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Back on our screens in 1988, we were graced by one of the greatest SEU's of all time. Armalyte was released with an almighty impact, shaping the way all sideways SEU's should be on the C64.
With the first game's big success, a sequel was inevitable and work was set on a sequel to be released in late 1989/early 1990. Again being programmed by the immaculate Cyberdyne Systems, a few ideas were placed. The main ship was to be more colourful, the aliens more intelligent and a power-up shop was to be included too. It was to borrow more from Salamander too!
The game was to feature around 6 levels in total, and just the one player to fit in all the improvements. Flickering problems from the first game were to be removed and other various improvements. Unfortunatly, Cyberdyne Systems were contracted out to System 3, and after getting to work on projects for System 3, such as Deadlock and Last Ninja 3. Armalyte 2 was shelved.
Dan Phillips of ex-Cyberdyne Systems, contacted GTW with proof of the game's existance. Dan submitted to GTW a series of previews which were made to demonstrate ideas which were put on the table. As well as the main ideas above being demonstrated, the last game's levels used as demonstration have had colour splits placed onto them and the weaponry on one of the previews is awesome. As well as this, you can experience the all new ship itself and some new enemies knocked together by Robin Levy.
So thanks to Dan Phillips, you can now experience what was Armalyte 2 on the C64, or at least part of what it was to be. The remains of a potential new king to the throne of best C64 SEU. Also check out "Creator Speaks" for the full story on Armalyte 2 as extracted from Zzap 64's interview with Cyberdyne Systems.
In 2010, GTW backed up a number of disks from John Kemp and Robin Levy, and on one of the disks was a music demo from a guy called Bjorn. The music was intended for Armalyte 2, but it seems that the music was by Prosonix! The main tune was only infact released recently! (http://csdb.dk/release/?id= 95768) . We are not sure exactly who Bjorn was!
We have also found some sprite files which we have uploaded into the main download file. The disk label can be found here.
As you will see from the disk label, it seems that the game could well have been called "Maglyte" had it been finished.
As an additional bonus, when you download these previews, you will also obtain a special D64 of a previously unseen Competition Edition of Armalyte, built with an official Cyberdyne trainer. Many thanks to Dan Phillips for his incredible contribution to GTW!
One
of the big long lost c64 games.... found!
Frank.
(Additional
source credits - Ian Osbourne, Dan Phillips, Robin Levy, John Kemp) |
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