No sooner had we mentioned the first entry into the MSXDev26 competition and along comes an all time classic Arcade entry number 2. A brilliant new port of the classic arcade shooter Berzerk, developed by Pixel Forge. Transporting players back to the high-stakes tension of the 1980 Stern Electronics original, this release challenges you to navigate a lone humanoid through a relentless, interconnected maze of deadly rooms. Your objective is pure retro survival—blast oncoming robots, rack up a massive high score, and stay alive against increasingly brutal odds.
While MSX veterans might remember Aackosoft’s decent attempt at porting the game back in the eighties, Pixel Forge has completely blown that older version out of the water. This modern iteration is significantly faster, intensely nerve-wracking, and introduces crisp PSG sound samples that breathe new life into the retro audio. The gameplay remains beautifully unforgiving too: you must gun down advancing robots while hunting for an exit to the next room. However, lingering to clear out enemies is a fatal mistake—stay too long, and the invincible, grinning Evil Otto appears to hunt you down, turning an already frantic escape into a total panic.
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It's a good start, but blows the Aackosoft one out of the water? It's much too fast, the graphics are glitchy and half of the gameplay rules are wrong. Hopefully there's a V1.1 coming that's a lot better.
ReplyDeleteOh that's a shame, MSXDev seem to rate this one rather highly " this new version is much faster, more nerve-wracking, and includes PSG samples. "
DeleteI really liked the speed; it reminds me of the arcade version—which I replayed from my 1998 collection for comparison—but the sound design was lacking. That’s the key difference compared to the home Atari version: the "Destroy," "Intruder," and "Alert: Must Escape" cues, along with the various shooting and death sounds—that’s what’s missing for me. I didn't notice any rule changes or glitches—though I played it quickly on MAME just to get the hang of it—and since I didn't have this ROM back in 1986 on my MSX Expert Brazil, I wouldn't have picked up on any differences in the rules anyway.
DeleteWell, it certainly is faster, more nerve-wracking ("Can I move slightly to the right without smashing straight into the wall?") and it undeniably does include PSG samples, so those statements aren't wrong, but they also don't make it a better game.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the speed; it reminds me of the arcade version—which I replayed from my 1998 collection for comparison—but the sound design was lacking. That’s the key difference compared to the home Atari version: the "Destroy," "Intruder," and "Alert: Must Escape" cues, along with the various shooting and death sounds—that’s what’s missing for me. I didn't notice any rule changes or glitches—though I played it quickly on MAME just to get the hang of it—and since I didn't have this ROM back in 1986 on my MSX Expert Brazil, I wouldn't have picked up on any differences in the rules anyway.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the speed; it reminds me of the arcade version—which I replayed from my 1998 collection for comparison—but the sound design was lacking. That’s the key difference compared to the home Atari version: the "Destroy," "Intruder," and "Alert: Must Escape" cues, along with the various shooting and death sounds—that’s what’s missing for me. I didn't notice any rule changes or glitches—though I played it quickly on MAME just to get the hang of it—and since I didn't have this ROM back in 1986 on my MSX Expert Brazil, I wouldn't have picked up on any differences in the rules anyway.
ReplyDelete