Katakis - NNRG Week 59

[@philscomputerlab]

Manfred Trenz and Andreas Esher are both German, highly regarded. They worked in the C64 version if Turrican II, so that's why it's PAL, Germany is PAL country. I did feel it was running a bit too fast, so it was great to see you picked up on it. The music is fantastic 😊

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Plus the first game! The C64 versions were the lead for both games, even if it's more remembered by the 16-bit versions - which kind of makes me a little sad it's the same (kind of the same deal with Synapse's Alley Cat which is remembered for its PC conversion over the Atari 8-bit original, but alas).

[@philscomputerlab]

@@BeyondTheScanlines Ah yes, you are right! The C64 versions also hold the speed more consistently. I believe the Amiga version had more slowdowns...

[@roskapostikohde4594]

Rainbow Arts was also the company behind Great Giana Sisters. I'm not doing any check on info beyond what it says on Wikipedia, but whereas Nintendo sent RA a notice about GGS and had it pulled, Activision Europe (R-Type rights holder, maybe for computers?) told RA that either accept a contract to create them an official R-Type port or get a lawsuit. So they got to make the R-Type port for C64 as well.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Pretty much the case. Activision/Electric Dreams had another C64 conversion in the works, but the developers were running into issues and had lost patience with them. So the offered the deal to Rainbow Arts, giving them something like 6 weeks to get it out the door. The result is fine, but could have been a lot better had they been given some real time to do it. (Though allegedly, had that time been given to the team doing the first version, they might have been able to clear it up... Allegedly). As a thanks, it'd be edited and released as Denaris, the only difference being some of the visuals which were a little too close were reworked.

[@philscomputerlab]

Oh nice! Haven't watched the video yet, but remember this game very well. Amazing graphics and sound, but very hard and could only progress with a trainer.

[@Pixelmusement]

If you look at the KZbin chapters you will see I made... "a few" attempts at surviving this... ;D

[@Schurik]

The 10-year-old in me *desperately* wants to know what those offensive high scores were.

[@MxArgent]

Oh, it's in reference to R-/K-type selection theory. (R - Many weaker offspring, K - fewer yet stronger offspring.) In the context of the game, this dynamic characterizes the relationship between the Bydo and the player's handful of R-9a pretty well. I will say, Trenz and co. had a pretty solid understanding of what made R-Type work from a design standpoint. Guy's passionate about shoot 'em ups, and it really shows through much of his portfolio.

[@stefanfriedt3450]

There are two different games published under the name Katakis. Katakis for the C64 is a lot different from Katakis on the AMIGA. Originaly they were developed under different Names: Katakis and Denaris. While the AMIGA Version is an exact copy of R-Type including the level layouts and the Bosses the C64 version has its own Boss designs and only copies the level layout from R-Type for its second level. Rainbow Arts was infamous for heavily taking inspiration from other games. Katakis on the C64 was praised by game magazines for being a version of R-Type than R-Type.

[@bjorn-falkoandreas9472]

There was a Katakis promo poster and we had it hanging in our classroom. I am to this day convinced that was some sort of copyright infringement of Alien. They didn't even try. Those were not legally distinct xenomorphs they had on that poster. That was straight up xenomorphs.

[@killerb2099]

You obscuring the offensive high scores makes me want to see them even more! XD

[@RichGilly]

Really nice graphics for a C64 game.

[@EdmondDantes224]

I'm just impressed that... well, I had heard Katakis was an R-Type ripoff but a lot of people say that its practically a byte-for-byte rip, which it clearly is not. No asteroid fields in the first R-Type. Apparently Irem was impressed enough with this game that they let Rainbow Arts develop the official port of R-Type to C64. Personally when it comes to R-Type clones, my favorites are X-Multiply and Xexex (just... don't play the English versions of the latter because for some reason Konami radically altered the gameplay).

[@ADarkandStormyNight]

The boss was on his way to Gemini's house, should be knocking on his door any minute

[@Pixelmusement]

Joke's on you; I don't live in a house anymore! XP

[@ADarkandStormyNight]

@@Pixelmusement You're unfortunate neighbors then :(

[@EdmondDantes224]

@@Pixelmusement You're filming this from a base on the moon? Like Ross?

