The Illiterati
Member
This looks so bloody good. It's exactly the sort of game I'm in the mood for right now...unfortunate that its not out right now.
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UFO 50 announced (PC, 2018) from creators of Spelunky, Downwell, and more
- Thread starter purseowner
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First thing I thought, word for word.
CharminUltra
Member
Loving the artwork.
E_Darkness
Member
Well I'll buy a new game from them.
ElMexiMerican
Member
I understand that, which is why I said higher quality games.
salaciousdrift
Member
I would be thrilled if at some point I acquired like a billion fruits in one of these games.
SuperRaddy
Member
Me too
CamHostage
Member
Yeah, even the games that look formulaic seem like they're bucking formula, stuff like the TD game and the side-scroller SHMUP have unexpected complications, and when you look at the mixwall of footage, you see little but appreciated stuff like the Ikari Warriors'ish game having independent movement/shooting. Good times!
I'll buy this on anything, Mossmouth, keep circulating the ports....
I absolutely love this! Is anybody else getting Retro Game Challenge vibes from this?
Lil bit, yes. Would love a structure like RGC too, but that'd probably be distracted effort. (UFO 50 has a "backstory" to it in that it's conceptually created by a long-forgotten old game company, but otherwise it appears no in-game links, according to the FAQ, which is fine by me.)
Lots of people are dropping mention of Action 52 (which had an NES and also redone in a Genesis package in the early days of FarSight Studios) as well. I always thought Action 52 was just shovelware, are people saying that was an actual worthwhile game cartridge, or do you all just have a shared experience of it?
I agree with you on this, but in this case I think the graphics are some of the best I've seen in this style. It at least doesn't have that cheap or uninspired look that plague many titles that attempt to do the 8-bit style correctly. I'm even more impressed because they pulled it off with so many games of different genres too.
I see an Owlman in the left of the picture. Spiritual successor?
Technosteve
Banned
shit, my nintendo could sure play this game
CamHostage
Member
We're getting a little bit of that recently, although interestingly, it seems to be coming primarily from Amiga-influenced game developers.
Plus, if you're going to step beyond 8x16x4 sprites to '16-bit quality', you're now into fairly robust graphics not too indistinguishable from your everyday pixel art game (though now that most 2D games are Flash if not polygons rather than sprites, the days of pixel art being commonplace are behind us.) There are some games that really do capture something magic by adhering to the limitations of say the Genesis chip, but by that point, you're more often talking a common graphical/sound style that artists tended to replicate rather than technical limitations (aside from those chirpy sounds and those dithered transparencies.)
But hey, bring it on if a developer's game!
Claude Augario
Member
Cheetahmen or bust.
outunderthestars
Banned
Love this idea. 
I absolutely love this! Is anybody else getting Retro Game Challenge vibes from this?
If the games included in UFO 50 are as good as or better than the ones from RGC I'm there day one! Looks loads better than most compilation games like this already.
Yup, that's the first thing I thought of when watching the trailer. RGC was so much fun and turned me into a Gamecenter CX fan.
This collection has a ton of potential, I love the concept of games like RGC, NES Remix or the Guild games.
dfa records
Member
YESSSSSS
The 8-Bit Raider
Member
As to mine.
The games in that trailer to me seem to pull off the 8-bit aesthetic better than most indie games that try.
I mean, they obviously don't look like actual NES games, but their use of color and space looks the same, just taking advantage of a higher number of pixels. And all those games pull it off in a similar way. It's as if this is a collection of 50 greatest hits from one souped-up 80's console or home PC that never actually existed.
I mean, they obviously don't look like actual NES games, but their use of color and space looks the same, just taking advantage of a higher number of pixels. And all those games pull it off in a similar way. It's as if this is a collection of 50 greatest hits from one souped-up 80's console or home PC that never actually existed.
Shifty1897
Member
It's like the greatest game designers of our generation went back in time.
I can very much dig it.
I can very much dig it.
Joey Jo-Jo Jr
Member
I wonder why any indie dev focuses on making one 8 bit inspired game when they could just make 50 instead?
I would be interested in this if they went the whole way and designed a new "retro" console with controllers etc and had these games built into the console.
The game with the car driving down the road while shooting at objects in the sky looks good. Is this "inspired" by an actual retro game?
