A while back you may remember when we mentioned the Zap BBC game which was being uncovered by Jamie Woodhouse (Creator of Quak on the Amiga/PC and GBA) which never got released, well Retro Software have recently picked up the game and have made it available and for sale in proper inlays very much in Psytronik style with professional quality and duplication.
Zap2
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I had my first experience of playing Zap at Retrovision 2010 and I must say that its a very good blast if you are into your shooters like me. It has quite a harsh scoring system which makes posting a high-score quite a challenge. Graphics and sound are very good throughout and for the very cheap prices which Retro Software are charging, there is no excuse not to pick up a copy. (And on a variety of formats too!)
Additionally we were presented with another game called “The Krystal Connection“, which is a very addictive platform/puzzler affair for the same price. This is yet another game that was never released and was saved from the developers disks. It originally was due for release by Melbourne House in 1986, but never quite happened (We think because support was dropped for the Beeb by Melbourne House at that time). The guys have Retro Software have had things tidied up and released in proper inlays and tape/disk. Graphics are nothing spectacular, but are very functional and the game tune I found very catchy. Overall its the playability that shines through, and this was very popular on Dave Moores BBC at Retrovision 2010.
And there is more to come – and the theme of saving unreleased games continues, with the next title looking to be Repton: The Lost Realms. More about this up and coming release can be found here: http://www.retrosoftware.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Repton:_The_Lost_Realms
At present, there is a bit of a debate about offering digital copies of the games for a smaller charge (Though at present people buying the game physically are given a digital copy to play with – but id check this first with R.S, as I may have got my copy as a favour). Hopefully it will happen, as some people may not want to buy a physical copy of a game when they dont have a BBC Micro, and would prefer to play them on an emulator. Well see how that pans out.
For more details on ordering, check out: http://www.retrosoftware.co.uk
