ZauberBall'23 for Atari 8-bit computers | Review
5 min read
views
Get ready for an adventure full of magic and color, where you and your cat will be the heroes who will bring joy back to Wizworld.
ZAUBERBALL'23
Published by: Oliver "C3PU" Cyranka (Germany).Gender: Shooter / strategy.
Extra: 2 players, joystick.
THE STORY
Wiz and his faithful cat have always lived peacefully in a magical forest in a place called Wizworld. One day, the evil wizard DRAZIWLIVE came to take away all of his colors and turned Wizworld into a boring and ugly place. In reality, Wiz is a kind and peaceful guy who prefers to play Atari; but now together with his feline they decided to teach DRAZIWLIVE a lesson and bring back all the colors to the beautiful Wizworld.GAMEPLAY DYNAMICS
ZauberBall'23 is a mix of shoot 'em up and strategy elements, challenging the player to color six complete levels with three specific colors each. Completing the task involves, on the one hand, controlling a magical bouncing ball to annihilate enemies, collecting bonuses and activating power ups, and on the other hand, shooting the colored drops, collecting them with your satellite and filling the jars with red, green and blue colors.Via the craters of the volcanoes on the ground, you can switch between six different game worlds (levels). In each one you can collect drops of primary colors - which when mixed together give the target color required in the fourth pot. The number of colors required is shown in each game level by a strip next to the colored pots. The correct strategic decision regarding the power-ups and the collected colors determines success.
The grey drops increase the satellite's energy, while the orange and purple drops turn the satellite into a 'mutant' and you will lose control of it.
CONTROLS
Joystick: You control the movement of the magic ball and the selection of power ups.Satellite control: For single player play, hold down the fire button. Team players use the second joystick.
Space bar: pause the game. Press the fire button to resume the game.
Break key: Ends the current game and returns to the home screen.
GAME MENU
You can choose between one or two magic balls, as well as single and team mode. In single mode, the satellite is controlled by holding down the fire button; in team mode, the second player takes control of the satellite.If two magic balls are chosen, both players switch roles with each new life and scores are counted separately for both players.
Select key(F3 in Altirra): number of players (solo and team).
Option key(F4 in Altirra): difficulty (slow and fast).
Pressing the space bar on the home screen displays a summary of the game's instructions.
GAME SCREEN
1. Available lives.
2. Score.
3. Energy of satellite 'C'.
4. Number of enemies 'W'.
5. Current game level number.
6. Power ups available: Antigravity, beam, double shot, satellite, laser, wizard spray, satellite spray, bomb, shield.
7. Power up currently selectable (flashing).
8. Collected quantity of basic colors (in the three vessels, red, green, blue).
9. Target color to mix (in the container on the far right).
10. Bonus.
11. Crater.
THE POWER-UPS
Essential for successful gameplay is to first shoot some enemies until you collect bonus items (marked with the letter "B") in order to acquire additional abilities. These are displayed intermittently in the status bar at the bottom of the screen:Antigravity: the magic ball floats.
Ray: shield up/down.
Bi-directional shooting: left and right.
Satellite ("Catellite"): satellite that shoots and collects drops of color.
Laser: overcome all obstacles.
Wiz Spray: The magic ball shoots in all directions.
Cat spray: the satellite shoots in all directions.
Bomb: Eliminate all enemies on the screen.
Yin/Yang: Makes the magic ball and satellite indestructible.
Power ups can be selected by a quick left-right movement on the joystick or a short circular motion.
The first power-up on the far left side of the bar allows the ball to float instead of bouncing. The most important power-up is the "Catellite" (satellite), which can be controlled by holding down the fire button and is indispensable for collecting the colored drops.
BONUS ROUND
After completing a color, a round follows in which you can collect bonuses and points. If you survive the entire bonus round without taking damage, you will receive an extra life.
House of the Magician
Using left/right movement and the shoot button on the joystick, you can choose a permanent power up. These are immediately available after losing a life.
ASSESSMENT
ZauberBall'23 is a reinterpretation of Wizball (Sensible Software, 1987), with new gameplay elements: revamped background graphics, additional parallax effects, many additional colors from the Atari 8-bit palette, countless moving objects and enemy sprites. In addition, POKEY's alternative filters and clock rates were used to make the sound effects sound more transparent."The origin of Zauberball dates back to 87/88. Personally, I found Wizball exciting and since no official port for Atari 8-bit was planned, I thought there should be an alternative on this platform as well. Zauberball is not identical to the original and is a bit easier to play. It's kind of a reinterpretation with new gameplay aspects and graphics," said Oliver "C3PU" Cyranka (Germany), author of this game.
Once you get used to it, the game is quite entertaining. Especially the two-player team mode is highly recommended if you have a partner available. It's not for nothing that ZauberBall'23 took third place in the Atari Bit Byter User Club (ABBUC) 2023 software contest, with 516 points.
GRADES
- If your joystick has a continuous shooting function (for example: Quickshot, Competition Pro, etc.) it is essential that you deactivate it. Otherwise, neither the shots can be made accurately nor the satellite can be controlled correctly.
- Cyranka developed an updated version - V1.1 - of ZauberBall'23, featuring an "Easy" mode and Joy2B/SNACK-SNES support, which makes it easier to select extras via the X/B buttons on the SNES joystick.
Posted by
Please comment politely. Spam comments will be moderated. Thank you.