Regular readers will know that Turrican is one of my all-time favourite games, so I was intrigued to see tech demo of the gaame for the MSX.
Microsoft and ASCII Corporation’s 1983 Z80-based home computer was unsurprisingly overlooked by Manfred Trenz and the team at Factor 5 back in 1990, but one amazing software developer has got this (admittedly alien-free) tech demo running.
It’s the fifth such release and frankly I’m impressed. Having played Turrican regularly since release (after several months of lusting after it in the pages of Zzap! magazine) I really like what I see here. The map appears to be bang-on, the animation suits the limitations of the platform, and the music is even more of a surprise.
Shared by thegeps on the English Amiga Board forum, development of this features
- Background music (by Bitcaffe) updated
- Management of destructibles background element
- Rotating Laser
Writing in the forum, thegeps notes:
I know you have been waiting for it (I have had several requests about it) so I present to you the new Work In Progress of my Turrican! I only added a few things, but I assure you that it was not trivial to do so. First of all the first level music has been updated and I have to say that Bitcaffe (aka Gabriel Caffarena) did a really good job (but you can hear it for yourself).
As for my efforts, however, I have implemented the management of the destructible background elements (in the case of this level, the “blocks” at the entrance to the cave at the bottom left) and the rotating laser. I am quite proud of the handling of destructible elements because I have made it more precise than the C64 and Amiga game versions. I will publish soon a comparison video to show you the difference.
The “playable” demo of this update will soon be available to try online, as usual, on File-Hunter. Remember to set the video on YouTube to 720p50 to avoid skipping frames (important to have a correct view of the rotating laser, which alternates at each frame)
The MSX Turrican tech demo can be played in your browser.
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Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.