Zoom the Super Bear
Release type: Shareware
Release date: 1994 (original release)
Levels: 10
Author: A-J Games
Registration bonus: Zoom II: Enter Zip
Registration price: $30
Related games: A-J's Quest, The Return of A-J, A-J 3, Zoom II: Enter Zip
Presumably a tribute/parody of SuperTed cartoon.
This game underwent a bunch of revision when Game-Maker 3.0 came around. In particular all of the menus and interfaces got an overhaul.
Story
"Hi. I'm A-J Bear. This is the story of how my cousin became super.
"It was all an accident, really. Unbeknownst to Zoom, Grandpa Merlin was busy conjuring a spell in his den.
"When Zoom came in to watch the telly, Grandpa was distracted and his spell went awry, throwing Zoom across the room.
"Grandpa rushed over to him; he didn't have any idea what would happen. He didn't even know what the spell was. When Grandpa pulled Zoom to his feet, Zoom woke.
"To spare your ears, I won't go into the details, but the spell gave Zoom super powers.
"Grandma made a simple costume, a blue mask and a red cape with a big, yellow "Z" on it.
"He's not here right now -- I think he said he was gonna go find some kind of card.
"He'd better get home soon, though, or he'll be late for work at the library."
Instructions
- F1=Help!
- F2=Status Screen
- F3=Toggle Music
- F4=Toggle Sound
- F5=Save
- F6=Restore
- F8=Turn on Joystick
- F9=Calibrate Joystick
- F10=Message from Recreational Software Designs
- ESC=Quit!
WHEN ZOOM IS FLYING:
- 8, Up Arrow=Speed Up
- 2, Down Arrow=Slow Down
- 4, Left Arrow=Veer left
- 6, Right Arrow=Veer Right
- Space Bar=Fire a Ray of Magic
WHEN ZOOM IS WALKING:
- 7, Home=Fly Left
- 8, Up Arrow=Fly Upwards
- 9, PgUp=Fly Right
- 4, Left Arrow=Walk to the Left
- 6, Right Arrow=Walk to the Right
- 2, Down Arrow=Fly Downwards
- B=Fire a Ray of Magic to the Left
- N=Fire a Ray of Magic to the Right
ITEMS:
- A drop of honey refills your hit points by one point. The big `100' floating around gives you one hundred points, and the zoom doll gives Zoom an extra life.
MONSTERS:
- The Crabbies move in a set pattern, a diamond. They're pretty easy to get rid of.
- The Flaming Turnips, those orange balls with boots and shades, move VERY randomly. If you can hit them, they'll die instantly.
- Watch out for Flying Dirt Clods. They get weaker every time you hit them, but it takes multiple hits to dispatch them.
- Pretzels are wimps. Just shoot 'em.
- The Polygon, Green takes two hits. After the first one, it gets annoyed and starts to chase you.
- The Clouds are as easy to dispatch as the Pretzels.
Credits
Games:
Game Testers:
- M.O.S.H.
Game Engine:
Special Thanx to:
Background
Mostly a sort of side-scrolling platformer, although there are some ill-functioning vertical shooting segments. A side-story (or gaiden, if you prefer) to the A-J's Quest series, which I took as my namesake at the time. I think this is actually a bit better than the main series, with the exception of the (incredibly complex) third game.
As with Friction, this was on ZDNet from around 1998 through 2000 or 2001 or so. Maybe it had something to do with C|Net's buyout? I honestly didn't pay much attention to that deal. Also as with Friction, this game managed to gather three stars (out of a possible five) by whatever internal monkey did the official reviews for these things. I don't think too many people actually downloaded either game, which might be a second explanation for why they're no longer around.
Links
Downloads
- Zoom the Super Bear (? kB)
- Level 1-1 map (58 kB)
- Level 1-2 map (68 kB)
- Level 2-1 map (31 kB)
- Level 2-2 map (29 kB)
- Level 3-1 map (34 kB)
- Level 3-2 map (115 kB)
- Level 4-1 map (26 kB)
- Level 4-2 map (75 kB)
- Level 5-1 map (18 kB)
- Level 5-2 map (22 kB)
