Xenon 2 Megablast

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Xenon 2 Megablast

Developer(s)	The Assembly Line
Publisher(s)	Renegade
Designer(s)	The Bitmap Brothers
Release date(s)	1989
Genre(s)	Scrolling Shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Acorn Archimedes, Game Boy
Media	Amiga, ST, PC: Floppy disc ; Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Game Boy: Cartridge ; CDTV: CD-ROM
Input	Joystick

Xenon 2 Megablast is a computer game originally produced for the Amiga and Atari ST, and later converted to thePC, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Acorn Archimedes and Game Boy platforms. The sequel to Xenon, it was designed by the Bitmap Brothers (although coded by The Assembly Line) and became one of their most well-known titles, and is a classic of its genre.

Xenon 2 Megablast is a vertically scrolling shoot'em-up. Unusually for the genre, the player's spaceship can reverse the scrolling of the play area for a limited distance, which is useful for escaping from dead ends. This game consists of five levels which are each divided into two sections.

The game has a generic sci-fi theme and almost no plot, focusing instead on presentation and gameplay. Indeed, it was the quality of the music and graphics that led to the game's memorability. The graphics bear the trademark "Bitmap Brothers" appearance, with realistic and detailed renditions of rock and metal objects. The enemies are various nondescript organic creatures.

The Bitmap Brothers co-operated with the British musician Tim Simenon to include the Bomb the Bass hip hop track "Megablast (Hip Hop On Precinct 13)" as theme music, which is also the origin of the game's subtitle (in turn, the theme of this song is based on the theme of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 movie). There are two versions of the track in the game: a nearly faithful rendition (only missing a few spoken lines) as the loading music, and a simplified version as the in-game background music.

The player of Xenon 2 Megablast must rely heavily on power-ups, which may be collected as bonuses left behind by destroyed enemies or bought from the shop that appears at the halfway and end points of every level. Accumulating power-ups rewards the player with heavy-duty firepower.

Xenon 2 (Sega Master System)

Xenon 2 Megablast is widely regarded as one of the most difficult shoot'em-ups of the 1990s Amiga and Atari ST game era. In light of the effort required to complete the game, Peter Molyneux of Bullfrog Software is said to have been greatly disappointed by its outro: the shopkeeper, in his usual setting, congratulates you for finishing the game, and tells you you can now turn off your computer. Then the screen goes black. Waiting won't help.

The Bitmap Brothers recently released an updated version, Xenon 2000, on a cover disk attached to PC Format magazine. Within the issue, were tutorials on its creation. The game is available for download from their site.