Software:Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon

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Short description: 1991 video game
Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon
Developer(s)Dynamix
Publisher(s)Sierra On-Line
Designer(s)Paul Bowman
Platform(s)Amiga, DOS
Release1991
Genre(s)Shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon is a futuristic shooter video game developed by Dynamix and released by Sierra On-Line in 1991 for the IBM PC and compatibles and Amiga as the second sequel to the game Stellar 7.

Gameplay

The player assumes the role of a futuristic tank pilot fighting alien threats across nine different star systems. The tank is designated as the Raven II and is equipped with forward-facing cannon with unlimited ammo that can fire two shot bursts, energy shields and armor (unlike the tank in the previous game Stellar 7). Damage to the player's tank after the shields are breached comes in the form of systems becoming less effective; this mostly effects mobility. Power-ups can be collected in this game, though the system works differently than in the previous game in the series. Here, up to nine power-ups can be stored and used when needed. The damage to the player's tank can permanently break power-up slots. Finally, the player's tank can be repaired by returning to a hidden asteroid base at a designated warp portal locations throughout the game. These appear on about every other world. If the tank is not particularly damaged when going to a repair portal, the player can also receive permanent upgrades to the tank as well; a few upgrades are required to advance the story, so they will happen at designated points in time even if the player's tank is badly damaged.

The game's enemies include anything from other tanks to mechanical birds equipped with a range of weapons including lasers, ballistic attacks, and mines. Each of the nine worlds has a theme to it, and the enemies on that world tend to follow the theme, such as a dinosaur world or a bug world; this was an advancement over the previous game, where enemies were often reused across worlds. Each alien world also has a boss that must be defeated, most of which require some level of creativity, such as shooting the boss in a weak point or using terrain against it. The final boss is Gir Draxon himself, in a horned skull-like super-tank. He has three phases to defeat, the first two of which require creative tactics; this level of boss complexity was rather impressive for the time.

The alien worlds were rendered as mostly featureless plains that looped around themselves eventually, though each world had a modest variety of 3D objects on it that represented rock formations or occasionally alien plant life. The worlds' backgrounds were digital paintings of alien skies that wrapped around the horizon.

The game lacks a save feature. The player has effectively two "Continues" - basically, extra lives - and that was it before the game needed to be restarted from the beginning. Experienced players would also soon notice that damage effects to the tank could be overly crippling, reducing the fun of playing or making the game unwinnable on the current life. For example, significant damage to one side of the tank could completely remove the ability to turn in a given direction; damage effects tended to pile up rapidly, since as mobility was reduced, it became harder to avoid further incoming damage or keep enemies away from the tank's wounded side. The damage effects allowed the tank to survive more damage than the unarmored one in Stellar 7, which simply died when its shields (hitpoints) ran out.

Plot

Gir Draxon, the evil overlord defeated at the end of the previous game (Stellar 7) crash lands on an alien world, broken and scarred. He quickly locates a powerful alien artifact that controls the minds of his victims, slaughters the harmless alien creatures nearby, and begins rebuilding his interstellar empire. A distress call goes out from one world as he conquers it, which quickly turns to an image of obviously mind-controlled victims claiming that everything is fine. Meanwhile, the protagonist from the previous game has built a hidden facility in a large asteroid amid a vast field of asteroids where he can design more powerful tools to fight evil like Gir Draxon. The most notable creation is that of the Raven II heavy tank, a direct upgrade over the powerful but fragile Raven I from Stellar 7. He also has a robotic repair droid and an AI computer that contains the personality of his late wife, who was lost in Gir Draxon's first attack on Earth in Stellar 7.

As the hero advances through each world, defeating Gir Draxon's forces as he goes, Draxon's minions close on the hidden base. Eventually, they find it as the game nears its conclusion, and the AI destroys the base to prevent Draxon's minions from finding information on the Raven II and using it to defeat the protagonist. After Draxon is defeated in the final battle, his super-tank overloads, electrocuting and killing him. The hero then returns to the asteroid field and finds evidence that the AI computer containing his wife's personality may have survived the blast.

Reception

The game got ​4 1⁄2 out of 5 stars in Dragon.[1] Computer Gaming World praised the game's "breathtaking graphics", high difficulty, and intelligent opponents, only criticizing the lack of a save game option. The magazine concluded that "Nova 9 is an excellent offering for arcade fans everywhere ... a thoroughly professional effort".[2]

Reviews

  • Amiga Games - October 1992[3]
  • Amiga Joker - September 1992[4]

References

  1. ↑ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (April 1992). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (180): 57–61. 
  2. ↑ Threadgill, Todd (April 1992). "Draxon's Back!". Computer Gaming World (93): 40, 42. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1992&pub=2&id=93. Retrieved 24 November 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Kultboy.com - DIE Kult-Seite über die alten Spiele-Magazine und Retro-Games!". http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=9025. 
  4. ↑ "Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon review from Amiga Joker (Oct 1992) - Amiga Magazine Rack". http://amr.abime.net/review_25631. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
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