I would be interested in this if they went the whole way and designed a new "retro" console with controllers etc and had these games built into the console.
The game with the car driving down the road while shooting at objects in the sky looks good. Is this "inspired" by an actual retro game?
Quite like the way this looks. I've often wondered why experiences creators don't try to make more collection-style efforts. It also harkens back to the old days, where new modes for bonus, or later stages, were much more common.
They mention on the website ( http://50games.fun ) that the games all share a 32 color palette, and this legit shows great dedication to making that limited color aspect work.
I'm really happy to see a nice BEU and a 3rd person rear-view dungeon crawler in there; there aren't enough good BEUs on Steam, and many of the ones there have much more questionable aesthetics than this simple "mini game" here.
I will never tire of 8bit or pixel art of this caliber. Beyond the quality of the look, they bring such a nice, stylistic use of color that just doesn't exist in many 3D works, and the use of intentional detail seems so much better in games like this.
They mention on the website ( http://50games.fun ) that the games all share a 32 color palette, and this legit shows great dedication to making that limited color aspect work.
I'm really happy to see a nice BEU and a 3rd person rear-view dungeon crawler in there; there aren't enough good BEUs on Steam, and many of the ones there have much more questionable aesthetics than this simple "mini game" here.
I will never tire of 8bit or pixel art of this caliber. Beyond the quality of the look, they bring such a nice, stylistic use of color that just doesn't exist in many 3D works, and the use of intentional detail seems so much better in games like this.
Looks interesting, really looking forward to learn more about this.
And I see that Ars had a short article about this game:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017...inally-returns-with-a-new-game-er-50-of-them/
And I see that Ars had a short article about this game:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017...inally-returns-with-a-new-game-er-50-of-them/
I also read it as UFC 50 and I was thinking why 50? it doesn't match any recent ppvs nor there have been 50 games.
Wowfunhappy
Member
I probably will. It's just that I'm sure a number of these games will turn out really good, and I'll miss out. I like Spelunky a lot.
Not a tragedy. Clearly people are enjoying the idea of a bundle, so good for them. I just don't really understand the appeal myself.
ScientificPizza
Banned
this is such an incredible idea
Weltall Zero
Member
I just found out about this and I'm so excited I actually welled up IRL! You had me at Derek Yu, you monsters! I NEED THIS IN MY VEINS!
Yeah, exactly! God, how I love Arino no Chousenjou games. Anyone here played the second? It's even better than the second, with some utterly amazing games, including Wiz-Man, the most addicting Pac-Man clone ever besides the actual Pac-Man Championship Edition version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7wKgvKW1IY
And also a Kung Fu Warrior style game that's also great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtLYkwHRKe4
To top it off, you don't have to give up on the awesomeness that is Haguruman (Haggle Man) because it includes a version of it as a bonus with Koume as the main character!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjM0WKQpdVQ
I absolutely love this! Is anybody else getting Retro Game Challenge vibes from this?
If the games included in UFO 50 are as good as or better than the ones from RGC I'm there day one! Looks loads better than most compilation games like this already.
Yeah, exactly! God, how I love Arino no Chousenjou games. Anyone here played the second? It's even better than the second, with some utterly amazing games, including Wiz-Man, the most addicting Pac-Man clone ever besides the actual Pac-Man Championship Edition version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7wKgvKW1IY
And also a Kung Fu Warrior style game that's also great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtLYkwHRKe4
To top it off, you don't have to give up on the awesomeness that is Haguruman (Haggle Man) because it includes a version of it as a bonus with Koume as the main character!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjM0WKQpdVQ
I love the concept of this, think it's a fantastic idea and love the idea of indie developers grouping together and making games with those sorts of restrictions. Hope that they're not all Nintendo Hard like old 8-bit games though!
Saw a few that looked to be inspired by things like River City Ransom and Retro City Rampage, amongst others. Looking good. Fingers crossed that the "other platforms" aren't too far behind the PC release.
Saw a few that looked to be inspired by things like River City Ransom and Retro City Rampage, amongst others. Looking good. Fingers crossed that the "other platforms" aren't too far behind the PC release.
Weltall Zero
Member
Here's what seems to be to be the inspirations for some of these games, in the chronological order that they appear in the trailer:
1) Ice Climbers (with a Samus-like main character).
