| Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-10-31
06:23:13
|  Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
 Happy halloween Plus/4 scene; and what better way to celebrate this spooky holiday than digging up some classic games that fit the theme. How about... Cauldron II? What? It doesn't exist for the Plus/4? Gosh, what a pity. Oh well, everyone go home, nothing to see here.
Wait what?! TCFS actually converted this game to the Plus/4?! That changes everything!
This time the player takes on the role of Bouncey - what a fun name for a pumpkin - who does, in fact, bounce, constantly. Your quest is to guide him through Witch's castle (more than 120 screens!) to enact his revenge. There are six magical items - a Chalice, Axe, Shield, Crown, Scissors, and Book of Spells - scattered throughout, and Bouncey must collect them in order to complete the game. Avoid all the baddies - some of which Bouncey can shoot down, if he collects the "spark". It won't be easy!
Fire up that old iron and load this game immediately! Happy halloween!
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Posted By
MIK
on 2023-11-01
06:23:13
 | Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
This is a genuine suprise to see, not the most obvious game to port to Plus/4 but a very cool one! 
Last of the classics from that early creative era for C64, before arcade ports took over.
Great choice TCFS, well done!! 
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Posted By
TCFS
on 2023-11-01
08:54:35
 | Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Thanks, this was one of my childhood favorites. I have never been able to play it without stress, but at least I admire its beauty from distance...
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Posted By
Luca
on 2023-11-01
10:13:42
 | Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
What can I add? It's another TCFS' miracle, and another lesson about how to present a production balancing compromises, passion, technique, history, art.
At this point, I feel free to speculate on minor silly facts about this great classic. First of all, watching all the author's history up to nowadays, it seems quite clear that he appreciated frustrating and punitive games Based on this, I'm sure that the next TCFS production will be something like mmm... Shibari Simulation Plus/4?
Otherwise, we could follow another line to hypothesize the next title. Let's see... After The Empire Strikes Back, and this which is subtitled "The Pumpkin Strikes Back"... I suppose: Beach-Head II - The Dictator Strikes Back!. Or Bounty Bob Strikes Back! Or Kong Strikes Back! All in all: somebody could "strike back" for a third release, no?
Another interesting fact is that the pumpkin here has been named "Bouncey" although there are no apparent hints about that in the original manual. In the Zzap!64 review, the star of this game has been named "PumpKing", following the fact that the first chapter's manual reported the poem which included the verse:
"...Tomorrow night
'Tis Halloween
When only one
Shall be Witch-Queen..."
Last but not least: the lovely comeback of the fake cracktros' fashion, which I appreciate sooo much, and that clearly represent a line of style of the author himself as continuity along all those years of Plus/4 passion. And this ESI cracktro redux is a fantastic tribute!
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Posted By
Spektro
on 2023-11-01
11:39:32
 | Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Excellent work in the music department Csabo!
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-11-01
11:40:27
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Hah, you're right about the pumpkin's name Luca - it was taken from the C64 Wiki for Cauldron II, but I'm not sure where they got it from
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Posted By
MMS
on 2023-11-02
14:50:20
 | Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Nice game, fantastic presentation! . It is a really hard game. I have less hair that two days ago
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Posted By
Murphy
on 2023-11-02
16:15:51
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Once again a very well done plus/4 conversion, congratulations! Technically brilliant, as we've come to expect from TCFS, and the gameplay is just as cruel to the player as the c64 version
Would love to hear some technical explanation from @TCFS
btw. For the intro, we converted an old PC picture from Unreal, which he made for the Evoke 2014 pixel graphics competition.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2023-11-02
15:58:33
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Yeah, the Eagle with the floppy!
As soon as I saw it I checked out the C64 "Eagle Soft Incorporated" famous intro pic
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2023-11-04
03:38:30
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Brilliant conversion, as ever, the music is spot on as is ususally the case with Master Csabo. I have the feeling that this was the type of genre that had very few incarnations on the C16 (plus/4). I had a great time with Power Ball back in the day but that's technically much less advanced. Not to speak about the fact that Cauldron is way more evil than that...! Cauldron II has strong Spectrum vibes in me and those Speccy games were always tough like hell.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-11-04
08:44:05
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
TBH, at the moment I can't think of any other games where the player's sprite can be either hires or multi. There are probably some, but it's definitely a big technical achievement. Bouncey moves so smooth, TCFS makes it look effortless - when in reality it's anything but:
 
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2023-11-06
17:47:05
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Maybe Magician's Curse had something similar? I haven't checked though...
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Posted By
Charles
on 2023-11-06
17:59:59
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
WOW, Csabo, that's one good observation and indeed amazing feature, looks very smooth..
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Posted By
MMS
on 2023-11-14
17:55:59
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
@Gaia, nope, Magicians Curse in full multicolor, as you could see on the sprite too it uses 2x1 pixels (second picture of the game).
The most liked part of the Magician's Curse (for me) that the character can go behind some elements, like the bridge's fence or the big grey crosses in the cemetery. With this feature it completely emulates the C64 HW sprite priority setting, I think a very rare feature on C16. Too bad, that no bigger and more complex 64K game used this outstanding software sprite engine.
In fact TCFS's engine is more advanced, as the main sprite is hires (better resolution), can do that hires/multi change on the fly, and the collision detection seems to be much better too.
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Posted By
Grass
on 2023-11-14
01:51:57
| Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
Fantastic port again. Thanks!
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Posted By
JimmyCoupe
on 2023-11-24
10:29:33
 | Re: Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back!
My mind is blown. You are awesome and thank you .
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