Commodore 16/+4 - Powerball (fatal bug)

This is a fun title by Mastertronic, programmed by Patrick Strassen.

The idea is to guide your little bouncing ball over hazardous terrain from Point A to Point B.

But this isn't a longplay. Unfortunately there is a fatal bug later in this fun little game where it becomes totally impassable. Simply because the next level it flicks to wasn't designed.

I guess Patrick decided there were enough levels, which begs the question. Why didn't the game revert back to level 1?

But it is still fun getting there :)

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• c16
• commodore
• 16
• plus4
• +4
• retro
• games
• powerball
• bug

[1982emanon]

Sorry about that. Originally the game simply stopped at the final screen and you couldn't move any further. But when being tested the players found it hard to get past some obstacles so when you lost a life the screen automatically moved forward by 1 character, making it possible to get past certain hard bits if you played long enough. This introduced this bug (as a side effect).

[16plus4equals264]

@1982emanon Thanks for filling in the blanks. It's a shame that the final exit sign wasn't there to lead to a simple congrats screen. and/or to loop the game back to the start. Maybe there just wasn't time to modify a working routine for it. Great memories of the bug though.

[MarkPage01]

I knew it! After 25 years I can now rest.

[gurtygurt64]

I remember that wall! I played it for hours then got it...frustrating! Would have been funnier to see this bug!