2) ??? (multiscrolling fish shooter)
3) Dodgeball.
4) ??? (Grid Knights).
5) Adventures of Lolo / Sokoban.
6) Gradius (a different fish shooter). It shows two sections but it's the same game.
7) Pocky and Rocky.
8) Hero Academy? (or that other recent game with asynchronous multiplayer whose name eludes me right now).
9) ??? (UFO with boomerangs).
10) Kunio Kun / Renegade / Double Dragon.
11) Blaster Master (overhead sections).
12) Son Son.
13) ??? (Space Golf).
14) Towerfall / Smash Bros.
15) ??? (House Party).
16) GTA / Retro City Rampage.
17) ??? (Ninja Volleyball).
18) Mother / Earthbound?.
19) Spelunky? (Sausageman).
20) Silkworm (Horizontal car shooter).
21) Arkanoid (Badmington Invaders).
22) Tower Defense (with cavemen).
23) Karnov.
24) Blaster Master (side view sections; another UFO cameo).
25) Another Spelunky? (Ninja Caves).
At this point the screen divides into four:
1-1) ??? (Knight crushed by falling ceiling)
1-2) Super Sprint (with UFOs).
2-1) Smash TV.
2-2) ??? (Walrus diver)
And then it becomes a bit crazy: the screen divides into 16 panels and some panels show two games!
1-1 a) Xevious.
1-1 b) Metal Storm.
1-2) Afterburner / Fantasy Zone (again with the UFO ).
1-3) Final Fantasy (!).
1-4) DOTA? (seems to be a two player game where you spawn enemies to send against the other player).
2-1 a) Splatoon! (2p versus, paint the tiles).
2-1 b) Orbient? (gravity / orbit game).
2-2) ??? (grid strategy game with castles)
2-3 a) ??? (Ball overhead game with dialogue)
2-3 b) 12) again.
2-4 a) ??? (Adventure game)
2-4 b) ??? (overhead game with water)
3-1) Super Mario Bros.
3-2 a) Fire Emblem? (strategy game Blues Bros vs Beetles).
3-2 b) Crude Buster
3-3 a) ??? (Teleporting tank running along floor and ceiling)
3-3 b) Kid Chameleon?
3-4) Rogue? (green grid)
4-1 a) Tin Pin Slammer.
4-1 b) Super Mario Bros 2.
4-2) ??? (two menus, races / loan, same game?)
4-3) Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder
4-4) ??? (no clue what's going on there).
What is most amazing to me in all these games is the consistent high quality of all the spritework. They all look like top tier / late gen NES games or even better. Other retro game compilations of this kind tend to understandably skimp on production values to achieve their goals, but it absolutely seems to not be the case here. Here's hoping all of these games will also have modern, nuanced gameplay like the Arino no Chousenjou games, Shovel Knight, Spelunky, etc.
Edit: Completed the list and added timestamps. If my calculations are correct, the trailer shows 44 games; pretty close to the 50 in the collection, and virtually every single one of them looks great!
1) Ice Climbers (with a Samus-like main character).
2) ??? (multiscrolling fish shooter)
3) Dodgeball.
4) ??? (Grid Knights).
5) Adventures of Lolo / Sokoban.
6) Gradius (a different fish shooter). It shows two sections but it's the same game.
7) Pocky and Rocky.
8) Hero Academy? (or that other recent game with asynchronous multiplayer whose name eludes me right now).
9) ??? (UFO with boomerangs).
10) Kunio Kun / Renegade / Double Dragon.
11) Blaster Master (overhead sections).
12) Son Son.
13) ??? (Space Golf).
14) Towerfall / Smash Bros.
15) ??? (House Party).
16) GTA / Retro City Rampage.
17) ??? (Ninja Volleyball).
18) Mother / Earthbound?.
19) Spelunky? (Sausageman).
20) Silkworm (Horizontal car shooter).
21) Arkanoid (Badmington Invaders).
22) Tower Defense (with cavemen).
23) Karnov.
24) Blaster Master (side view sections; another UFO cameo).
25) Another Spelunky? (Ninja Caves).
At this point the screen divides into four:
1-1) ??? (Knight crushed by falling ceiling)
1-2) Super Sprint (with UFOs).
