Scorpion (Tronix)

[akator]

I have recently discovered Tronix's Scorpion. This is an excellent maze shooter and could have easily been a hit in the arcades back in the day. But boy it is difficult. It has that classic arcade difficulty, relatively easy at first then it ramps up quickly. Fun, but still difficult.

So far my top score is only 12575. I found Mayhem''s instructions from a few years ago. Does anyone have any additional tips for survival and scoring?

[hasseapa]

It's a very special Vic game. An action packed 4-way scrolling game is in itself rare, but its standout feature is its living, breathing world, where enemies interact and evolve. I remember a childhood friend saying: "Who needs a C64 when you can play Scorpion on your Vic?". At that time I had both a Vic & C64

I played it quite a bit several years ago, but I can't find any scores. If (when) I play it again, I will return to this thread.

[highinfidelity]

Looks a bit like Radar Rat Race (one of the best VIC20 games in my opinion). Is it any better in any way?

[akator]

I love Radar Rat Race and Rally X as well. There are some differences between those and Scorpion, mainly that Scorpion is more complex. Instead of simple "capture the flag," the frog eggs and frogs have to be brought back to the point of origin. Also, after the first level the game speeds up, enemies get more complex, and it no longer feels like RRR and RX. The speed of the scrolling with so much else happening on the screen is very impressive, especially on the VIC.

[hasseapa]

I love Radar Rat Race and Rally X as well.

Ditto.


A simple way to descripe Scorpion would be: Rally X crossed with Centipede, and it's extremely fast.

There was an article, a year ago or so, about Tronix in Retro Gamer.

Jimmy Huey did several Vic games and remained in the game industry for a long time (still?). He did, for example, several Game Boy Color/Advance games.