Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine

Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine

Game No.	261
Voting	7.76 points, 21 votes
Developer	Nick Jones
Company	Hewson Consultants Ltd.
Musician	Jeroen Tell
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Cybernoid.sid
Release	1988
Platform	C64, C64DTV, Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad
Genre	Shoot'em Up
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Follower: Cybernoid II: The Revenge

Description[edit | edit source]

Shoot until it hurts!

Cybernoid is a shoot'em up by Hewson Consultants from 1988. The player fights his way with his spaceship, the name-giving "Cybernoid" under time pressure through three levels of a cave system stuffed with artillery and hostile flying objects to collect bonus items and extra weapons.

The story

Sleazy space pilferer have brazenly stolen precious loads and hidden the booty in their hideout. The government sees red and sends out the Cybernoid to snatch the goods away from the criminals' claws. Although the Cybernoid does not seem very big and dangerous, it comprises a number of built-in extra weapons and can also ad hoc be additionally enhanced with equipment found on the way.

Shot hostile spaceships leave behind parts of the desired load every now and then. If you make it to collect load of a total worth of 1500 points, you will get an extra life at the end of the level and the value of the load is added to the score as a bonus. If you do not make it you can be very annoyed about it. Also additional equipment as a unit to shoot backwards, rotating satellites to shatter close enemies as well as canisters that will upgrade the last chosen extra weapons are sometimes dropped by shot pirates.

Cybernoid fights himself through a rush of enemies to the next screen.

Legend
A long, long time ago in a faraway land, lived a... oh, silly me...

A: Number of lives
B: Points, below that the value of the collected load
C: Applications for the chosen extra weapon left
D: Time left to finish the level
E: Cybernoid (here with satellite)
F: Pirate spaceship
G: Satellite equipment
H: Canister with additional load for an extra weapon
I: Valuable stuff (collect it!)
J: Green, slimy thingy that also fires around wildly! JUCK!

Design[edit | edit source]

You will be looking in vain for a scrolling here, the singles screens are visited by the flick-screen method, whereby there is no possibility to return to an already left screen. The graphics are brightly coloured and detailled, an alien-like, "bio-mechanical" air runs through the whole game.

Also, the animations of the hostile spaceships are successful, their missiles on the other hand seem plain. If a bigger enemy or "decoration" is shot, a cascade of particle effects burst out onto the screen, which for a short time aggravates orientation. On the whole, the game seems rather "crammed" with shots, explosions and everything moves and turns which sometimes goes at the expense of speed and above all the overview.

As a disadvantage to the playability is the extremely overdimensioned size of the sprites, there are sometimes claustrophobic situations, similar to Bomb Jack. This, combined with a rather finicky collision query, makes the bigger part of the game's difficulty grade.

If you decide for the ingame music, you will be served an energetic SID opus. The alternatively and additionally selectable effects are far from being as impressive as the music but still inventive enough.

Unfortunately, the highscore list is saved in none of the versions.

	Take that laser death, alien scum!!!		We clear the way for you!
Destroy! ANNIHILATE!! DEMOLISH EVERYTHING!!! MmhmhmmhmmhaHAHAHA-HAAA!!!

Hints[edit | edit source]

Extra weapons[edit | edit source]

The extra weapons are selected with the number keys 1 to 5 and activated by a longer press on the fire button. Each weapon is only available to a limited amount and if the supply of a certain weapon is empty and shall be refilled, you need to collect a canister while the desired weapon is chosen.

The extra weapons in detail:

1 : Bombs to break missile posts, obstacles and bigger rank growth
2 : Mines to stop approaching spaceships (rather useless)
3 : A shield that makes you invulnerable for a short time
4 : A cluster of hopping bombs that can bounce of the walls and create much destruction
5 : Homing missiles, which preferrably fly towards missile posts or (if no missiles are on the screen) bigger enemy objects.