2-1) Smash TV.
2-2) ??? (Walrus diver)
And then it becomes a bit crazy: the screen divides into 16 panels and some panels show two games!
1-1 a) Xevious.
1-1 b) Metal Storm.
1-2) Afterburner / Fantasy Zone (again with the UFO
).1-3) Final Fantasy (!).
1-4) DOTA? (seems to be a two player game where you spawn enemies to send against the other player).
2-1 a) Splatoon! (2p versus, paint the tiles).
2-1 b) Orbient? (gravity / orbit game).
2-2) ??? (grid strategy game with castles)
2-3 a) ??? (Ball overhead game with dialogue)
2-3 b) 12) again.
2-4 a) ??? (Adventure game)
2-4 b) ??? (overhead game with water)
3-1) Super Mario Bros.
3-2 a) Fire Emblem? (strategy game Blues Bros vs Beetles).
3-2 b) Crude Buster
3-3 a) ??? (Teleporting tank running along floor and ceiling)
3-3 b) Kid Chameleon?
3-4) Rogue? (green grid)
4-1 a) Tin Pin Slammer.
4-1 b) Super Mario Bros 2.
4-2) ??? (two menus, races / loan, same game?)
4-3) Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder
4-4) ??? (no clue what's going on there
).What is most amazing to me in all these games is the consistent high quality of all the spritework. They all look like top tier / late gen NES games or even better. Other retro game compilations of this kind tend to understandably skimp on production values to achieve their goals, but it absolutely seems to not be the case here. Here's hoping all of these games will also have modern, nuanced gameplay like the Arino no Chousenjou games, Shovel Knight, Spelunky, etc.
Edit: Completed the list and added timestamps. If my calculations are correct, the trailer shows 44 games; pretty close to the 50 in the collection, and virtually every single one of them looks great!
Graphics Horse
Member
Thanks for this!
21 reminded me of vaguely of Silkworm, where you can control a jeep and turret (or a helicopter with the other player), not sure if there's other games like that.
Weltall Zero
Member
Good catch, and as a bonus Silkworm has a NES port (although I played the Spectrum version back then). I'll put it there!
Whenever I have another chunk of free time I'll add the remaining games, and probably timestamp links for each game.
CamHostage
Member
Thanks for starting a checklist, Weltall Zero!
I checked through the screenshots on the UFO 50 site and the games shown all match up to a segment in the video trailer except this one. This could be the overworld of the one of them, or the out-of-the-car view of the GTA-type game (which you'll notice has aliens for some reason?) In general, though, I'm not seeing a clear match, I think it's new to the list.
Also, if it helps to finish the list:
3-1) ?? (jumping on ladders/crates, seems very early, AI doesn't do anything, and there's no stats bar)
3-2a) ?? (grid-based RPG, maybe Mystery Dungeon since nothing moves and actions happen in sequence)
3-2b) Shatterhand/Wolfchild (side-scroller with a wolf)
3-3) ?? (teleporting turret, action/puzzler side-scroller)
3-4) ?? (green GB graphics)
4-1a) ?? (bocce/pool-style physics game, maybe be 2P, orange vs purple?)
4-1b) ?? (like a nice version of Rescue Rangers, you trap rather than throw boxes?)
4-2) ?? (alien betting sim)
4-3) Wizardry with realtime combat (not sure if there are old games that had this combat... like a 2D Severed)
4-4) ?? (underwater creature, seems early, nothing animates except for the bubble
I think it's actually meant to be more like the Capcom classic SonSon. Forced-scrolling, enemies on patterns... it's not really SonSon either since the concentration and size of enemies on field is different, so maybe a mix of both. The footage in 2-3 b is interesting, level design is way over SonSon but enemy pathing is super-simple so I imagine it'll be pure concentration of enemies that'll make it tough.
That calls back Metal Storm, the NES game that influenced a bunch of gravity-reversal games.
I'm trying to think what this game is? (Sort of like Tower Fall, but with Abuse-style 360 aiming.) It's definitely a multiplayer game, so that's worth noting.
