Nothing makes this man go moist as
much as hearing some decent retro-gaming music played out of a tri-channelled
sound chip called SID. Wotcha!
"Splash Wave" and
"Magical Sound Shower" are arguably (is anything not
"arguably" nowadays?) two of the most well-known video game slices of
aural delight out there and indeed, so is "Passing Breeze" which was scurrilously
omitted from the C64 conversion. Sam is forever aggrieved.
We all likely recall seeing for the
first time that huge arcade cabinet grounded on the barking mad arcade carpet and
thinking - they've got an actual Ferrari in here!?!?!? I also remember never
playing it, because it was 50p a go and not 10p a go (like Roadblasters or
Bubble Bobble was), but I sure spent a good few minutes stood there standing,
watching some other kid failing miserably at this glorious-looking SEGA
racer.
Dateline 1989: LED Storm, ladies and
gentlemen is an absolute banging C64 game and arcade conversion from those
plucky people at Software Creations. Now, I'll be honest, unlike other arcade
conversions, I am pretty certain I never actually played (potentially even saw)
LED Storm in the local arcade "Dusters" back in Plymouth as I was
growing up in 1988. However, I absolutely, and with great fondness, recall
getting a copy of and playing for some hours at a time the C64 version.
Who cares about the premise? Not I,
m'lud, I hear you cry and I tend to agree and frankly, the 'story' behind LED
Storm is immediately forgettable. Something, I am sure, about a "Red car
and a Blue car had a race... But all Red wanted to do was stuff his
face...", oh and the ability to transform your vehicle from a cool, squat
fat-looking (hyper) sports car into some sort of motorised cycle. And
"L.E.D."..? Laser Enhanced Destruction Storm - of course!
You know the tune, it dings and blings around in the back of your head as you vainly search for the yellow sweetie, narrowly missing the flung rolling pin of doom. Bubble Bobble on the C64 was fantastic, but not, as I had once believed, as good as I thought it was.
It’s a great conversion – no doubt there - and the C64 really does well with regard to collisions, colours, sprites and speed and there are even the hidden extras in there, but, well… Myself and a friend, fuelled with beer one evening set out, with our limited credits, to fully complete Bub and Bob’s quest. We loved the game, he didn’t mind playing blue and I PON’d for green. We had all night, no distractions, we were fed and watered and I should point out, around 24 years old and the game was nearly 15 years old (if not more) itself – and we’d never, ever done it, so, we shucked off another can and launched our crusade.
I unequivocally adore this game – the arcade, of course, is nigh sheer perfection (depending upon which difficulty level the board is set on…) and at still only 10p per credit, well, you’re mad for not hitting the arcade under the Palace Pier, Brighton every weekend back in the day; or Dusters in Plymouth way back in the 'olden days, but, with my beloved C64 conversion – I found faults…
Well: fault, really.
You see, we played that fateful night, taking turns to leap levels utilising the EXTEND function, umbrellas and more, we failed a few times around the 70s, sometimes earlier with our limited credits (one credit each – no rebuys), but we continued into the morning hours, relentlessly slogging back through the early levels, relentlessly playing Bubble Bobble on my C64, sitting, cross-legged on my old bedroom floor. Adults.
And..: we did it – we survived the hideous space invaders and the ridiculously evil later level design and we found ourselves facing a bloody super-huge rolling pin-thrower on LVL 100. Having never reached this point, it took a few moments to work out what to do and we struggled and muddled our way through the boss pattern until finally – he just disappeared!
We’d done it – we’d got to the top of Bubble Bobble! For the first time in our lives. Ever.
However, this was a short-lived elation, as even though we knew we had really completed the game, we also knew that we now had to fight our way back down the tower, as in the arcade, to get ourselves and our prizes back home again. We glanced sidelong at our lives/credits tally. Not too good.
Thing is, with the C64, that was that – Game Over.
Michael Finnegan.
Simultaneously one of the greatest achievements and absolute disappointments of my entire life. Second only to realising that they aren’t rolling pins – they are whisky bottles.
