Xenon 2: Megablast

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Xenon 2: Megablast
Xenon-2-megablast-logo.png
Xenon 2: Megablast Logo (Atari ST Title Screen)
Studio Bitmap Brothers
Publisher Image Works
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1989
platform Acorn Archimedes , Amiga , Atari Jaguar , Atari ST , CDTV , Game Boy , MS-DOS , Sega Master System , Sega Mega Drive , Sharp X68000
genre Shoot 'em up
Subject Science fiction
Game mode Single player
control Joystick , D-pad

Xenon 2: Megablast is a shoot-'em-up computer game that was developed in 1989 by Bitmap Brothers . The game was marketed by Image Works . Initially it was released for Amiga , Atari ST , MS-DOS and Acorn Archimedes . It is the successor to the 1988 game Xenon (also released as Kelly X ).

Game description

The player controls a spaceship over five vertically scrolling levels and tries to destroy various opponents or to avoid them. At least once per level he also has to deal with a boss . Compared to similar shoot-'em-up computer games from this time, Xenon 2 offers some innovations: The power-up system is not only based on improvements that the player collects with the spaceship. A type of currency has also been introduced, with which the player can buy new equipment in a shop twice per level. Scrolling also gives the player a certain amount of freedom. So it is possible to bring this to a standstill by counteracting and even to reverse it.

music

Another innovation for games from the 1980s is the soundtrack . Xenon 2 is one of the first games to have digitized music from a song known from the charts . The title Megablast from Bomb the Bass is reproduced almost faithfully in the intro . In the course of the game, a version adapted by David Whittaker is used. A prominent feature of the title track is a loop that was taken from the soundtrack of the film Assault at Night .

Ports

Xenon 2 was released for CDTV in 1991 . Conversions to Game Boy , Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive followed in 1992 . In 2000, the English computer magazine PC Format published a modified version on the magazine CD as Xenon 2000 . There is also a version for the Japanese Sharp X68000 computer, for the Atari ST and for the Commodore Amiga .

In 2016, an implementation for the Atari Jaguar, officially authorized by the Bitmap Brothers, appeared .

Others

One improvement that can be purchased in the game is the so-called "Super Nashwan Power". This equips the player's spaceship with the maximum possible extra weapons for ten seconds. In the game Speedball 2 produced by the Bitmap Brothers in 1990 , “Super Nashwan” is the most powerful computer-controlled team.

criticism

The game was generally received very positively in the trade press. Above all, the graphics, the innovations mentioned, the level of difficulty and the soundtrack were mentioned.

"Classy graphics combined with a [sic] true sound orgy from BOMB THE BASS characterize this top hit on the one hand."

- ASM edition 10/1989

"It's amazing what the finest graphics and animation cavort on the monitor. [...] Above all, Xenon II was able to convince me playfully."

- Power Play issue 10/1989

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jungsi: Xenon 2 Mega Blast [Atari Jaguar]. In: Jungsis Corner. June 30, 2016, accessed February 16, 2020 .