FINAL RANKING
01 Dr. Pill : 83,3 % – WINNER ! [Game with Best Graphics*/Best Music/Most Original Game!]
02 Menace : 82,5 % [Game with Better Gameplay!]
03 Stray Cat : 79 %
04 British Bob : 77,3 % [Most Polished Game!]
05 Retaliot : 70 % [Game with Best Graphics!*]
06 Cow Abductors : 65 %
07 X0rz : 57,7 %
08 Castle Tomb : 35,3 %
09 Plumber : 26 %
Those are the results set by the jury. The scoring into different categories has been done by the three jury members, except for the game Menace (The New Image), that has been just scored by two persons of the jury. Also, some jurors left some non-commented categories in certain games, as they do not think it will be relevant or they do not wanted to highlight any specific point. Also, penalties has been added to games that featured compatibility problems. All three reports have been computed in order to show the final results.
Anyway, we have a winner again! Dr. Pill, the angry bad-tempered evil doctor’s tv-show looking game has certainly get the focus of the jury as he is the big winner of the contest! Congratulations to Infinite for this fantastic game. The winner, and the ones that have obtained other prizes offered by sponsors, will be contacted soon.
Going a bit further into the scoring, we can discover games that has obtained the best scoring on a specific categroy. Dr. Pill has been highlighted as the most original game for his clever and catchy concept, and as the game with better music, due to its really nice soundtrack. The interface, nice character faces and intro animations also stand a draw with Retaliot‘s stunning game visuals, being those two games the ones obtaining the Better Graphics mention. In the other hand, Menace, the simple but perfectly executed oldschool shooter from TNI, has obtained the best score on the gameplay department for its smooth and accurate controls. The last category, the most polished game, has been obtained by British Bob, the cute and funny platformer by RELEVO Videogames, for its complete presentation, attention to the detail, different endings and so on.
The jury also ranked the MSX1+ contest, promoted by sponsors. The winner for this contest is also Dr. Pill, for his extended musics and nice palette usage!
Now sit back and read the in-depth report for all 9 entries presented to the contest!
01 – Dr. Pill (Infinite) 83,3 %
Graphics/Visuals (!!) 53/60
- Smart use of sprites.
- The clock font isn’t consistent.
- Excellent graphics both the intro and the game.
Musics/SFX (!!) 56/60
- If SCC was allowed to be judged, I would’ve given it more than perfect!
- Top level, a very catching tune! (PSG version).
- Music can become repetitive, even when playing at random.
Gameplay 40/60
- Quite addictive game for an RPG.
- Extensive gameplay. It’ll take some time to get through the long lists of stories and cures.
- I hate having to read so much to play a game, especially when needing the big manual.
Originality (!!) 56/60
- I have never seen a game like this.
- Seen medical games but not as an RPG. The strange thing is that it works!
- Only Infinite would think of giving a doctor from hell his private practice.
Polish 45/60
- Very cool intro demo. I like the scrollback feature.
- I miss the wrap-around in menus and a page-step scrolling. However, no respect towards the MSX standard.
Final Comments
- Changing music gives a visible temporary corruption, it even crashed once. The game expects 64 kB RAM in the same slot. There are quite some references to other MSX games.
- Is there any drug free version? 
- What a cool music, especially with the SCC turned on, but the rest with all that reading.. bah..
02 – Menace (The New Image) 82,5 %
Graphics/Visuals 32/40
- Some of the flickering elements nearly give me an epileptic attack.
Musics/SFX 36/40
- Sound fits the concept
- Awesome tune and effects, a new hit?
Gameplay (!!) 36/40
- Really arcade level quality
- Smooth controls, game plays perfect
Originality 29/40
- Classic genre but with many new features taking it to a top level
- Nice arcade port.
Polish 32/40
- TNI intro, game description and levels it has it all, but where’s my high score list?
- Interlaced graphics effect added. Sometimes it seems a bit annoying.
Final Comments
- Nice game, but I don’t like those flickering graphics.
- Good old school arcade implementation. Fine control, nice game. Still waiting for the red bikini to show up
03 – Stray Cat (Imanok) 79 %
Graphics/Visuals 52/60
- Very colorful versatile scenery.
- Graphics are very good and there is also a smooth and fast scroller.
- Minimal requirement of sprite limitations.
Musics/SFX 50/60
- Great tune and game effects.
- Nice arrangement of the Heathcliff theme music.
Gameplay 47/60
- Not much variety in gameplay. Very addictive though.
- Solid game, resemblance to a arcade games.
Originality 47/60
- Inspired by an iPhone game, with some extras.
- OK, it’s based on an existing game (Canabalt), but hmm for MSX it’s new cool and fast.
Polish 41/60
- Early-Clock on the moving cloud and moon would’ve looked better with this scroll speed.
- Intro screen.
- Mild respect towards the MSX standard.
Final Comments
- Didn’t cats have 9 lives in stead of 7?
- Wha speed! I love this game. Again, again, again, run, run, run!
04 – British Bob (RELEVO Videogames) 77,3 %
Graphics/Visuals 46/60
- Very colorful SCREEN 1 graphics.
- Great graphics and plus for the umbrella.
Musics/SFX 46/60
- Nice music.
