Remakes

Information

Author: Foxy

Pros

Great conversion
Fun bonus game
Unique gameplay

Cons

Extremely frustrating

Links

Nebulus

Neblulus—or Tower Toppler in the USA—was a minor hit on 8-bit and 16-bit platforms in the late 1980s, providing a new spin, quite literally, on the platform genre, as a rotating tower makes up the basis of each of the levels. The aim of the game is to guide your two-legged frog-like creature—suitably named 'Pogo'—to the top of each tower, at which point he demolishes it, causing it to crash down into the sea. Your path comprises climable staircases, a number of lifts dotted around each tower, and occasional strolls through the tower by way of various doors.

Like the original game, the tower rotates as you move around it, which is both a visually arresting and disorientating effect. The further up the tower you go, the more nasties appear to hinder your progress. Some amble back and forth, while others dart in from the site of the screen, announcing their presence with a strange drum-like sound (unfortunately, the searing screech of the C64 version is absent). Although contact with one such creature doesn't prove fatal to Pogo, it will knock him some way back down the tower, and time is of the essence: if the timer runs out before you reach the top, one of your precious lives is lost. Also, if Pogo happens to end up in the drink, he drowns.

Along with bringing the graphics across from the Atari ST version, this remake includes the innovative bonus game where Pogo snares fish by firing bubbles of air from his submarine when travelling between towers. Unfortunately, it also retains the somewhat excessive difficulty of the original game, and it can rapidly become frustrating; however, apart from this flaw, Nebulus is a great game.