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Bonus: Four screenshots from Hydefos’ intro. It’s actually a combination from seven different screenshots, showcasing the colorful, psychedelic graphics.
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Four screenshots from Hydefos, released in 1989 by Hertz for the MSX2. This game still has some nice features, like a mid-stage “shop” where the player can use collected tokens to upgrade or change the spaceship, and a notification area with frequent Engrish messages. There’s also a high-speed stage completely devoid of enemies, except for another spaceship that needs to be chased. This stage’s background music is one of the best ever.
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Title screen from Hydefos, a game released by Hertz in 1989 for the MSX2 system. It is a horizontal shooting game, where the player controls a spaceship fighting hordes of enemies through narrow corridors and alien landscapes. It isn’t an innovative game by any means, but many MSXers hold it close to the heart, due to its nice playability, corny boss names (for example, one is called Skid Row The Boss, after a hard rock band) and awesome soundtrack. Hertz also managed to achieve the smoothest lateral scroll of any MSX2 game, at the cost of somewhat simplified stage layouts.
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Four screenshots from Yie Ar Kung-Fu II, released by Konami in 1986 for the MSX1. Unlike more recent fighting games, despite the large roster of characters (for the time), only four are available to the player, and three of them only in the two-player versus mode. Player 1 can only control the protagonist, Lee Young, while Player 2 can choose between the game’s first three bosses. Despite these limitations, the game was still very fun.
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Title screen from Yie Ar Kung-Fu II, a game released by Konami in 1986 for the MSX1 system. Its predecessor was a very successful arcade game, with versions for many game consoles and home computers, but this game was originally released as a MSX exclusive title, adding some features not available in the previous arcade and home versions. Konami then licensed the game to Imagine Software, who ported it to many other 8-bit home computers. Like many other contemporary fighting games, Yie Ar Kung-Fu II has a cumbersome control system, since game controllers at the time had just one or two buttons. Nevertheless, it is a fun game, with a varied roster of enemies and a very catchy PSG soundtrack.
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Four screenshots from The Treasure of Usas, released by Konami in 1987 for the MSX2. One cool thing about the soundtrack is that it changed according to the character’s mood: if the character was happy, the music sounded happier too.
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Title screen for The Treasure of Usas, a game released in 1987 by Konami for the MSX2 system. In this unusual platform game, two treasure hunters called Wit and Cles venture into the ancient ruins of South Asia seeking the legendary Treasure of Usas. The game has five stages, subdivided in four substages and a boss area. The player must clear the four substages (in any order) before fighting the boss, choosing one of the two characters. Since the game doesn’t have “lives”, the loss of a character inside a substage meant the player needs to enter the same substage with the other character to rescue the first one. Choosing the right character for each substage involves a bit of strategy, since Wit and Cles had different abilities. And here comes the unusual part: the game has some chinese character icons scattered around, representing moods or emotional states: neutral, happy, sad and angry. Touching one of these icons changes the character’s mood and abilities, and certain areas can only be reached by using the right mood. The player can collect coins to improve the characters’ speed, resistance and jump distance, and there’s also a password system enabling the player to start at a later stage. Treasure of Usas is a brutally difficult, but nevertheless very fun game, thanks to its great playability and outstanding PSG soundtrack.
Due to some technical issues yesterday, I was unable to make two posts about Penguin Adventure, as originally planned. From now on I intend to update daily, posting (usually) two pictures from (mostly) exclusive MSX games. I hope everyone, even who never played any MSX game before, have fun! ;)
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Four screenshots from Penguin Adventure, released by Konami in 1986 for the MSX1. The game was a long journey, with 24 stages full of varied obstacles and enemies, and eventual boss fights. There was a great sense of speed, which unfortunately can’t be seen just by looking at screenshots.
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Title screen for Penguin Adventure, a game released in 1986 by Konami for the MSX1 system. Considered one of the best exclusive games for the system, it had great graphics, excellent PSG music and top-notch playability. The player controlled the aforementioned Penguin in his quest to save his beloved Princess Penko’s life, who is terminally ill and needs a very special medicine. It played much like a driving game, where being quick to finish each stretch of the course was important, but the player could also collect fish, which could then be spent as currency in stores, improving the penguin’s speed or abilities. The speedy 3D-like graphics were a sight to behold, pushing the MSX1’s video capabilities to the limit.
