World premiere of «Cyborg Warriors» for Atari 8-bit | Download
2 min read
views
Krzysztof "Vega" Góra (Poland), known in the Atari community for his successful conversion projects, has completed his latest work: "Cyborg Warriors", originally released in 1991 for the BBC Micro.
«Cyborg Warriors» is a typical "fly to the right and shoot everything that moves and doesn't move" style shooter, which allows simultaneous cooperation of two players. Compared to the classic "Zybex" (Zeppelin Games, 1988) from Atari, «Cyborg Warriors» provides a similar experience in terms of gameplay and enjoyment.
The game, originally written by Tony Oakden and published in 1991 by Superior/Acornsoft, was available exclusively for a series of British educational computers and sold only in a cassette compilation titled "Play It Again Sam 15", along with "The Last Ninja 2", "Ricochet" and "Network".
Cyborg Warriors is a conversion of the BBC Micro game of the same name to the Atari XL/XE series computers. Thanks to the Atari's increased color capabilities compared to the original version, this port is not only a faithful adaptation but also offers a visually stunning upgrade.
The conversion process benefited from the same MOS 6502 processor architecture and similar graphics organization between the platforms. However, it is notable that, unlike the BBC Micro, the Atari 8-bit allowed the use of graphics without the need for hardware sprites, which simplified the conversion.
For the Atari version, Krzysztof decided that it would require a minimum of 128KB of RAM (as on the Atari 130XE), although a conversion for computers with 64KB of RAM was possible. His vision was to outperform the BBC Micro version, using the extra memory for more graphics, colours and faster gameplay. At the Atari, the drawing routines were optimised to increase game speed, and the five-colour graphics mode (equivalent to GR.12) was chosen to maximise the Atari's colour capabilities.
Meanwhile, the music is muted during gameplay to use all four POKEY channels to generate sound effects, meaning the Atari version has more sound effects than the original. Cyborg Warriors features a mode for up to two players simultaneously, as well as the ever-present cheats to activate a greater number of lives and weapons to face waves of enemy ships.
The conversion team includes Krzysztof "KAZ" Ziembik, who improved the graphics and performed gameplay testing; Michael "Miker" Szpilowski, who was responsible for music and sound effects; Saberman, who tested the game for bugs and suggested improvements; and Giann Velasquez, another tester who contributed ideas for the game.
On the AtariOnline portal, “Vega” recalls that many interesting BBC Micro titles could have been successfully created on Atari back then, but the rules of the market did not favour it. With a track record that includes acclaimed conversions such as “Yie Ar Kung Fu” (2006) and “Bomb Jack” (2008), as well as a playable demo of “Civilization” from 1995, Krzysiek now adds this new title to his impressive repertoire.
Cyborg Warriors for Atari 8-bit computers
Download | 106 kBPosted by
Please comment politely. Spam comments will be moderated. Thank you.