Hi all,

Just wanted to say that I have released my retro remake of Cannon Fighter today. The game was originally released in 1989 by Morwood Software for the MSX-1, and as a kid I used to love it!



I do wonder if ANYONE else ever played it? I guess the chances of finding someone on this forum who has are higher than anywhere else

You take on the role of a lone cannon defending a supply dump in the desert, as the relentless tanks begin their onslaught against you. You get 3 lives and can also retreat 3 times, but once you hit the final base it's all or nothing!

You can play the game online (it's written in ActionScript3/Flash), and read more about the history of it on my web site:

www.photonstorm.com/games/cannon-fighter

Cheers,

Rich

Oh and I just wanted to add that if it would be useful to anyone here I have high quality box scans, screen shots and sprite sheets I'm happy to send to whoever wants them!

It looks like the first computer game I ever saw in my life, downstairs in the basement, from tape on the MSX.

In this game the enemy would raise a flag with a dead head on your base when you lost.
The player was on the right of the screen if I remember correctly.

The background didn't look as good as this, though.
I enjoyed playing this game on your site now, but strangely I didn't know this game before.

Quite lenghty Generation-MSX link

Looks more like ZX Spectrum game then MSX. Is it possible the original was just a quick port from ZX Spectrum, like 99% of british MSX games?

At least it does not appear on worldofspectrum.org, therefore I assume that it is a native MSX game. As it can be seen in the screenshots, all sprites are pure hardware sprites, so I guess it is a true MSX game, although graphically a bit poor. I'll test the original game, 'cause maybe I'm developing a similar concept ATM.

I'm pretty sure this game was MSX only - and yes I am well aware the graphics are quite poor, even for 1989 I don't know of any other games made by the same team (Policy), but Morwood Software did publish several other MSX titles that I know of. Not surprisingly they are long gone, with virtually no reference to them anywhere on the web (that I could find), so I doubt we'll ever truly know

I was hooked with this game long time ago, yep, it's pretty simplistic; but it's a fast paced action game. It could be very addictive at advanced levels. I'm not sure about the full details; but IIRC every level the barrier was moved a bit to the right.

Umm, my boss is not over here, I think I'm going to try your remake for a while...

Whats wrong with the gfx? They look like a 1984's MSX game.

Looks more like a port than a remake ;p

When I saw the title, I was secretly hoping you meant 'Cannon Fodder' instead of fighter

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I was hooked with this game long time ago, yep, it's pretty simplistic; but it's a fast paced action game. It could be very addictive at advanced levels. I'm not sure about the full details; but IIRC every level the barrier was moved a bit to the right.

Really? I have played it for hours and never noticed that - you can definitely retreat back through the levels (to the left) until you hit the base, but I didn't see the barrier move. Perhaps I just wasn't ever good enough at it

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Looks more like a port than a remake ;p

It's not a "port" because I never had the original source code to port across and even if I had, there are still some elements of the original I just wouldn't have kept!!!

Probably my favourite MSX game ever was Eric and the Floaters... absolute genius! But I loved Sky Jaguar as well.. maybe I'll dust that one off for a future remake.

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Really? I have played it for hours and never noticed that - you can definitely retreat back through the levels (to the left) until you hit the base, but I didn't see the barrier move. Perhaps I just wasn't ever good enough at it

Yep, that's it!, your little man retreats pulling the cannon every time a tank reaches the barrier!....ah, memories

eric and the floaters was the precursor of bomberman wasn't it ?

The 1st Bomberman game was released in Japan first and renamed to Eric and the Floaters for Europe.

Yeah Eric and the Floaters is indeed Bomberman - they didn't rename the game itself (it says Bomberman all over the game!), Kuma just saw fit to give it a stupid title for the box artwork - oh and wow, how weird that art was! An Indiana Jones style character stood surrounded by weird devil like creatures and not a bomb in sight.

Doesn't stop it being one of the best games ever though

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Yep, that's it!, your little man retreats pulling the cannon every time a tank reaches the barrier!....ah, memories

Yup! and if he retreats 3 times he gets to the final base, and if the tanks capture the base you get this cute little animation sequence where the enemy soldier carries the red flag up the ladder and puts it on-top of your base I included that in my remake, every frame of it!!

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Whats wrong with the gfx? They look like a 1984's MSX game.

erh that was meant in a positive way
They are good for a 1984 game.