Draconus for Atari 8-bit computers | Review
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Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away... a phrase like this can easily be used as the plot of "Draconus" (Cognito, 1988); a platform adventure with gothic overtones and remembered by many, without fear of being wrong, for a presentation as dazzling as its music (another of Adam Gilmore's works of genius).
The game, marked by the impeccable graphic style ofZeppelin Games, transports us to aalien worldmillions of years from Earth, plagued bymagic and mystical creatures, which has fallen under the supremacy of theTyrant BeastTyrant Beast
«Draconus» puts us in charge ofFrognum, an agile creature with characteristicsreptiloids, whose mission is to overthrow the Tyrant Beast and restore order to his world. His journey will take him to explore aunderground labyrinthof more than 100 rooms, in which you will face various dangers and must, additionally, discover differentenchanted artifactsthat they will give younew skills
DRACONUS
Posted by:Cognito, 1988.Gender:Adventure, 2-D platforms.
Extra:1 player, joystick.
TRANSFORMATIONS
Among the different elements that will give powers to our hero, the one called stands outMorph Helix. Once we get it, upon contact withspecial platformswill allow Frognum to transfigure into theaquatic Draconewt. Only in this way can you access the (otherwise impenetrable) waters and reachnew areasfrom the labyrinth.
Frognum canwalk, jump, hit, crouch andthrow fire. Instead, Draconewt canswimand additionally launchwater jetsunder pressure to annihilate his enemies. However, he cannot leave the water without using one of the various special platforms.
By standing on these platforms andthrowof the lever,will transformto Frognum in Draconewt - if and only if you possess the Morph Helix. The reverse procedure - that is,pushthe lever up from under a platform - will turn you back into Frognum.
ENEMIES AND POWERS
Throughout your quest for items that will give you powers to face the Tyrant Beast itself, you will come across a widerepertoire of enemieswho will try to sabotage your plans. Among them areGiant rats, vampires and strange circular shapesSome of these can be permanently eliminated, either by your hits or by the fire that Frognum breathes.
Your claws are powerful but have short range. Meanwhile, the number of "rounds" of fire islimited; however, we will occasionally find vessels with "flame fluidFlasks of Flame Fluid). These will supply you with ten (10) more exhalations.
Aside from that, in the later stages of the game, you will have to find theFindol Necromancer's WandFindol Staff) which requires a"ammunition" of glitterscarce (floating energy clouds). While the shots with this power are weak compared to the fire breath - it takes at least three shots to finish off a single enemy - the Rod of Findol isunlimitedand allows you to shoot enemies inelevated areas
Hecontactof our character with the enemies -in any of their forms-reducetheir levels ofenergyand eventually makes himloseone of thethree (3) liveswith which he has to complete his crusade. However, as with the "flame fluid" vessels, we can find someelixir bottlesenergy crystals) that will replenish all the lost energy.
Another risk for Frognum is theabysses, because any big fall (a screen) will belethal. Your only chance is to find theDemonic Shield of the Infernal Warrior GromDemon Shield of Grom) which will reduce energy loss and allow you to fall from great heights. In either case,If you loseone of your lives, Frognum will resume the game from thelast podiumRecord slab) on which it stood - saving us from having to start all over again.
Likewise, losing one of your livesdoes not implythe loss of the magical artifacts collected so far. Also to be mentioned is the need to find theEye of the ancient black dragon SerekosEye of Serekos), which will fade thedelusionspreventing the hero from accessing all available rooms.
GAME SCREEN
In addition to the obvious central part of the screen, and where the action takes place, there areother sectorswith important information about the status of Frognum and the progress it is making.
In thebottomis displayedFrognum energy(left) and its shape asDraconewt(right). Between them the details are givenMagical itemscollected in the adventure.
In the parttop leftIt is shown thescoreachieved so far. Then, atcenter, there are thelivesthat we have left to play. And finally, to theright, the number of theflames availablein Frognum state. By the way, the high-pressure water jets (water jets) in Draconewt mode areunlimited
CONTROLS
Frognum's basic movements are controlled without the fire button:Left or rightforadvancein those directions;belowforbendaboveforhopabout the site and thediagonalsup tojump in the directioncorresponding.
However, things change when you move the lever with thebutton pressed. Up: throws fire; forward: strikes with claws; down: crouches and throws fire; and diagonally down: activates Findol's Rod.
On the other hand, if you want to make apause, pressSelect (F3); forcontinue, press the keyStart (F2); and forCancelthe game, pause (F3) and then press the keyOption (F4)
SCORE
- 150points for eachenemy destroyed(with fire, blows or shots from the Findol Wand).
- 500points when taking a vessel with "flame fluid". There are eight (8) vessels in total.
- 500points when taking aelixir of energy. There are five (5) in total, including one underwater for Draconewt and anotherimpossible to take
- Take eachmagic artifactgives the protagonist500points; meaning you can score up to two thousand points for the Morph Helix; the Eye of Serekos; the Demonic Shield of Grom; and the Rod of Findol.
- To the above add500points every time you take the "sparkles" for the rod. There are a total of four (4) places where they can be found.
- On the other hand,annihilate the semibossof Draconus will reward you with1000 points; and the final battle with theTyrant Beast, 5000 points
SHORT WALKTHROUGH
You start the adventure with Frognum in the cave where you must look for the Tyrant Beast. He is standingon one of the pedestalsthat serve ascheckpointin case of losing a life. You have the freedom tostart exploringthe cavern to the right, left or down, with virtually no other restriction thanabilityto overcome obstacles and annihilate your enemies. However, if you are in a hurry to seethe end of the game, we recommend you follow these steps:
CURIOSITIES
The game consists of106 screensin total. There arenine (9) podiumsof advancement and eight (8) places to become Draconewt.
