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Thanks
to screenshots from various magazines for an Amiga version of
Nighthunter, it can be confirmed that this is infact Nighthunter
by Ubi-soft.
Nighthunter
was cancelled on the C64 for unknown reasons, though Jereon Tel's
awesome music sits in the HVSC with its awesome samples. Apparently
the tunes were done in a rush thanks to Ubi-softs quick demands.
You
control a nice Hi-res overlayed Dracula
who must roam around his castle. Pressing down on the joystick
turns you into a wearwolf type character. I'm not sure if this
is the intention, though this is the case in the previews which
are present.
The
first two previews have no sound, and the first preview doesn't
have very good scrolling. Preview two has much smoother scrolling,
but little more than the first preview. There are a few glitches
and bugs in both, but this can be put down to the stage reached
by the previews. Dracula can actually walk in the air, and moonwalk
too!
The
third preview actually contains music, and allows you to go outside
of the castle. This seems to be a later version of the game, and
possibly this is how far it reached. The game contains music which
doesn't sound completly like Jeroen Tel, so its unknown if this
tune was added as a test.
Its
not known why the game was cancelled, as Ubi-Soft
continued to produce C64 games until 1992. Possibly the game was
too hungry for sprites, as the main character is very well animated,
two sprites high and has a overlay. Certainly by hacking into
the game's code, the player seems to have all his animations which
he would have had in the full game. There were no other sprites
made.
So
how did this game sneak out then?... why are these previews out
there?... Was the programmer in with a cracker?... Why?... How?...
More
research needed, but a very promising dracula game which sadly
never saw the light of day...
Short
and a preview, but enough to get your teeth into...
Frank.
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