FROM THE MAKER OF “SONIC THE HEDGEHOG”
Karl, who made that odd gangster-based Sonic game, has already bashed out another entirely separate release in a whole new genre. The likes of Bungie and Epic would do well to learn from Karl’s superb work ethic.
Here’s his latest work, entitled Zero Quest. You can download it here, if you think this sort of this is appealing:
“I would like to thank you for putting up my first proper attempt at a game (that cheese-dream Sonic The Hedgehog game). That has inspired me to go and actually take up making games as a hobby. I actually got my next proper one featured in Retro Gamer, which made me quite proud.”
“I have just finished a game that parodies Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda. I have attached it for you. You can upload it if you want, if you have a slow day.”
“I have hidden Dreamcast spirals in the game, as a thankyou to you. I also attach an image to prove this. They appear in a hidden area, where old video game characters drink themselves into oblivion to blot out the fact that they are now forgotten. I thought it was touchingly fitting” – Karl.
AN APOLOGY:
We are sorry to RetroCoders for not mentioning his/their Xbox Live Indie game Adventures of Sid. We were going to, then took too long about it, then it was mentioned again, then it seemed a bit awkward AND THEN we started to feel bad about it. Sorry. It won’t happen again.
filed in "NEWS", ACTUAL GAMES on Feb.25, 2010
February 25th, 2010 on 12:20 pm
Spirals in the ‘Bar of Broken Dreams’ seems a little harsh, but then again I am completely drunk so in the morning it might not seem so bad. The name doesn’t suggest hope to me though, and hope is the word that I think sums up this site best. Hope that tomorrow won’t suck as much as today.
I can see that thing from Pitfall but who is that in the corner? Jet Set Willy or Manic Miner? I always get them mixed up. I know it’s not but it looks a lot like the Polar Bear from Penguin Land standing in the corner. Pac-Man’s obvious but he’s still going strong, Frogger is probably hiding out behind the bar.
Sprites! I wave of nostalgia is crashing through my head and I’m suddenly feeling euphoric. The game is a definite winner in that respect. I would have called it Zword Quest though, but I’ve always been shit at naming things.
February 25th, 2010 on 12:41 pm
I think that’s Jet Set Willy rather than Manic Miner, going by the top hat. Don’t think he had a top hat in Manic Miner did he? I can’t be bothered to check.
And the polar bear you ask about is, quite obviously, Monty Mole…
February 25th, 2010 on 1:16 pm
Of course, Monty Mole! I had a friend with a Spectrum but I only had a Sega Computer SG-1000 (which had Penguin Land). I spent many hours at his house playing Sabre Wulf, Manic Miner and Jetpac but he never had Monty Mole so I only got to read about him in magazines. So who’s the guy holding the torch? Seems very familiar…
February 25th, 2010 on 1:31 pm
If you mean the blue-jacketed guy with white legs (on backwards by the looks of it) I think that’s Roderick Hero from H.E.R.O. (Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operations)
February 25th, 2010 on 1:42 pm
Legs backward must be to avoid copyright.
February 25th, 2010 on 2:12 pm
*Sniff*, Its ok Zorg, we understand how busy you are keeping up will all the latest Sega ne…. oh.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)
Anyway. We got Eurogamer to review us instead:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-indie-games-february-2010-roundup?page=3
Not quite the UKR seal of approval, but it’ll do.
February 25th, 2010 on 2:45 pm
Yes, it’s Roderick Hero. His legs are on backwards, because I ripped a sprite that featured him flying, and decided to keep him as he was.
All the little sprite characters in the Bar of Broken Dreams have their own sob stories, which they’ll happily share with you if you bump into them.
I just really wanted to create the anti-Zelda. By the end of the game, the player will have done just about the opposite of everything a hero would be expected to do. There’s also a two-player version of Pong hidden in the game, for those of you who are going all misty-eyed over the 8-bit sprites (like me)…
February 25th, 2010 on 3:42 pm
I’m assuming the blobby green fella (the one on the right, not Pitfall Harry on the left) is the main protagonist, going by the fact he seems to be in all the shots?
I don’t recognise him but he’s a design classic
February 25th, 2010 on 4:25 pm
Yes, that’s the protagonist, Zero.
He’s meant to look like a deformed, boxy version of Link. He’s got no limbs because I couldn’t get the animation on them to look right, so I turned him into a floating quadruple amputee (also known as the RAYMAN SCHOOL OF SPRITE ART).
February 25th, 2010 on 5:26 pm
Since Monty is in there, what about adding dearly beloved Arthur Scargill?
Cool. Now I feel like wearing tight jeans, a stripy shirt, cutting my hear in a slight mullet and dancing to Kraftwerk again.