Also, I do believe 14 and 15 are actually the same game, with different characters/powers. (It's helpful to look at the stats bars of each game to get bearings, as I'm sure you noticed.) So maybe it's UFO50's version of Smash, with lots of classic character clones facing off against each other in 2P arena combat? The screenshots show a different-haired version of the girl fighting the horse, so there are certainly options in that game, and if 14 and 15 are the same, this could be rather deep for a minigame game...
Jackal, uh, Lucky & Wild in arcades, kind of ... Halo 3? Yeah, not many games come to mind that do drive+shoot like this, that clip stuck out in my mind too.
I checked through the screenshots on the UFO 50 site and the games shown all match up to a segment in the video trailer except this one. This could be the overworld of the one of them, or the out-of-the-car view of the GTA-type game (which you'll notice has aliens for some reason?) In general, though, I'm not seeing a clear match, I think it's new to the list.
Also, if it helps to finish the list:
3-1) ?? (jumping on ladders/crates, seems very early, AI doesn't do anything, and there's no stats bar)
3-2a) ?? (grid-based RPG, maybe Mystery Dungeon since nothing moves and actions happen in sequence)
3-2b) Shatterhand/Wolfchild (side-scroller with a wolf)
3-3) ?? (teleporting turret, action/puzzler side-scroller)
3-4) ?? (green GB graphics)
4-1a) ?? (bocce/pool-style physics game, maybe be 2P, orange vs purple?)
4-1b) ?? (like a nice version of Rescue Rangers, you trap rather than throw boxes?)
4-2) ?? (alien betting sim)
4-3) Wizardry with realtime combat (not sure if there are old games that had this combat... like a 2D Severed)
4-4) ?? (underwater creature, seems early, nothing animates except for the bubble
I think it's actually meant to be more like the Capcom classic SonSon. Forced-scrolling, enemies on patterns... it's not really SonSon either since the concentration and size of enemies on field is different, so maybe a mix of both. The footage in 2-3 b is interesting, level design is way over SonSon but enemy pathing is super-simple so I imagine it'll be pure concentration of enemies that'll make it tough.
That calls back Metal Storm, the NES game that influenced a bunch of gravity-reversal games.
I'm trying to think what this game is? (Sort of like Tower Fall, but with Abuse-style 360 aiming.) It's definitely a multiplayer game, so that's worth noting.
Also, I do believe 14 and 15 are actually the same game, with different characters/powers. (It's helpful to look at the stats bars of each game to get bearings, as I'm sure you noticed.) So maybe it's UFO50's version of Smash, with lots of classic character clones facing off against each other in 2P arena combat? The screenshots show a different-haired version of the girl fighting the horse, so there are certainly options in that game, and if 14 and 15 are the same, this could be rather deep for a minigame game...
Jackal, uh, Lucky & Wild in arcades, kind of ... Halo 3? Yeah, not many games come to mind that do drive+shoot like this, that clip stuck out in my mind too.
Weltall Zero
Member
Sorry for the double post, but I finished the list and added timestamps for those interested. Which considering the action this thread is seeing, seems to not be that many...
Edit: And of course people actually replied right as I was updating the list, heh.
Edit2:
Thanks a lot for the contributions, will get to updating the list right away and will reply to your message here when I'm done. I didn't realize there were screenshots in the site, I'll have to check them out too! Also since I typed the second half of the 16 panel bit, I'd love to get your input on those too.
Edit: And of course people actually replied right as I was updating the list, heh.
Edit2:
Thanks a lot for the contributions, will get to updating the list right away and will reply to your message here when I'm done. I didn't realize there were screenshots in the site, I'll have to check them out too! Also since I typed the second half of the 16 panel bit, I'd love to get your input on those too.
The Dungeon Crawler with real-time combat reminds me Crossed Swords from the NeoGeo.
I thinked in SonSon too.
I thinked in SonSon too.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Just learning about this. Wow, this is now one of my most anticipated releases.
Graphics Horse
Member
Well side scrolling ones at least, but there's at least a few vehicle levels in Contra/Contra style games which are similar too.
While I too am tiring of the 8-bit nostalgia that indies seem to be so fond of, this has piqued my interest because it gives me Retro Game Challenge vibes. Hopefully the whole game selection UI is more than just a list of games to choose from. The more 80's aesthetic they work into the game the better. Plus, some of the games shown briefly in the trailer look quite good in terms of design.