Be Excellent To Each Other

It's raining. Boo! But some 8 bit action always cheers everyone up.

Todays game is Spindizzy on the Amstrad CPC. Think of it as rather like Marble Madness. Simply collect as many crystals as you can in the time limit. You have no lives as such, instead every time you die a few seconds get knocked off the time limit.

Linky link link: http://java.cpc-live.com/spindizz.html

Nice Youtube video which may help:



The control system does seem fiddly at first but I got the hang of it after a couple of minutes. Just takes some getting used to

The only tip I can give is that practice makes perfect and you need to think everything through. Spindizzy may seem frustrating but it is scrupulously fair. If you mess up it's usually because you have no finesse with the controls or didn't think the screen through.

The emulator runs via Java. For best results select "double size" and "QAOP" as joystick.

You will need to click on the game window before starting for it to register your controls.

Score deadline is Wednesday 6pm. No screenshots needed. Just post your score in this thread.

Go go go!


Scores so far:

Lord Rixondale: 13
Chinny: 12
The Vision: 10

7 on my first go. It's pretty good game but I've always found the controls difficult for games with the isometric viewpoint utilised here. Still, I'll give it another bash.

13 jewels now. It is indeed a good game this.

Must say that I probably haven't played this since the mid 1990's (it was one of the first games Amstrad Action gave away when they started doing monthly tapes). It is rather splendid.

Yes the controls are rather fiddly but rather like riding a bike once you have the hang of them they made sense.

Spindizzy originated on the CPC which is why I selected that version. There's even a SNES version although the programmer wasn't informed and thought it was pretty poor. He ended up taking legal action. There's also a sequel on the ST and Amiga.

For many reasons the game never really became widely known as a classic despite rave reviews. Looking up the game on wiki reveals the marketing was possibly quite poor and the publishers didn't really get behind it.

Just had the one go and managed 11. The rooms with the lifts where you're operating blind aren't much fun, but still a good game.

I have a vague memory of a control that lets you flip the screen angle, but that may be a different game.

[edit] Wiki seems to agree. So I wonder what control flips it. You can also change the shape of the player sprite as well to suit each puzzle.

[edit 2] The help screen (accessible from the menu) may say. Can't check at mo.

I think I got this game on that covertape!

MAlc

I keep reading the thread title as Mimi 8 bit challenge!

Just got 12.

The curser keys rotate the viewing angle. Quite clever really.

The i key changes your player sprite but I'm not sure for what purpose.

Ah, you're thinking of Spindizzy Worlds, which was first released on the Amiga and ST, later to be converted to the Super NES. The latter conversion didn't suffer from awkwardly having to use the space bar as the gyroscope brake, but generally wasn't too good.


Very possible. Personally, I'm wondering if the stigma of being similar to Marble Madness and Melbourne House's Gyroscope didn't help matters, but then a lot of games shared passing similarity back then (well, perhaps no more so than in 2011, objectively).

Oh, that's what the space bar does. I noticed pressing space drains time so presumably it penalises you for using the brake.

I got 10 on this last night but got stuck on a wall that was at an angle. The only way off was to die or hold the right key till the time ran out.

Is there a turbo button or something to help me up angled walls?

I did this. Am not sure if changing your shape helps.

[takes back what he said about Spindizzy being fair]

This is what confused me. Hitting space doesn't work as a brake - you hold it down and you move faster, to help you up the slopes. Unless it has a dual function and slows you down if you're already moving?

From memory.

The different shapes do not make a difference.

The fire button is an accelerator and a brake and works in conjunction with the joystick. It gives you speed in the selected direction, so if you have heading in that direction you are pushing the stick you speed up, if you push against your current direction, you brake. Either way, it penalises you time.

The cursor keys are to prevent you getting lost behind the landscape.

The game is very fair. But bloody tough. Had a map of it somewhere.

Bollocks, didn't get any more time to play this.

Lord Rixondale snatches the win with 13 jewels. Well done.

Meanwhile I hope I get chance to play this great game again over the weekend. One of those games that is all but forgotten about but is bloody great fun. It still stands up today.

I'm giving it 958 Bananas. It's a standout 8 bit classic and it's surprising it didn't make the YS Top 100 unless the Speccy version was shit or something.

Speccy version was great as I recall. I prefer its more stark monochrome to the CPC one myself.

The CPC was the lead version. The Speccy version was ported. Made a nice change actually to have the CPC as the original.

Shame there hasn't been a modernised version of Spindizzy in some form*. The concept it timeless, all it needs is a lick of paint (metaphorical paint involving new technology, natch) and a nicer control sceheme – job done.

* Kororinpa and Archer Maclean's Mercury have some similarities with Spindizzy, mind you.

If they re-did it now I'm sure it would go all neon looking. And probably blue.

Personally, I would like to know if it is similar to the marble floor of the madness and Melbourne did not help matters gyroscope shame, but then at the time of sharing and passing similarity, perhaps no more than in 2011, a lot of games on the objective .

Thanks for your input, luluxiu.

I had a go on Spindizzy Worlds on the Amiga. Don't like it at all. The flick screen nature of the CPC version means each screen is a puzzle in itself. Spindizzy Worlds scrolls and this kind of changes the game design for the worse. The design feels less tight and the whole experience is far less enjoyable. It feels like a poor Marble Madness clone instead of being it's own game.