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Klax

Submitted by Dan Dooré on Wed, 2006-01-04 22:10. Game


Domark


Allan Finlay (ICE Software)


Sean Conran


1990

klax.dsk.zip (not yet approved)

It is the nineties, and there is time for… KLAX.

THE TIC-TAC TILE GAME

It’s here! The newest most addictive craze from California. Already a runaway success in the coin op arcades, Klax is now available for your computer!

It’s simple in concept and easy to play. Catch the coloured tiles with the paddle and flip them into the bins to make the same coloured stacks, diagonals and rows of three. Sounds easy? It is! The hard part is pulling yourself away from the game.

  • The latest craze from California!
  • 99 waves of sheer fun!
  • The fastest selling coin op ever!
  • Addictive and challenging.
  • Make multiple klaxes for massive points!
  • Challenge your friends in head-to-head action.


    • Crash review courtesy of worldofspectrum.org

    Review by Steven Pick from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook

    My ST owning neighbour is currently flurting to me his copy of KLAX, and shouting out how good it is! When suddenly, the postie arrives with my sack of mail-and what’s this? Why the SAM Coupe version! Yeeesss… Imagine if you would, a long conveyor belt, in some deserted forest(or anywhere else!). Add a widget to put a load of different coloured blocks into lines(or KLAXES!), and you get a recipe for an addictive puzzle game!

    You have to place these blocks, so they land on the Dropmeter, in lines of 3 to 5! These disappear, till you get to the desired Klax count, then on to another well drawn ST screen! Actually, this got me in a bit of trouble, as I was meant to be revising! Ah, well! Hmmm, looks like Enigma Variations have done it again! A brillantly original and addictive puzzle game, which moves at a fair whack, and will leave my nights on the computer sleepless! (There go my Friday nights out…!).

    AreaScore
    Graphics94%
    Sound92%
    Instant Appeal95%
    Lastability93%
    Overall94%


    From the Atari arcade game, licensed to DoMark via Tengen.


    To skip any wave, pause the game and press ‘N’


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    Klax

    Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2006-04-27 11:46.

    Again, no dis-respect to the above reviewer of the game, but I realy do think 94% is a ridiculously high score for a very average game. It has nice graphics, and is good considering it was one of the first releases for the Sam…, that being said though, its realy boring and it dosnt realy play that much better than the Atari 2600 version…, sorry, but it is a sub-standard game when you take it to an outdoor commercial view of the world, I would’ve given this 74% and thats being kind….believe it or not I’m just trying to be realistic, remeber there is a massive retro scape out there!

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    I don’t believe the Atari

    Submitted by davidl on Wed, 2006-05-24 01:45.

    I don’t believe the Atari ever had a version of this :)

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    Atari version of Klax

    Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2006-05-25 09:38.

    I’ve got the 2600 version at home, got it in 86 - I think..????? too long ago…..

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    can't be '86

    Submitted by ascii on Thu, 2006-05-25 10:08.

    The arcde game wasn’t released until 1989, so a home-console version in 86 would seem unlikely.

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    Klax

    Submitted by Dan Dooré on Thu, 2006-05-25 18:39.

    Found this from 1990.

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    "massive retro scape out there"

    Submitted by ascii on Thu, 2006-05-25 22:05.

    Don’t judge this score in comparison to the “massive retro scape out there”, remember this was a contemporary review written around the time the game was originally released.

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    I like Klax

    Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2006-05-01 20:30.

    I like this one. Although there are many bugs in the Sam version, the playability isn’t affected much this time (unlike Defenders, Escape from planet or Splat), so I remember nice moments spent with Klax. Also the music and sound is nice. Unfortunately, the game tends to freeze quite often, which wasn’t seen on ZX Spectrum version.

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    Klaxed zzzzzzzzzzz

    Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2006-05-27 11:39.

    Time to move on with the times I think….puzzle games - who needs em
    ….bring on the action games - it seems there wasnt even a decent platform shooter for the Sam - who wants to play Klax on the Sam when there are games even on the Spectrum computer that puts the majority of Sam games to shame in terms of gameplay, quality and sometimes even graphics (without the color!) ….take R-Type, Robocop, Chase HQ, Rodlands, The Simpsons and Turbo the Tortoise as just a few examples. No Sam title apart Prince of Persia & Lemmings matches any of these……Klax was only any good on the LYNX anyway -

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    There was always Captain

    Submitted by Dan Dooré on Mon, 2006-05-29 18:37.

    There was always Captain Comic for platform shootyness.

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    Captain Comic

    Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2006-06-01 15:26.

    Funny - I thought this one was totaly forgotten about - a very under rated game, probably the best game I’ve ever played for the Sam - no, realy it is indeed….why hasnt this game ever been given the credit it was always deserved???? This game, Sam Tetris and FADE were the best games to appear on FRED magazine - anyone know any other decent games to appear on FRED????

    Captain Comic - the best game on Sam - instantly playable if a little simplistic (the only side scrolling game I ever knew!)

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    Not quite!

    Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2006-06-03 07:35.

