I’ve been familiar with the music from Glider Rider for many years, but somehow I’d never seen the game itself until just this week.
While I’m generally loyal to the C64, I have to say that I prefer the look and sound effects of the ZX Spectrum version. The blasts from the sentry towers are so striking with their menacing sound and contrasting colors.
And I find the little messages that come up charming.
Unsurprisingly, the C64 version wins in the music department. But I’m impressed with the Spectrum music as well. Both versions have dynamic music, shifting to the alternate tune when you’re in glider form. Could this be the first game to do something like that?
The version of this game’s music that I’ve heard the most is Makke’s arrangement. As with many of his other works, he wrote lyrics and added vocals.
Another game with a limited palette (though this time as an intentional choice, not a hardware limitation) is Rogue Sentry. I played it a while back and really enjoyed it. It’s a twin-stick shooter.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the appeal of the simplicity of video game worlds in general, and I guess particularly of the extremely limited ones. They are kind of like the versions of the world that you encounter in dreams, often missing a lot of elements (though this is not always obvious because your consciousness is similarly limited) but stripped-down and focused in a way that makes it appealing to spend time there.
And in older-looking 2D stuff, the choice of blank void backgrounds vs background layers is so important. As a kid I was a bit scared of black-void backgrounds (they were more friendly to me on the Game Boy (and then there’s the Game Boy technique of inverting background color rules and using the lightest shade so backgrounds look fog-shaded)).
Since Love 3 was just released, I guess I’ll mention it here. I’ve been a fan of these games since the first one. They have Jumpman-looking graphics and good music.
This new game apparently includes the first two as bonus levels.
Edit: I have now played through Love 3, and I ended up playing through the first game again immediately after because it’s very short and it’s right there in the menu. These games are great examples of very basic worlds that are evocative and immersive in their simplicity. The music helps a lot here, too.
I managed to find zero official secrets in the new game, though I came across a lot of things that suggested secrets.