Keys[edit | edit source]

O : left
P : right
Q : up
Space : fire
Restore : abort game

Solution[edit | edit source]

Do not fritter away too much time in a screen or you will lose a life as a punishment.

If the rest time displayed at the upper right of the screen has run out, the game ends automatically.

Be careful at the exits of some screens where new enemies come in. You should not get too close to them and keep distance until you really plan to leave the screen.

Bouncing Bombs, so key 4 , are by far the most effective weapons.

Map level 1[edit | edit source]

Map level 2[edit | edit source]

Map level 3[edit | edit source]

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Choose the keyboard controls in the title screen and select Y, X, E, S for movements and fire. Then choose joystick controls again and start the game = unlimited lives.

If this is not enough, you should take a look at the "Jewels" version, here you can make even more adjustments as e.g. starting level and unlimited lives.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.76 points at 21 votes (rank 166). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	7	29th September 2010 - "good" - 3332 downs
Lemon64	7,5	29th September 2010 - 67 votes
C64.com	8,5	29th September 2010 - 4401 downs
Kultboy.com	7,99	29th September 2010 - 11 votes
ASM	11/12	Issue 7/88
Happy Computer	76%	Games Special 6/88 (CPC)
ZZap64	93%	Issue 05/88

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Robotron2084: "Cybernoid is a wild, coloured but devilishly hard shooter where sparks fly and the ears are coddled with an intoxicating sound setting. If only the sprites were not so oversizedly designed and the collision query had been made a bit fairer, the game would have been an absolute hit. But I think this was done on purpose, as the game has altogether only three levels. Well, that's how they were back then, the programmers. The game has situations in which you only can tear your hair cholerically, but it is so much nicer having proceeded another few screens. And if this all is not difficult enough for you, you can take a look at the follower. I give 8 out of 10 points."

TheRyk: "Bizarre but coherent colors overdose with excellent music by Jeroen Tel at his best. Weaponry upgrade and extra weapons make this a shooter somewhat different. Though back shoot and mines are rather useless, drones and bouncers really kick some enemies' asses. Still, all in all it's rather difficult without cheating/trainers. Some really nasty situations are repeated, e.g. screens 5, 7 and 10 in level 1, which is boring and annoying, since shields are hard to find and not everyone's motor skills are fine enough to master those screens without loss of life. However, Cybernoid is one of 1988's better releases. Considering the overall quality as well as some bugs and unfair situations, I rate it 6 out of 10."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Bugs[edit | edit source]

Buggy lives display: The display of the ships left freezes at the value of the start of the level. So unfortunately, you do not see how many ships you currently have. There were probably two different original versions, whereby one of them had this bug.
Crash after long-term usage: In many known versions the music gets enormously crooked after a certain time of usage and the game partially crashes completely. But the bug usually only appears after an umpteen of games played.

Versions[edit | edit source]

Cybernoid was originally created for ZX Spectrum by Raffaele Cecco. The C64 version was developed by Nick Jones, who also converted several other Cecco's Spectrum games for C64.

The existing releases of the C64 version include at least the following:

Original tape version, original disk version-v2 (d64)/(g64) and C64DTV version: no bugs known

original disk version-v1 (d64): bug: lives display

Deceit: correct lives display; bug: crash after long-time usage

Jewels "+7": bug: lives display; Trainer allows next to unlimited lives and time also the adjustment of extra weapons and starting level.; English manual and title screen (by SIR) available as additional file

Agile "+": bug: lives display; Trainer allows unlimited lives.

Beastie Boys "+4": bug: lives display; Trainer allows unlimited lives, bombs and time, as well as no-collision.

Screenshot comparison of different conversions[edit | edit source]

From left to right: ZX Spectrum, Amstrad and Amiga/Atari ST Version (which were identical, as the Amiga version was a direct covnersion of the ST version)

	Monochrome sprites and colour-clashes, this is how the Speccy is known (and loved).		The CPC version is indeed "even" more coloured than the C64 version.
On the 16-bit machines the game was significantly easier due to the slower speed and the smaller sprites.