[@Pixelmusement]

@@EdmondDantes224 That'd probably be preferable compared to reality. :P

[@gameoverhell]

The screenshot in the thumbnail looked JUST like one of the first level's sections in r-type! Clone or not this game looks solid, but I'm not sure about that seemingly big hitbox. Impressive looking for the hardware.

[@Libluini]

Oh, I loved this game as a kid! Never got past the second boss, though.

[@Nezuji]

I think that the majority of C64 games being available for PAL has more to do with the markets where the system was popular than any clever coding strategies trying to squeeze extra CPU cycles into each video frame.

[@Pixelmusement]

True, but when you consider that there is a difference in how much CPU power is available for gameplay, it suddenly means a bunch of games which were made in PAL regions don't have an easy way of being ported over to NTSC. :P

[@redrum0127]

you're right on about the difference between r-type & gradius, and i'll take the viper over the leo any day. it would be interesting to see you play gofer no yabou sometime.

[@GreyHulk2156]

It is spelled Katakis, but is pronounced 'Throatwobbler Mangrove'. ;P

[@wernerviehhauser94]

There were times when I could (nearly) play Katakis blindfolded...... maybe I spent too much time with video games....

[@TheOnestArab]

So Xatax (1994 DOS) was based on this?!

[@bigrigbutters187]

Glad to see you are still making videos. Make any games lately? Website seems pretty out of date.

[@Pixelmusement]

I'm presently working on "Project AB" where "AB" is the acronym for the actual title. I've posted a little bit about it on my website and you can find some footage of it near the end of my latest filler video, but when it's done it'll be more of a "software toy" than game, though will certainly have gameplay to it, and as far as I'm aware there is NOTHING like it on the market right now, meaning I have no idea how well received it will or won't be. All I've shown so far are the beginnings of its level-design capabilities, which does not represent its core theme in the slightest, but in and of itself is an interesting way of doing first-person level editing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j365moqlppp9jrM

[@Christopher-N]

This game reminds me of _Hellfire_ (Sega). I'm assuming the title is pronounced similar to _Dune: The Battle for Arrakis_ (also Sega).

[@solsticeprojekt1937]

You need to take the finger off the firing button to press the Space Bar. What happened to your second hand? :D

[@Pixelmusement]

I mean... I'm not used to moving my arms to mash my spacebar with the bottom of my hands... I imagine this is a skill C64 game players had to learn to survive. :P

[@iangriffithsguitarist]

@@Pixelmusement With your foot, surely? ;)

[@roguerifter9724]

How could high scores be offensive?

[@Pixelmusement]

It's made up of words you normally wouldn't repeat in mixed company. :P

[@root42]

@@Pixelmusementlike "Atari"

[@BBHood217]

Was there no name entry for high scores? I saw new high scores but the names appear unchanged.

[@Pixelmusement]

There was a name entry; Every run I attempted made a high score, especially since I had to reset TWICE during this video and thus the scores reset each time. I just tried to show the high scores on screen as little as possible. (The name entry occurs directly in the high scores table.)

[@mutekichojin]

10. PETER 9. DICK 8. WOODY 7. WILLY 6. JIMMY 5. JEFFERSON 4. WANG 3. JOHNSON 2. JOYSTICK 1. MANFRED 1CC

[@Imgema]

In R-Type you could attach the orb at the back of the ship. Is this also the case here?

[@Pixelmusement]

I don't think so...? I'm not actually certain, just that there were times while playing where the satellite touched my ship from behind then appeared attached to the front. That doesn't mean it can't be done, just that if it can I don't know how. :P

[@yohancheminard8403]

Hello, I'm looking for help to find a childhood PC game from the late 90s or early 2000s. It's a prison-themed game where, in the score menu, there were prison cages, and at the end of each level, balloons appeared. I've been searching for it for a while, but I can't remember the name. Does anyone know of a game like this? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[@Pixelmusement]

Be advised the comments section of my videos is not a place to spam the same comment across multiple videos asking for assistance. This is your only warning.

[@arnofleck]

Might it be one of the Oddworld games? What kind of game was it, a side scroller?

[@yohancheminard8403]

Hi