Without a doubt, themore complicated screensare those where theenemies remain motionlessfor a certain time, and thenpounce directlyagainst Frognum. You can try to cross these areas quickly, without facing danger; however, this is not usually the best alternative because the jumps and movements to be executed must bevery precise
You will soon discover thatTolerance for error is almost zero. Therefore, it is most advisable toannihilate the enemyWell, once dead, this oneIt does not usually reoccur; which is very advantageous because there will be (several) occasions when you will have to visitthe same areasmore than once.
The official game guide mentions howenemiesto "water snakes, terrortoads, catepelose"... the truth is that inthe wateryou will only facesome fishof bad appearance and some of the usual "spheres
The attacks of the semiboss and the Tyrant Beast do not damage you if youyou keep jumpingwhile shooting them with the Findol Rod.
Beware of some of the "steps", because it is easy to staystuckfor a while, at the exact moment when your enemies have just noticed your presence. In these cases, you mustjump forward, because if you walk you can fall into the wells.
One of the most memorable features of the game is the sequence ofDeath of Frognum, in which he is seen practicallyexplode in half-some gore for the 8-bits of that time.
Yeahyou leave the gameFor a few moments, Frognum will stand facing forward and begin toturn your headto the sides. At that moment, if you move the lever slightly, you will see that the character will also move (errr.. how to say it?) Ahem! a section of his body, below the waist...
Draconus occupiedtwicethe first place in the Top Ten of theAtari Magazinefrom Germany.
AN IMMORTAL MELODY
Just likeZybex, Draconus is one of the gamesmost rememberedof all time thanks to its graphics, but particularly forhis musicAdam Gilmore, an English composer who, at just over 16 years old, created musical pieces for various games during the 80s and 90s, is the creator of this immortal melody.
Gilmore (also known by the nickname ofGizmo) captured his original style using theSID and Pokey sound chipsof that time, which had 3 and 4 sound channels respectively. According to him, in an interview,He himself wrote the code for hismusic playerfor theC64 in assembler 6502. Little by little, he got used to the cumbersome task of entering the data of each tune directly into the program, usinghexadecimal codeThe C64 to Atari conversions were almost direct, as both machines ran on a 6502 processor.
On the theme that opens the game, Gilmore acknowledges thatoriginally wrote itfor a game ofActivisioncalled "Corporation". Kevin Franklin (the programmer of Draconus) heard the song and requested it for his game.
Also, as you might expect,the melodyhas given rise tomany remixesand versions in different keys, in particularmetal
UNOFFICIAL SEQUELS
One of the surprises I came across when surfing the Internet looking for information for this guide is thealleged continuationsthat Draconus had. Of the three that are known in different sites dedicated to the Atari 8-bits, two correspond toSergio BoassiDraconus IIandDraconus III) and the remaining one, toGuillermo FuenzalidaDraconus IV), both Chilean.
Boassi, then a 14-year-old teenager, used aprogramcalled "The Translator"which was primarily used to change the texts of the games. "The program asked you to insert a sector of the diskette and when you did it gave you all the information of that sector inATASCII code; that is, the 256-character code. The utility of "The Translator" was basically that... but as an intruder I wanted to go a little further and I started to discover things," he tells the Atariware.cl forum
Similarly, he details the process he followed to "create" hisversionsof Draconus. "What I did was this: I chose arandom sectorandModify 10 characters; I put anything but carefully noted the sector and location of the modifications, as well as the characters that were originally there to restore them in case of errors. After typing these random characters, I loaded the game to see what happened. Many times the game never started so I obviously changed characters that were essential for the game to work. However, the light appeared when the characters I had modifiedcaused changes in the game's graphics. For example: in Draconus, the stone blocks came out without the top. That immediately indicated to me that in that sector of the game was the design of the game blocks. In this way, and following the method of "trial and error"I started to alter each sector of the game in a way to identify which sectors were the graphic part, which sectors were important for the mechanics of the game. I even found the music sectors but clearly I couldn't do much there."
Perceptions aside as to whether these "sequels" were good or bad, the truth is that at least in the case ofDraconus IIandIII,there isbiggest obstacleswhich hinder the mobility of Frognum. Likewise, theenemies and powersare located inthe same locationsfrom the original - although in Draconus III changes were tested with the sprites, following the technique described above.
Finally, in my research, I found thissingularDraconus versionthat can be doneplay online. As expected, it was also created inChili
Seen from a historical perspective,DraconusIt is one of those few games that survived the obsolescence of the2D game, thanks to theirAwesome graphics-reflected in its magnificent statues and arches, for example- andunforgettable soundtrack-including the melodies in the cutscenes. In short, Draconus is a feast for the senses, barely marred by a fewsmall mistakesin collision detection - like those enemies that don't drain your energy with their attacks.
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It was a lot of fun programming Draconus, as you can see it has no pretensions, just to bring an old childhood friend to the web.
I remember that after I played it for the first time, my perception and desire to have games of that level accompanied me forever in the life of the XL.
Blinky's Scary School followed the same logic (it's from Zeppelin Games too)... I think there needed to be more of these games on the Atari.
Greetings!
pS: A 3D remake is needed... it would be sooo cool.
Greetings to all!!