Super Mega Space Blaster Special – Retro Roots

Super Mega Space Blaster Special‘s frantic blasting action was inspired by loads of retro shmups and shooters from Asteroids on the Atari to Super Fantasy Zone on the Sega Megadrive (Genesis). Lets have a gander at a few of these inspirational classic video games.
Super Mega Space Blaster Special – Gameplay Trailer Video

Asteroids & The Galactic Plague

These are two games that I loved as a young kid. We had an Amstrad CPC-464 at home and I would play The Galactic Plague over and over again in all its musicless green-screen glory. My brothers and I spent ages learning the move patterns of the enemies so we could blast our way through the game, we never completed it though. I used to go round to my friend’s house to play Asteroids on his Atari. We’d compete for score and often have a 10 penny bag of sweats and the winner would get the next sweaty (candy).

Let’s play of The Galactic Plague on the Amstrad CPC-464 (in colour, beats my green-screen)

After re-playing these games recently I can confirm that they have not stood the test of time. Even so I wanted Super Mega Space Blaster Special to give the player the drive for a higher score that these games gave me back in the day. We’ve added leaderboards and a progressive introduction of new enemy types similar to The Galactic Plague to hopefully spur players on in their quest for leaderboard domination.

Super Fantasy Zone

Super Fantasy Zone was an epic game on the Sega Megadrive (Genesis). It told the story of a young flying thingy called Opa-Opa that was out to get revenge on the Dark Menon Empire for killing his father. The game was truly amazing for the time. My brothers and I took it in turns to blast through levels discovering new enemies and taking on the bosses. There were seemingly loads of weapons and power-ups which you could buy from a flying shop with coins you’d collected. We’d hum along to the catchy soundtrack while trying to figure out the best strategy to take down the next boss.

Let’s play of Super Fantasy Zone on the Sega Mega Drive

We took a lot of inspiration from Super Fantasy Zone when developing Super Mega Space Blaster Special. We’ve added loads of power-ups and weapons to keep the gameplay varied. We based the design of the boss on a few Super Fantasy Zone bosses. Collecting coins is also a thing in our game. Instead of using them in a shop you use them to unlock new space blasters (ships).

From Yesteryear to the Modern Day

We’ve not only taken inspiration from retro shooters. Games like Bit Blaster XL, Super Stardust HD, and Resogun have all inspired us. Granted Super Mega Space Blaster Special is a much smaller game than Resogun and Super Stardust HD but we still wanted to give a similar feeling when playing. Resogun is especially fun in local-cooperative mode, this game inspired us to work a little harder and add a couch-coop mode. It’s loads of fun sitting back with a friend blasting enemies, completing challenges together, unlocking ships, and getting higher and higher scores.

Screenshot from Resogun by Housemarque

why not add Super Mega Space Blaster Special to your Steam wishlist or let us know what you think in a Steam review.

 

We will have loads more information about ‘Super mega Space Blaster Special, and ‘The Flawless: Art’s Tale‘ very soon. Until then you can keep up to date with all things Bare Knuckle on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
 
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Ste Wilson is a director, game developer, and programmer at Bare Knuckle Development Ltd. When not coding away on BKD games he can be found playing video games on console and PC. He also makes music under the music maker name of ‘Electric Fan Death’ and loves playing guitar, writing tunes, and producing music.

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