Also, right now, at 50hz, I will make it a little faster... but I dont know if its possible right now with the engine you have created.
Is there enough free cpu to do it? please, say YES!

Updated with a fixed ROM!.

What's fixed:
- Last minute changes made the game run slow @60Hz machines. Now fixed!
- Some sound problems (thanks MSX Kun!)
- Some sprites reach SPAT END and thus every sprite disappeared for just a little
period of time. Fixed! (thanks theNestruo!)

Of course, the original one submitted for the contest is still there, but as they were some stupid mistakes caused
by the hurry, and they were so easy to fix, we've decided to make it now. Keep on enjoyin' Malaika! ;-)

Thanx for your comments, theNestruo!

The engine for this game has been entirely rewritten, but it shares logic from both Invasion of the Zombie Monsters and British Bob. It is the first time that we create an engine that mixes both hardware sprites and software patterns moving at the same time: items and how items are managed throughout the game has been a major improvement, as they can animate independently, as long as detect floors, have them own "lifetime", etc... But the biggest challenge here was a fully rewritten enemy engine, based on different values defined for the enemy to manage its intelligence and properties. That's the most innovative thing on this game compared with other Relevo productions: we really do not wanted fixed-path enemies here ;-).

Also, another thing we did not want was another up-to-jump game ;-), so here button 1 and 2 from the stick are used: try to play it using a gamepad for the definitive arcade experience! The decision to choose Z and X instead of SPACE and M comes from the most common keys that console and arcade emulators use as default: also certain classic MSX games, such as that Wonder Boy clone, uses these keys too, so we took them instead SPACE and M, that are too "Nemesis"ish to me.

Ah, and the diamonds are not a reference from British Bob, but for Rainbow Islands and also Malaika Prehistoric Quest, where jewels are the main item. If you are familiar with Rainbow Islands items, there are eight color diamonds you can collect, and them appaerance depends on the place on the screen your killed enemy drops: that concept has been completely integrated on Malaika, as it gives depth an certain strategy when you kill enemies if you want to get every EXTENDED letter, that are, in fact, borrowed from Bubble Bobble.

Also, item system has been strongly influenced by Parasol Stars, where there are certain places that are marked as "item zone", and you can get items from there. Also, hidden items are not "fixed": they are picked up from an item list, so it is now where you shoot, but also what is the next item what really matters. Once you get items, the ones that will appear will have a higher value! If you are looking for "cameos", hope you find the Enchanted Crown from the land of Hyoth! ;-). Also, powerup items are obtained sequentialy, so you can control where they will come. There are lots of things to master on Malaika!

Another new thing in Malaika is the new ost: Wyz has done a fantastic work, not only remaking classic Malaika music, but also with new compositions! A little cool ending has been added too, just for those who are able to finish the game with no continues.

It has been tricky to get the game engine, graphics, musics and 32 stages into the 16KB limit. That's the main reason the game requires 16KB RAM: there are packs of compressed code that decompresses and executes in RAM, because of game size. The future 1.2 version will have no additions to the game, but it will be 32KB in size, so it can be playable on MSX models with just 8KB RAM ;-).

Thank everyone for the feedback, and keep on enjoying the MSXdev contests!

I like this game so much. I remember tumble pop, the old classic from data east. It has some nice features like discover item shooting at walls or collecting letters for extra life.

Very playable, one of the best Relevo games.

Thnx for your comments, Imanok!


Well, you don't really have to push UP... but hey, it is something being requested by many users, so I'll consider to add aditional keys for the controls, it is something really minor: but anyway, I am pretty confused for that many reactions against de use of Z and X , I really think it is a very comfortable config to play!

Nah, in fact it was the contrary. I really wanted a game with a console touch, without the "up to jump" feature! And I play lots of games on my PC that uses Z and X and action buttons (I am a keyobard gamer too). But hey, probably it is just me, and the rest of the world hates the cursors+z+x combination...

I love it because I can't give up playing it

but... I would prefer playing with up key for jumping and space key for shooting