- Very intriguing melody.
- Only 2 songs in the levels and they start to irritate after a while.
Gameplay 50/60
- Maybe trigger B for the umbrella would’ve been better for joystick.
- I love to play this game.
Originality 41/60
- Nice Manic Miner and Blagger clone.
- Classic Jet Set Willy style but with his own twist.
Polish (!!) 49/60
- Nice intro and description.
- Well-balanced stages, each with hidden treasure.
Final Comments
- British people call them biscuits though, not cookies.
- Funny deliberate typo in the ending, with detection of use of continues.
- Nice game that I love to play. Give me your cookies!
05 – Retaliot (Video Hazard) 70 %
Graphics/Visuals (!!) 53/60
- Nice parallax scroller, in later levels a wide variety of enemies.
- Stunning graphics and a smooth scroller.
- It has good gfx in general, but the sprites itself are too simple.
Musics/SFX 47/60
- In-game sounds are unbalanced, shots overpower everything else
- Impressive intro music and effects in the game.
- It’s starting to irritate.
Gameplay 31/60
- Hmm, I get easily bored by its gameplay.
- Too much action slows down the overall gameplay. In-game sprite garbage on MSX1.
- Excellent controls.
Originality 39/60
- Traditional vertical shooter.
- 2-way scrolled action with a Super Cobra target.
- It’s a simple shooter
Polish 40/60
- I love the scrolling.
- Pity sprite rotation was forgotten to at least see all sprites all the time. No respect towards the MSX standard.
- Nice intro.
Final Comments
- Cool scroll, but the rest is not addictive at all.
- It seems to me more time was spent on the title screen and the parallax scroller.
- The game expects 64 kB RAM in the same slot. It plays fine on MSX2, but it doesn’t run on MSX1 as it should.
06 – Cow Abductors (Paxanga Soft) 65 %
Graphics/Visuals 41/60
- Stylies cows and landscape.
- Sometimes it’s a bit hard to separate cow from dog.
Musics/SFX 45/60
- I like the “mooh”-sample when starting the game.
- Good music and also the clean *MOOH* sample.
Gameplay 28/60
- The moving of the U.F.O. is f*cked and the CPU is too good from the start.
- Controls are a bit too fast for pinpoint accurate positioning.
Originality 50/60
- Hilarious game concept.
- This definitely a new territory in the gaming industry!.
- There are a lot of cow abduction games, but I’ve never seen one on the MSX!
Polish 31/60
- The CPU player could use some difficulty levels.
- Very mild respect towards the MSX standard.
Final Comments
- It is a simple game, but unfortunately with crappy controls.
- The game is more playable on the real thing.
07 – X0rz (Metal Soft) 57,7 %
Graphics/Visuals 37/60
- Simple isn’t always bad.
- Very nice clean graphics.
- Too few graphics.
Musics/SFX 9/60
- Almost no music or sound effects.
- There isn’t much sound.
- No tune and some more sound effects would have been nice.
Gameplay 45/60
- Trigger assignments don’t feel logical (A for rotate, B for swap).
- Quite good for puzzle freaks.
- Level 10 can’t be completed.
Originality 44/60
- Based on the Xor Flashgame.
- I’ve never played this kind of game on the MSX.
- A new puzzle genre.
Polish 38/60
- It contains partial joystick controls. You can’t move diagonally.
Final Comments
- Nice game to pass some time. Useful passwords.
- After a while of playing en error message abruptly spoiled my fun. It contains partial joystick controls.
08 – Castle Tomb (AG Software) 35,3 %
Graphics/Visuals 25/60
- Too little use of colors. Some of the graphics look really familiar.
- Good graphics, a bit of retro style.
Musics/SFX 15/60
- Mostly identical to the Plumber ones.
- No music but sound effects.
Gameplay 17/60
- Controls are a bit stiff.
- Taking stairs is a pain. It would be more playable if it was 5 times faster
Originality 32/60
- The game concept is completely new to me.
- Seen many games in this genre.
Polish 17/60
- Start screen with info.
- There is no variety in levels. At some moment taking crucifixes gave an error.
Final Comments
- Hmm it’s still BASIC and I know it’s hard to make a good game in BASIC, however this game isn’t addictive.
- There are a lot of similarities with Plumber in the sound effects and gameplay. At least you can jump over your enemies here.
09 – Plumber (AG Software) 26 %
Graphics/Visuals 20/60
- Too little use of colors. ‘Cat’ is a ripped sprite from ‘Sex Bomb Bunny’.
- Nice classic graphics.
Musics/SFX 12/60
- Music is a bit annoying but the sound is ok.
- The continuous random sound while walking gets annoying quite soon
Gameplay 11/60
- Totally a wreck.
- Too bad the control is rather quirky.
- Taking stairs is a pain. It would be more playable when it was 5 times faster.
Originality 15/60
- Konami’s Comic Bakery with a plumber.
- Would have nice with some more action.
Polish 20/60
- Intro screen and game information.
- There is no variety in levels. Bugs in mouse display and stairs handling.
Final Comments
- If the continuous random sounds while walking would actually have a meaning they wouldn’t be as annoying as they are now.
- I love BASIC-games, but this game has been completely ripped. I don’t like it when there are no new graphics.
