Ryshka

Published on Game On 06/90

Vertical shooters belong to my favorite video game genres whose classics I still revisit regularly. There is just something uniquely satisfying about blowing up various enemies raining down from the top of the screen while having to weave through an onslaught of bullets.

It's a pity, then, that the first vertical shooter featured on Adventures in 16 Colors isn't very good. Say hello to Ryshka:

Magic Disk 64 04/90

Cover
When I saw this issue at the newsstand, the cover art immediately reminded me of the docking bay from Star Wars: A New Hope. I suppose that was the artist's inspiration, even though it is not an exact copy from the movie.

Compared to last month's facial disaster, this picture is actually pretty good. For one, the perspective is quite accurate with a common vanishing point, and the only people depicted are either very far away or have their face obscured by a helmet. If I want to get extra nitpicky (and that's what I usually do here), I can point out one thing: Assuming the ship in the front is the same model as the ones seen further back, then the pilot in the cockpit must be a giant compared to the people you can see standing around the other ships.

In any case, the cover evidently fulfilled its purpose, as I found it quite captivating. It's a pity, though, that it somewhat oversells what is on the disk. None of the games feature any space stations or ships. One game has a starfield and some moons/planets in the background, but that's about all the similarities I can find.

Game On 04/90

Cover
Looking at this artwork, I just realized that it took me four issues of Game On to finally get to a cover involving a space battle. One would expect the subject matter to be much more prevalent, considering how often C64 games have you shoot lasers at flying enemies in outer space.

It's all the more curious, then, that none of the games in this issue feature any spaceships or anything science-fiction related. Up until now, the cover art always referenced one of the games on the disk. It's possible that the list of games changed at one point or that the artist didn't get enough time to create a fitting cover. In the end, it doesn't really matter, does it?

What matters, however, is me trying to come to terms with this scene's proportions: Either all the ships involved in this epic struggle are exceptionally huge or that planet is extremely tiny. Furthermore, the green moon looks to be so close to the blue planet, it might as well be attached to it. But, to be honest, I always liked this cover, and I still do. I find its colors quite pleasing, as well as the flashy lasers and the non-black space background.