Armalyte

Armalyte

Game No.	223
Voting	8.54 points, 41 votes
Developer	Dan Phillips Cover: Oliver Frey
Company	Cyberdyne Systems
Publisher	Thalamus
Musician	Martin Walker
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/W/Walker_Martin/Armalyte.sid
Release	1988
Platform	Amiga, Atari ST, C64
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (simultaneous)
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

Armalyte is a shoot'em'up similar to Katakis or Salamander. Extra weapons appear in the shape of "Pods", which change to different extras one after the other when shooting at them. The “more valuable” extras appear only at last. Furthermore, Armalyte stands out by an unconventional super shot, which is activated by a long press on the fire button – as in other games – but can take one of three selectable shapes (single shot which can go through strong walls – helpful in only few situations, expanded shot, continuous shot) and draws its energy from "batteries", which have to be reloaded but can be upgraded as extra. Difficult situations create less frustration in Armalyte than in other shooters, as the game continues seamlessly without being set back to a checkpoint or losing equipment. With a satellite (always there in the single player mode) hostile shots can be absorbed but it has no effect on the enemies. The satellite can be disconnected and then stays stationary, otherwise it stays away a short distance from the ship in the opposite direction of the last movements ship (by moving the ship shortly up, the satellite moves below the ship).

There are the following extras: (stronger) forwards shot, backwards shot, sideways shot, Trident (stronger forwards shot), Converge, Generator, Battery. Converge gets in cooperation with several single forwards shots and the backwards shot a heavily expanded forwards shot.

The status display mainly consists of the loading display of the supers shot. Directly next to it the expansion status of the forwards shot can be seen. Below the loading display there is the generator status display. The stars show how many batteries are installed and if they are loaded.

Design[edit | edit source]

... screenshots ...

... end boss level 1 ...

The game graphics are quasi monochrome. The animations are very fluent. Exploding enemies interestingly continue going on their given path ;-). There is only music in the title and the loading screen. It is rather idiosyncratic but good and uses different arpeggio versions as accompaniment and explosion sounds as effects. The levels are not as diversified as the ones of e.g. Katakis, but in return the enemies do not just fly straight but mostly in formations in curves. Artefacts as "stuck" shots, colour bugs or cosmic defects as visible tiles by the use of sprites cannot be found in Armalyte.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Keyboard controls:

The keyboard contols are explained in the title screen.

In the title screen:

F1 – one or two players

F3 – switch between the three different star fields

F7 – demo game

The game is started with the fire button of the joystick.

In the game:

C= – switches the super weapon of player 1

? - switches the super weapon of player 2

SPACE – attach / disconnect satellite from/to spaceship (only in 1-player mode)

RUN/STOP - pause (fire button =continue, Q = end, S = next level)

Joystick controls:

The spaceship follows the joystick. A short press in the fire button fires the normal weapon, a longer press on the fire button (approx. 1.5 seconds) fires the set super weapon.

Solution[edit | edit source]

At some places walls block your way. Here you need to first pick up a pod, which as a side effect makes you invulnerable for a short time; then you can fly through the walls.
64'er Longplay from the issues 12/1991 and 2/1992

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Pokes

POKE 59891,173 : REM cheat mode

POKE 53792,96 : REM unlimited energy

Further POKEs can be found at c64cheats.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
8.54 points at 41 votes (rank 24). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	9	9th April 2010 - "Top" 6207 downs
C64.com	9,5	9th April 2010 - 5652 downs
Lemon64	8,5	9th April 2010 - 177 votes
Gamebase64	10	"Classic!"
Kultboy.com	8,75	9th April 2010 - 20 votes
ASM	11/12	Issue 1/89
Powerplay	85%	Issue 11/88
ZZap64	97%	Issue 11/88

Reviews[edit | edit source]

1570: "I liked this better than Katakis or R-Type. Maybe I liked the system with the extras better. I also thought the graphics were cooler, whereby this is surely a matter of taste. The game is rather difficult due to the high speed. Almost all difficult situations can be mastered with practice, in contrast to other shooters there are hardly unfair situations (in which fate plays a big role). Unfortunately, the in my opinion very good music by Martin Walker cannot be heard in the game."

Robotron2084: "I agree with 1570, that a kicking background music , would have added to the game. Furthermore, I find it annoying that the explosions of shot enemies toddle around happily so you cannot distinguish them from enemies still alive. This makes the game very confusing. Nevertheless it is a blast and technically head and shoulders above the Katakis which is praised to the skies, although I still prefer Delta. 8 out of 10 points."

Bamse: "One of the best horizontal space shooters. Unbelievably many sprites on the screen, futuristic graphics, great title tune, equally good sound effects and almost equally perfect playability as the best in the class "IO" ! With the many enemies and the own satellite it is unfortunately partially a bit confusing..."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Award[edit | edit source]

The game was awarded the British Golden Joystick Award in the category Best Graphics of the Year in 1989.

Crack versions[edit | edit source]

Remember +7H
Airwolf Team +3, Bros +4M, Dynamic Technologies +3, Future Power System, Hotline +3, Ikari +3H (Tape-Version), Ikari +3M, Kim-Hai +2, Magicans +3, Mantronix, Megavision and The Krabat Crew, Shining 8 +2, The Dominators +7, The Foxes +7, Traingle 3532 +4, West End Boys, XAKK +3