Software:Uridium

From HandWiki

Uridium (released for the NES as The Last Starfighter)[1] is a horizontally scrolling shooter designed by Andrew Braybrook for the Commodore 64 and published by Hewson Consultants in 1986. The game consists of fifteen levels,[2] each named after a metal element, with the last level being the fictional metallic element Uridium. The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name, as saying "I really thought it existed".[3]

Uridium was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, MS-DOS, and ZX Spectrum. A version was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990 by Mindscape. The company purchased a license based on the film The Last Starfighter,[1] but decided to recycle an existing game. The title screen, sprites, and soundtrack were modified, but the levels and gameplay are identical.

In 2003, Uridium was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV. On 28 March 2008, the C64 version was published for the Wii Virtual Console in Europe.[4][2]

Plot

The plot of Uridium is described as follows:

The solar system is under attack! Enemy Super-Dreadnoughts have been placed in orbit around each of the fifteen planets in this galactic sector. They are draining mineral resources from the planetary cores for use in their interstellar power units. Each Super-Dreadnought seeks out a different metal for its metal converter.
Your Manta class Space Fighter will be transported to each planet in turn and it is your task to destroy each Dreadnought. First you must attack the defensive screen of enemy fighters, then you must neutralise the majority of surface defences before you land on the Super-Dreadnought's master runway. Once on board you must pull as many fuel rods as possible from the metal converters before you take off for a final strafing run as the Dreadnought vaporises into the ether.

Gameplay

In-game screenshot from the first level of the Amstrad CPC version of Uridium
In-game screenshot from the first level of the Commodore 64 version

In practice, each level takes place at a fixed altitude just above the surface of the Dreadnoughts. The screen scrolls horizontally in both directions as the Manta flies over the Dreadnoughts. Each Dreadnought has a different configuration of walls and other structures which must be negotiated in order to reach the landing zone. This task is hampered by squadrons of enemy fighters that attack the Manta in waves. Lastly, flashing ports on the Dreadnought's surface release homing mines that cannot be destroyed. It takes a skillful Manta pilot to outfly the mines until they self-detonate.

Only when enough of the Dreadnought's defences have been destroyed is the "Land Now!" signal activated, allowing the player to slow the Manta's speed to a minimum and land on the sternward landing zone. After this, the pilot presumably enters the interior of the mothership and sets its nuclear reactor to self-destruct. Finally, the Manta takes off again as the Dreadnought below crumbles to atoms. As the Manta flies over the Dreadnought again, the player has the opportunity to shoot any remaining defences.[5]

Later Dreadnoughts have tricky wall configurations where the gap between the walls is so narrow that the Manta must turn sideways in order to pass through it.[5] This required skillful use of the joystick. More skill could be exhibited (and more points awarded) by ignoring the "Land Now!" signal and destroying the elite fighters that attacked individually.

The final Dreadnought, Uridium, only contains a few screens of gameplay; the bulk of this Dreadnought consists of the "congratulations" message for completing the game "GOOD ZAPPING... TURKEY." which is initially inaccessible by an impassable wall, but visible in the final overflight when the Dreadnought is destroyed.

Technical details

When Uridium was originally released, reviewers were impressed by the way the Dreadnoughts were presented. In a simulation of parallax scrolling, the surface of the Dreadnoughts scrolls horizontally, whereas the stars in the background stay still.

Since the Commodore 64's graphics do not support parallax scrolling, particular trickery was required to achieve this. It was made so that the Dreadnoughts' surface is actually the background, and the black empty space and stars are character glyphs on the foreground. As the Commodore 64's graphics chip scrolls the screen to the left or right, the character glyphs representing the stars change shape by shifting their single lit pixels to the right or left, countering the scroll of the screen and giving the impression they were stationary.[6]

Sequels

Uridium was followed by Uridium+ (a modified version containing new levels), and Uridium 2 on the Amiga platform.

Reception and legacy

Reception
Award
PublicationAward
CrashSmash[7]

Computer Gaming World praised Uridium for its graphics' ability to display depth, as well as the game's robust controls.[8] Zzap!64 were similarly enthusiastic, describing the game as "visually awesome, sonically sound, technically stunning and a brilliant shoot em up to boot". It was rated 94% overall.[9] Antic also liked the game, citing its "detailed and lifelike graphics".[10]

The game won the award for best shooting game of the year according to the readers of Crash magazine.[11] It was also voted Best Arcade-style Game of the Year at the 1986 Golden Joystick Awards.[12] It received a Your Sinclair Megagame award.[13]

Uridium reached number one in both the Commodore 64 and all-format charts in early 1986.[14] Later in the year, it reached number three in the ZX Spectrum charts.[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Making Of Uridium | Retro Gamer". 10 October 2014. https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/the-making-of-uridium/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Review: Uridium (Virtual Console / Commodore 64)". March 29, 2008. https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2008/03/uridium_virtual_console. 
  3. ↑ "Uridium". TEMPE. http://hem.passagen.se/godabe/uridium/game.html. 
  4. ↑ "Commodore 64 coming to Virtual Console". February 21, 2008. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2008/02/commodore_64_coming_to_virtual_console. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Reed, Kristan (October 26, 2007). "Uridium". Eurogamer.net. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/R-Uridium_c64. 
  6. ↑ Hytönen, Pasi: Uridiumin ja Parallaxin grafiikka. C-lehti 1/1987, pp. 50–51. Available online at [1] .
  7. ↑ Game review, Crash magazine, Newsfield Publications, issue 35, December 1986
  8. ↑ Wilson, David (March 1988). "The Best Starfighter: A Comparison of Space Arcade Games". Computer Gaming World (45): pp. 24–25. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1988&pub=2&id=45. 
  9. ↑ "Uridium Review", Zzap!64 (11): 100–101, March 1986, https://archive.org/stream/zzap64-magazine-011/ZZap_64_Issue_011_1986_Mar#page/n99/mode/2up 
  10. ↑ Tevervaugh, Rick (May 1988). "New ST Entertainments / From dungeons to outer space". Antic 7 (1). http://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n1/newstentertainment.html. Retrieved 2016-12-22. 
  11. ↑ "The 1986 CRASH Readers' Awards", CRASH (Newsfield Publications) (38): 34–35, March 1987, https://archive.org/stream/Crash_No._38_1987-03_Newsfield_GB#page/n33/mode/2up 
  12. ↑ "Golden Joystick Awards". Computer and Video Games (EMAP) (66): 101. April 1987. https://archive.org/stream/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_066_1987-04_EMAP_Publishing_GB/Computer__Video_Games_Issue_066_1987-04_EMAP_Publishing_GB#page/n99/mode/2up. 
  13. ↑ Your Sinclair magazine, Reviews section, issue 12, page 92
  14. ↑ "Charts". Popular Computing Weekly (Sunshine Publications) 5 (12): 43. 20 March 1986. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=2900&page=43. Retrieved 26 January 2023. 
  15. ↑ "Hit List". Your Sinclair (Sportscene Specialist Press) (14): 23. February 1987. https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=235&page=23. Retrieved 26 January 2023. 
  • 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 lengthy 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]

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. 
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