When I was a young man there was only one company worth knowing about when it came to computer games and that was Sierra Online the makers of the Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, King’s Quest and so many other games that helped define my childhood.
Amongst my friends and I these game franchises were as big as any movie, TV show or comic book series. We knew all the characters and the story lines and without the internet it was always exciting to get any news of what Sierra were doing next.
Then one day a game came across my path, one that would provide me hours of entertainment, frustration and ultimately satisfaction: Thexder.
Basically in Thexder you were a Robotech like machine that would transform from robot to jet fighter depending upon the need of the screen, the game itself was a side scroller and frankly I think it was one of the hardest side scrollers that I ever encountered with such a rich and varied series of screens.
Apparently there were 16 levels to get through in Thexder, I made it to 12 and in my circle of friends and acquaintances I’m the only one I know of to have made it that far. I attribute this to two things, 1) I played it constantly for hours on end over and over and 2) my computer set up was that rare perfect alignment between game, player and peripheral.
I had a Tandy 1000 with 16 colour graphics and a perfect fit joystick, nothing fancy, just the standard Tandy joystick but I knew it’s feel and reaction perfectly.
I can’t say I miss the old Tandy 1000, but I do miss Thexder, I never played the sequel, it didn’t look as much fun and since I hadn’t finished the first one there seemed little point. I also only ever played Thexder on one other computer, using a new joystick/keyboard and it all felt wrong.
I did see though that the game has resurfaced on the PSP and now the PS3.
I’m definitely buying Thexder, I’m not sure how we’re going to get along with new controllers and different screens etc. The graphics on the new one are amazing and completely respectful to the original game which I see is included in this “Thexder Neo” as well. It’s exciting to revisit my youth in a game that I suspected was barely known or have that much of a fanbase.
It also makes me feel a little old, sad and nostalgic.
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4 Responses to “Thexder – A game from my past back again”
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it looks simple (the setup, not the actual playing) , the music drives me crazy though.
My housemate showed me to a youtube of Raptor where you could download the original music, thát music can be played for hours on end.
LOL no that music is the sweetest sounding music ever!!!
The music in that gamed ruled. On your Tandy, because you had a music card, when you shot something it didn't take up the channel and skip between sound effects and music like it did on my computer. You and Dale were obsessed with that game!
I can not believe that they have redone this game. Is it going to be on XBOX360? Might have to think about getting it. Got a week off from study coming up. Should spend it seeing if I can “clock it”.
I know! Dale and I were super obsessed – he's the only one who ever came close and if they had save games we would have clocked it quite quickly.
Thexder was pretty much the only thing that bloody Tandy was good for
It is only on the Playstation network, I wonder if there is a port for the PC – doubt it though at this stage.
You've still got my number right – sms me when you're free and in town and we'll get coffee'd up.