GRIM REAPER PETE!

[timdu]

Just in time for Halloween, GRIM REAPER PETE! is a "new game" for the Odyssey² and Videopac.

 

It is a hack of the 1982 classic PICK AXE PETE!
Programming modifications by: SELECT GAMES

 

 

It has taken forty-some-odd years, 
but Pick Axe Pete has mined all the gold out of the Misty Mountain Mine! 
The miners are so dumb; they keep looking for gold. There’s not much to find. 
The Grim Reaper has appeared to collect the souls of the miners! 
The miners are now panicking, colliding into each other, and falling off the ledge to their death. 
The Grim Reaper must collect their soul BEFORE they die!
If he misses, the miner dies, makes a bloody mess, 
and there’s a lot of required paperwork that the Grim Reaper must fill out due to the 
fatal incident. And he has to clean up the remains of the deceased!
This is not what the Grim Reaper has signed up for!
He’s taking a vacation, and he’s asked Pick Axe Pete to fill in for him in collecting souls!

 

If you miss a falling miner, your run as GRIM REAPER PETE ends
unless you can get a soul exchange.
If, within a few seconds of his death, GRIM REAPER PETE's body is touched by a miner, 
Pete will be reanimated with the soul of that miner and your run as GRIM REAPER PETE continues
from where you left off!  This is how the real Grim Reaper has lived for tens of thousands of years.

 

More information / order web page is available at:

 

https://timduarte.blogspot.com/2023/10/grim-reaper-pete-for-odyssey2.html

 

please let me know if you have any questions

 

thank you,

Tim D.

 

 

 

[+pboland]

Purchased. This looks great! Can't wait to get the game.

Just purchased Splorf as well. I've been meaning to get a copy of that for a while now.

 

[+pboland]

Got both GRIM REAPER PETE & SPLORF today. Thanks Tim!

 

I had a chance to play GRIM REAPER PETE for about 15 minutes today. Here's my take:

 

GRIM REAPER PETE - Good game, but feels a little incomplete. There really is no sense of progression in the game. In Pick-Axe Pete you collect the key to unlock the doors to progress to the next level. This game doesn't have that sense of progression. You do get more points per miner the higher up you go in the mine, however you will have a very very short game if you do this. Staying at the bottom is really the easiest way to play the game from what I can tell. However, it doesn't take long before you still loose. Each game lasted less than a minute before you would miss a red miner. I'll play this one more to see if I can get a little better feel for it.

 

Played SPLORF for about 10 minutes today:

 

SPLORF - Great game! Feels better than some of the original titles for the console. Looks great and a good level of difficulty but not to difficult. You can tell that a lot went in to this game. It's a shame that the programmer died. This game has really good replay value. I can see this title getting regular play from me.

[Pickaxe Brad!]

I agree, Splorf is a great game and a good pickup for everyone.

 

In Grim Reaper Pete the risk/reward concept is similar to U.F.O. where you have relatively short games and you can take risks to greatly increase your points and potentially challenge another player to beat your high score.  For example, going up just one level doubles your points with a bit of risk and two more doubles it again with more risk.  To balance the riskiness though, when there is a red miner that you have no chance at reaching, you can position yourself to take a soul after your own demise.  This will give you points for the soul, but more importantly it continues your game.

 

I shouted a pretty loudly (and embarrassingly) the first time I got a game-extending soul exchange in a game where I had already passed 100 points.  I hope you give the game another shot.

[timdu]

GRIM REAPER PETE is intentionally different than PICK AXE PETE. The game has been modified. So the objective is different.  I also agree with Brad that the soul exchange is exciting adds a new element to Odyssey² games. Most Odyssey² games have one life and it's game over. This changes that and gives you hope that even though you may have died, you may be able to continue on with your game and resume if you can perform a soul exchange.

 

PICK AXE SANTA is also intentionally different than PICK AXE PETE. It uses the same "engine" of the original PICK AXE PETE, but it has been modified. 

The screen resembles a Christmas tree. Santa must avoid or destroy the rogue coal balls and place the star atop the Christmas tree. Succeed and  it is time to do the

same thing on another tree, or "level"

 

More to come!

 

 

Tim

Edited October 25, 2023 by timdu
superscript

[+pboland]

9 hours ago, timdu said:

GRIM REAPER PETE is intentionally different than PICK AXE PETE. The game has been modified. So the objective is different.  I also agree with Brad that the soul exchange is exciting adds a new element to Odyssey² games. Most Odyssey² games have one life and it's game over. This changes that and gives you hope that even though you may have died, you may be able to continue on with your game and resume if you can perform a soul exchange.

I understand it's intentionally different. I knew this when purchasing the game. I've only had the soul exchange thing happen once or twice while playing and I'm still not 100% sure how I got it to work because it isn't obvious when playing.  Don't get me wrong, I still think it is a good game. It is just a little too manic/panic for me.

 

On 10/24/2023 at 12:39 PM, Pickaxe Brad! said:

In Grim Reaper Pete the risk/reward concept is similar to U.F.O. where you have relatively short games and you can take risks to greatly increase your points and potentially challenge another player to beat your high score.

Sort of. U.F.O. isn't as fast. In U.F.O. there is time to set up your shots. Grim Reaper Pete is GO GO GO!

 

9 hours ago, timdu said:

PICK AXE SANTA is also intentionally different than PICK AXE PETE. It uses the same "engine" of the original PICK AXE PETE, but it has been modified. 

The screen resembles a Christmas tree. Santa must avoid or destroy the rogue coal balls and place the star atop the Christmas tree. Succeed and  it is time to do the

same thing on another tree, or "level"

And that is what I mean by a sense of progression. In Pick Axe Pete you have "key & door", in Pick Axe Santa you have the "Star atop of X-mas tree". And Grim Reaper Pete has...(it doesn't). That's all I was trying to point out. Yes Grim Reaper Pete is a good game if you like single screen super fast panic style gaming. It's not exactly my cup of tea. I will play the game here and there as I think the concept is neat and I still feel it was worth the money.

 

Now I've got to purchase Pick Axe Santa to complete the trilogy.
 

[Pickaxe Brad!]

"Grim Reaper Pete is GO GO GO!"

I'd say that's a good description of the game!  Maybe it should be in the seller's description.

 

Thanks for following up on the review.

[Pickaxe Brad!]

6 hours ago, pboland said:

Now I've got to purchase Pick Axe Santa to complete the trilogy.

In case anyone is wondering, the other game in the trilogy is Pickaxe Repeat, shipping soon and available from https://videopac.fr/

[dwh]

On 10/25/2023 at 7:21 PM, Pickaxe Brad! said:

In case anyone is wondering, the other game in the trilogy is Pickaxe Repeat, shipping soon and available from https://videopac.fr/

Thanks for the link. I was looking for this a few nights ago.

Unfortunately, I am missing most of those videopac games. I am sure most are limited and sold out.

Maybe I should not have looked at that site...

[Pickaxe Brad!]

On 12/5/2023 at 2:32 AM, dwh said:

 I am sure most are limited and sold out.

Almost everything is still available!  Only a few games are sold out, but they're marked on the page.  If you go back and check it out, Don't forget that Pickaxe Repeat and Shogun are for sale too, but not shown on the website yet.