canada and I run a pal france SNES at 50hz

[SteveBenway]

@rhydermike The only thing I can think of is that the MTX500 may have run at a slower speed, and that this was designed for that. Otherwise I can only conclude that the programmers were showing off... and stupid :)

[ewandougie]

The bombs look like deadly exploding goldfish.....

[SteveBenway]

@ewandougie Yup... I think the programmer had something against fish.

[atombat]

Very fast gameplay wise.

[SteveBenway]

@atombat Extremely :)

[AtsumaKarin]

I must say: of all the systems that I'd never heard of prior to watching your channel, this one is the only one that has even remotely tempted me to want to buy one. :)

It just seems like such a great system, relatively speaking and I'm surprised, having watched your review vid, that the Russian government pulled out of the deal.

This, unlike the other game, is actually playable, albeit fast. I'd have liked this too, being a fan of Scramble.

Good SWILL! :D

[AtsumaKarin]

@AtsumaKarin my bad, the: "Russian education system", as you put it. :)

Either way, such a shame.

[SteveBenway]

@AtsumaKarin Ah, it's that "insanely fast, impossible to beat, so I have to give it a go" urge. I can see why a Robotron legend would see the appeal :)

[AtsumaKarin]

@SteveBenway aww *blushes*. :P

I agree, though: nothing gets the adrenaline pumping quite like an easy to learn, difficult to master, insanely fast game! :D

[retread01]

You sure you don't have some 'Turbo' button on the machine pressed by accident? :D

[SteveBenway]

@retread01 Nope... no turbo button that I'm aware of. They did seem to like making games insanely fast on this machine.

[atarileaf]

Why is your ship dropping "Jesus Fish" bombs? o_O

[SteveBenway]

@atarileaf Coz it ran out of bread bombs? ;)

[THOMASSU63]

And I thought 'Tail of Beta Lyrae' on the Atari 8-bit was frantic. This game has it beaten to smithereens. Nice graphics.

[SteveBenway]

@THOMASSU63 I've never seen that one. Must look it up :)

[TheGamesCascade]

concentrate on the flying....oh that didnt work ha ha ha ha classic :D

[SteveBenway]

@TheGamesCascade I think that needs to go on my next T-shirt design :D

[madcapoperator]

lol thats like the damned's early mentaity 'faster is better no matter what!'

[SteveBenway]

@madcapoperator You can keep your frothy lager... SMASH IT UP!!!

[madcapoperator]

@SteveBenway lol just been listening to machine gun etiquette, but the OGWT version of smash it up is probably the second best thing ive ever seen (after joy division playing transmission and shes lost control)

[mathowlett]

Bloody hell, it looks a bit manic !

[SteveBenway]

@mathowlett and then some... but pretty good fun :)

[newcoleco]

There are some arcade games with a deadly screen border like Frogger. So, I think it's the extreme left side of the screen (screen border) that kills you multiple times in this game.

[SteveBenway]

@newcoleco I wondered that myself for a while, while I was playing it, but it turned out to be the nuclear reactors that I kept bombing.

[Zoogle88]

Never heard of this computer before yesterday and so far its not a disappointment.

[SteveBenway]

@Zoogle88 It's the first time I've played more than a couple of games on it, and I'm finding it quirkily pleasing.

[ReplayRetro]

It seems like the Memotech specializes in very addictive games that probably shouldn't be quite as playable as they actually are. The kinda games which annoy you untill you say "right just one more go" then 30 goes later you're still playing.

Another great video and another fantastic Memotech game!

p.s. bonus point for a duke nukem-esque "come get some"

[SteveBenway]

@ReplayRetro There is a certain kind of appeal to the games on this system. They seem to fall somewhere between the Dragon 32 and C16, which you wouldn't expect to be too compelling, but some of them really are.

[PSI236]

I like this computer (never heard of it before now). The actual design of the thing which you showed, and the graphics, there's just something that looks good, I can only think of "neon" to describe it.

[SteveBenway]

@PSI236 I'm only recently really getting to know the thing, and I like it :)

[DdlyHeadshot]

Looks like a fun game, but very difficult at that speed. Still, good-difficult, like Chuckie Egg is.

Also, First?

[SteveBenway]

@DdlyHeadshot It is pretty good fun.

Yes, first *slap* :P