Mutant Invaders - IJK Software - BBC Micro - Emulated (Pantheon) - 1,950 points.

Описание: Mutant Invaders is a simple fixed-shooter arcade game for the BBC Micro. It was released in 1982 by IJK Software as a standalone release (Cassette Three) but was later bundled with Breakout (originally Cassette Four). This was probably because the games were too simple on their own and bundling them as a compilation made them better value for money as games increased in quality. Mutant Invaders for example, is written in BASIC, not machine code, which gives an idea of how simple it is.

Your ship shoots at green descending invaders, while the red Mutant Invaders are indestructible (though you do get points for shooting at them). When the Mutant Invaders land, they stay put blocking your path, as touching them is deadly. If a green invader lands on them, it will destroy them, so your battle is not hopeless.

At 500 points, all invaders turn red. However, only one of them is the true mutant and you must still destroy the other ones. If any red invaders land, even fake ones, they will block up your ground area. When you reach 1,000 points, all the fake red mutants turn green again, but now there are two red mutants to contend with. The game continues in this way, with mutations every 500 points. For an occasional bonus, an alien UFO flies across the top of the screen and this is well worth trying to shoot as it rewards you with an extra life if you hit it. You also get an extra life for every 1,000 points you score. If you get trapped in a tight spot, your last roll of the dice is access to a hyperspace function. This will move you somewhere else on the baseline - but there is no guarantee that will be a safe spot either!

This game was very early in the BBC Micro's library, when games written in BASIC were quite commonly found as commercial releases. As such, there are no smooth graphics to be seen here, but in the context of the time, a game like this would not have been that unusual. BBC BASIC was quite fast and powerful as BASIC languages go, so this game is perhaps a little better than you would think compared to BASIC games on other machines of the time. Much better was soon to come though, and arcade games in BASIC were generally relegated to compilation tapes or appeared as type-ins in magazines.

This run was made on the 2nd January 2026. The emulator is Pantheon, running on PC. There are no skill levels and the final score was 1,950 points.

Time stamps:
00:30 Game loading.
00:35 Game start.
01:29 UFO shot, extra life awarded.
01:30 Collision with Mutant Invader, first life lost.
02:20 500 points reached, all green invaders turn red, making it difficult to know which is the real Mutant.
02:48 Second life lost.
03:57 1,000 points reached, extra life awarded and fake red invaders turn green again. There are now two real Mutant Invaders on-screen.
03:59 Third life lost.
05:02 1,500 points reached and all invaders turn red again.
05:09 Fourth life lost.
05:42 Fifth life lost.
06:16 Sixth life lost. Game Over! Final score 1,950 points.




Intro Music:
Music by: Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Title: Legend
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