Who hasn't heard of Nemesis?
Konami's classic scrolling arcade game must have been one of the most popular coin ops ever.
The conversion for the ZX Spectrum (by Konami) was released in the summer of 1987 - and the reception it received was mixed.
In the game the planet Nemsis was under attack by the eeevil forces of Bacterion. Great names. Anyway, you had to destroy this invading fleet across four levels which were: The forest, space islands (very good for a holiday this time of year), an alien graveyard and the interior of the Bacterion battlecruiser.
The game scrolled from right to left and you could move your craft in the four directions. You had to avoid and destroy the enemy forces which included fighters, ground walkers and gun emplacements.
The game was all about powerups. Destroying a wave of attackers would leave a credit token which you could collect. Collecting one would illuminate an icon at the bottom of the screen - and collecting more tokens would move the selection on by one 'place'. This way you could choose which powerup you wanted.
Powerups included increased speed, seeking missiles, double cannon fire, lasers and even defensive shields.
Without any shields collisions with a nasty, a missile or enemy cannon fire resulted in the loss of a life. Losing a life also made you lose all of your powerups - and believe me this could really put a downer on your day.At the end of each level there was a huge 'boss' to overcome (in classic arcade style), and each one had a method of attacking as well as a weak spot.
On Release:
This conversion of the original arcade game to the Speccy was nowhere near good enough. The arcade game had been very playable and addictive - but this version was sloppy with average graphics (and scrolling), poor responsiveness and only mild playability. It did well just because a zillion people liked the original, but there were far better shoot em ups out there. It wasn't worth £7.95 either.
The test of time:
Well Nemesis was average then, pretty crap now. In the list of ZX Spectrum shoot em up games it comes out way way down. You're probably better off playing something else like Uridium, F.I.R.E or even budget classic Gunstar.
Give this one a go if you really really really have to.
We recommend getting hold of the real hardware - but if not then download a ZX Spectrum emulator and download a good shoot em up for the ZX Spectrum! Alternatively you could try playing it online.
GENRE: Arcade Game (Shoot em up)
RELEASE DATE: Summer of 1987
RELEASED BY: Konami
DEVELOPER(S): Stuart Ruecroft, Cyclone
PRICE: £7.95 - UK
Not even flying ace Major Lawrence Bartle Frere can overcome the Nemisis - we've seen better arcade game action too:
Classic Games and Arcade Games
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