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Loadstar 248
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t.misfortune
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2022-08-26
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u
M I S F O R T U N E
by Bad Bytes
Text by Fender Tucker
[NOTE:] MISFORTUNE runs only from
drive 8.
LOADSTAR has a pretty bad
reputation outside the US, I hear. Our
games are lame and we cater to over
the hill retirees instead of vibrant
young go-getters. We still program in
BASIC!
Well, our reputation is probably
deserved. I know I'm over the hill and
judging by the letters and phone calls
I get, there are more old capons in
the LOADSTAR roost than there are
spring chickens. And yes, I prefer
programs written in BASIC -- with ML
modules as needed. But if I'm sent a
game in the modern mold, I'm not about
to reject it just because I can't play
it well. I'll proudly put it on
LOADSTAR so you too can play it badly.
MISFORTUNE is a terrific side-
scrolling jump and shoot game with
beautiful graphics and catchy music.
It was sent to me more than a year ago
by someone representing Bad Bytes, a
coding group from Australia. I saw
that it was a great game for
joystickers but it had a weird intro
about some guy named Dozer and his
battle with Evil Edwin and his armies.
The intro seemed to have nothing
whatsoever to do with the game itself,
which featured cute, furry little
creatures who gambol around in a
winter wonderland -- killing each
other.
So I wrote back, "Drop the intro,
send me some docs so I know what the
goal is and what happens when a player
reaches that goal, tell me more about
yourself and the coders, and I'll be
proud to have MISFORTUNE on LOADSTAR."
Well, I was told that the intro
was "vital" to the game and it had to
stay. So I edited (on paper) the intro
story, which is told in several
screens, and sent it back to Bad Bytes
for fixing. About a year later I got
the program back, with the intro now
spelled correctly, even though it
still has nothing to do with the game
itself, as far as I can tell.
But who cares about an intro? The
game that follows is fantastic.
[PLAYING MISFORTUNE]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
There are five worlds to explore
in MISFORTUNE and each one contains
five keys that you must pick up and
place in a chest. Using a joystick in
Port 2, you move your little guy
underneath square blocks and have him
jump up and bump into them, causing
them to change color and perhaps
reveal an icon for you to take. If the
icon is a key, then take it to the
chest on that level and deposit it
there. Get five keys and you go to the
next level, or world.
Other icons you might find are
coins, extra time, point bonuses and
three different gun powers (weak,
medium and strong). That's right,
there are many little critters that
you have to shoot. To me it looks more
like throwing snowballs than shooting
a gun. Maybe that should be "three
different [arm] powers."
At various points on your quest
you'll pass a Check Point Marker. It
will change color, indicating that
should you die you'll come back to
that point instead of an earlier
point.
There's a time limit so you have
to hunt and kill fast.
You can quit to BASIC by pressing
and holding the Commodore key for two
seconds at the Main Menu.
The boot to MISFORTUNE sets the
speed of the CPU at 1 MHz if you have
a SuperCPU. At 20 MHz the program
doesn't work.
Gamers, let me know what you think
about MISFORTUNE. I'd like to publish
more programs like it because it
represents a style of coding that
isn't often seen on LOADSTAR. I can't
play it and I can't edit it, and that
makes me uncomfortable, but I have to
admit, the animation is top quality.
FT
[DAVE ADDENDUM] If I recall correctly,
Ricky Derocher suggested this game and
Corsair as two of his all time
favorites. He has good taste!
We are always looking for the Best of
LOADSTAR to include in our issues.
When you get [LOADSTAR by the Dozen]
and find a jewel hidden in one of our
long-forgotten issues, drop me a line
at
revdave6@rmi.net
I love to hear from you!
DMM