    Anonymous wrote:
    … (the only side scrolling game I ever knew!)

    Errm, not quite… Defender is/was a side scroller by default! ;-)

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    Defender - Bang out of date even for the 80's

    Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2006-06-03 11:00.

    Come on man this game was bang out of date even for the very early 80’s - surely someone could’ve come up with at least a half up to date title that was a side scroller - the spectrums got hundreds of em, theres no excuses for this - the Sam IS more than capable to handle a half decent side scroller and its about time people started to realise this - Defender? Please….(bring back the Atari 2600!..??

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    You can’t really consider

    Submitted by Quazar on Sat, 2006-06-03 11:13.

    You can’t really consider Defender a ‘proper’ side scroller, as with defender, if I understand how Chris would have probably coded it, it’s a simple case of erasing the landscape (256 pixels) and redrawing it, same with the sprites and stars. No actual ‘scrolling’ is required each frame. Far easier to erase what you’ve already displayed than scroll the screen if there isn’t much you have to do.

    With my own experiments with the start of the engine for a remake of the 16-bit game ‘Harlequin’, you really can see just how slow the Sam can be to give the impression of scrolling with a full background hence why it’s going to be for the Mayhem Accelerator and just the first level to see how things go.

    I’m still hoping my eventual remake of ‘Thing on a Spring’ will be fast enough on a normal Sam as with just a plain background I may get away with a selective redraw method to achieve the horizontal scrolling.

    Colin
    =====
    Quazar : Hardware, Software, Spares and Repairs for the Sam Coupe
    April 1995-2006 - Celebrating 11 Years of developing for the Sam Coupe
    Website: http://www.samcoupe.com/

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    You CANNOT scroll 24k of

    Submitted by davidl on Sat, 2006-06-03 11:28.

    You CANNOT scroll 24k of screen data smoothly on a 4.7Mhz system… own own tests with the Pheaton Effect only managed to get 1/3rd of the screen moving at a reasonable speed.

    Sprite scrolling or screen swapping is the only way - except via Mayhem.

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    A little history lesson is needed here...

    Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2006-06-03 11:28.

    Defender bang out of date for the early 80s? Time you read up on the history of videogames methinks!

    Defender revolutionised videogames - it was the first game to feature an active world evolving and existing outside of the player’s visible screen. It was also the first game to feature a smartbomb and - together with pacman - shares the title of the highest grossing video game of its time.

    Playing a real Defender machine in a real early 80s arcade - with all of its associated sights, sounds and smells must be experienced to be appreciated. You are either too young, a philistine - or both! - if you think Defender was anything short of revolutionary.

    Oh, and as for the SAM being more than capable of handling a half-decent side-scroller then think again. Ask any SAM programmer and they’ll tell you the machine is seriously underpowered for the sheer number of on-screen bytes you have to shift per frame. Remember, it doesn’t have any hardware scrolling or sprites - so how do you suggest side scrolling anything more than a simple landscape and keeping up the “one true speed” of 50fps would be achieved… Any supposedly fast-paced game that doesn’t keep up 50-fps is a total waste of time - watching a game struggle along at 12-fps (or less) kills all semblance of quality game-play.

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    My point exactly

    Submitted by davidl on Sat, 2006-06-03 11:37.

    My point exactly :)

    Chris’s work is even more stunning when you understand the technical limitations of the machine… indeed, it makes everyones work even more impressive when this is taken into account! :)

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    Limitations of the Sam

    Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2006-06-05 15:35.

    I didnt realise the Sam Coupe was so limited - it seems a bit pointless to say the least to create a computer that has Atari ST graphics that can only be shifted at Spectrum speeds - I know its gettin on to 20 years ago now but I cant get my head round that 1.
    On lookin at some of the demos and games it certainly seems a pretty impressive machine from what I’ve seen - but the more I look & read into it (i.e. quotes on this site) the less significant the computer appears to be - no wonder software houses didnt take a shine to it - it seems rather much like a waste of good potential.

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    SAM’s only problem was

    Submitted by davidl on Mon, 2006-06-05 18:01.

    SAM’s only problem was that it needed a little more speed… or hardware sprites/scrolling… then it would have been fine :)

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    Limitations of the Sam

    Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2006-06-06 10:57.

    Will the Mayhem Accelerator fill in the missing link that kept the machine out of the software house limelight all those years ago? From what I’ve read it appears the Sam compares favourably in speed to the 16 bit machines when this little gizmo is used…..

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    Limitations of the Sam

    Submitted by Quazar on Tue, 2006-06-06 11:41.

    There seems to be a few fans of the Mayhem Accelerator here, and with speed settings of 10, 16 & 20MHz it can certainly give the 16-bitters a run for their money!

    I’ll be posting news about the Mayhem later today on my site at www.samcoupe.com ….

    Colin
    =====
    Quazar : Hardware, Software, Spares and Repairs for the Sam Coupe
    April 1995-2006 - Celebrating 11 Years of developing for the Sam Coupe
    Website: http://www.samcoupe.com/

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