Chronogamer - Space Destroyers (APF MP1000, 1979)

RSS Bot · August 30, 2006

After my last entry, two very generous individuals offered to lend me their Space Destroyers cartridge!!!

Fortunately, one of them lives right here in Austin, TX, not far from me!

We met in a McDonalds parking lot and exchanged the warez (I gave him APF instructions as collateral. He's actually buying my whole APF Collection when I return Space Destroyers.)

I brought it home and experienced the awe and wonder of a really good Space Invaders clone on the APF MP1000.

I have actual screenshots of the game, which I'll post later (gotta shrink them first)

But first let me show you the odd thing about this cartridge.

See how much bigger it is than the cart featuring our old friend, Hangin' Chad? Yeah, I know, but it gets weirder. The thing is: All the APF carts other than Space Destroyers are the same size and they were all packaged in a generic green box which had no game identifiers on it. (Just like the boxes for the Bally Professional Arcade carts.) Yet, all of the boxes seem designed to fit cartridges the size of the Space Destroyers cart. According to the gentleman that loaned me the SD cart, he's got a few of the boxes for the other APF carts and Space Destroyers fits them perfectly.

Oh, so another neat thing about this cart.

It conveniently has a list of all the other carts that came out which work with the APF MP1000 consoles.

Here's another odd thing, which I've mentioned before. My APF MP1000 console has Rocket Patrol built into it. From everything I've read, the APF M1000 didn't have Rocket Patrol built in. Yet, My APF MP1000 console is labeled "M1000." Which either means it is labeled wrong, or we don't know what the real difference between an APF M1000 and an APF MP1000 is.

One last oddity is that, like a few other carts, Space Destroyers says it will only work on the MP1000.

Yet, here it is working.

So, go figure.

Space Destroyers (APF, MP1000)

This is a simple port of the arcade game, Space Invaders. It's very close to the original in its look and feel. The movie below is nine seconds of it in action, but beware, its almost 3 megabytes big!

SpaceDestroyers.mov, 2.96 mb.

The sound effects are perfectly cromulent. The gameplay is as close to the original as one would want it. I did notice slight slow downs when there was one Invader left zipping across and a shot traveling up the screen. Other than that, I'd say, "perfect."

Well, for the last time, I end the APF.

But first there are some errata in previous posts about some of the games.

Blackjack: I found instructions for Blackjack. Once I learned how to do something besides take a hit, the game was much more pleasant. It can deal up to FOUR decks which breaks previous deck holding records on other BJ carts! It offers you insurance when the dealer has a face up. You can win if you have five cards that don't go over 21.

Boxing: I mentioned before that there are three AI driving boxing opponents with different alliterative names yet indistinguishable fighting habits. THAT was an incorrect statement. I played it again yesterday and say that each computer opponent has a boxing style primarily concerned with their offense. Horrible Harry punches every 3rd beat. (one, two, PUNCH, one, two, PUNCH). Slugging Sam swings every other beat (one, punch, one, punch) and Jabbing Joe stabs at the air every beat (jab, jab, jab, jab). Just thought I'd mention it as I wasn't kind when I spoke of the variation in opponents before. (Hey, it'd been a month or so since I'd played it. Gimme a break.)

I'll get the other pictures posted soon, in the meantime, enjoy the soundless video.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...;showentry=1932