Project-X
Encyclopedia
Project-X is a scrolling shooter game for the Amiga
computer released in 1992. It was also ported to DOS
.
Developed and published by Team17
, it was regarded as one of the best shooter games for that platform at the time, both for its technical excellence in graphics and sounds, and for its difficult and interesting gameplay. The game resembles Konami
's side-scrolling shooter games such as Gradius
, Salamander
and Parodius
.
s, numerous in the first level but increasingly rare afterwards, permit an exponential increase of the spacecraft's seven different weapons (Guns, Buildup, Side shots, Homing missiles, Plasma, Magma, Laserbeam).
The game is composed of five levels. Many players never completed the second one (which had a very difficult ending), and most of the rest never went past level three. When Team17 realized this, they released Project-X SE, a special edition with the difficulty toned down. It was released as a budget game. A hack for the original game to enable the player to skip levels by holding down the fire button and pressing the escape key was also distributed on the coverdisks of several Amiga magazines.
-only sequel, titled X2
. The game was also parodied in one level of Team 17's own Superfrog
, as Project-F (with the F presumably standing for "Frog"), even going as far as using a remixed version of the original game's theme tune.
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
computer released in 1992. It was also ported to DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
.
Developed and published by Team17
Team17
Team17 Software Ltd. is a video game company best known for developing the Worms series of games , but it has made many other games, notably Superfrog and the Alien Breed series. Most of its early releases were on the Amiga home computer system and featured trademark smooth scrolling, and detailed...
, it was regarded as one of the best shooter games for that platform at the time, both for its technical excellence in graphics and sounds, and for its difficult and interesting gameplay. The game resembles Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's side-scrolling shooter games such as Gradius
Gradius
The Gradius games, first introduced in 1985, make up a series of scrolling shooter video games published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper...
, Salamander
Salamander (arcade game)
, retitled Life Force in North America and in the Japanese arcade re-release , is a scrolling shooter arcade game by Konami. Released in 1986 as a spin-off to Gradius, Salamander introduced a simplified power-up system, two-player cooperative gameplay and both horizontally and vertically scrolling...
and Parodius
Parodius
, or just Parodius, is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Konami for the MSX computer and was released in Japan. The game is notable for being the first title in the Parodius series, although it is often confused with its sequel Parodius Da! －Shinwa kara Owarai e－ in that respect, which...
.
Story
Taking place many years in the future in colonized space, military scientists have disposed of countless, defective military droids on an un-colonized terrestrial planet called Ryxx. The droids eventually become sentient and, by way of revenge, start an attack against mankind, using a station to continually create more war machines. It is the player's mission to undergo Project X and eliminate the droid forces.Gameplay
In a classical scrolling shooter fashion, players control a spacecraft of their choosing battling with hundreds of alien ships. Various power-upPower-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s, numerous in the first level but increasingly rare afterwards, permit an exponential increase of the spacecraft's seven different weapons (Guns, Buildup, Side shots, Homing missiles, Plasma, Magma, Laserbeam).
The game is composed of five levels. Many players never completed the second one (which had a very difficult ending), and most of the rest never went past level three. When Team17 realized this, they released Project-X SE, a special edition with the difficulty toned down. It was released as a budget game. A hack for the original game to enable the player to skip levels by holding down the fire button and pressing the escape key was also distributed on the coverdisks of several Amiga magazines.
Legacy
The game was followed by an equally difficult PlayStationPlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
-only sequel, titled X2
X2 (game)
For the film see X2 X2, sometimes known as Project X-2 is a simple arcade-style side scrolling shoot 'em up released during the Team17-Ocean collaboration era of video games that created the Worms series. It is the sequel to the Amiga 16-bit shooter Project-X. Unlike its predecessor, the game was a...
. The game was also parodied in one level of Team 17's own Superfrog
Superfrog
Superfrog is a 2D Platform game developed for the Amiga by Team17 Software in 1993, then converted for the PC by Bubball Systems in 1994. The Amiga version was popular enough to spawn an Amiga CD32 version, which could also be played on some Amiga computers fitted with a CD drive.- Story :The...
, as Project-F (with the F presumably standing for "Frog"), even going as far as using a remixed version of the original game's theme tune.