Bomb Jack, Dahku and Kralizec Tetris for free

Kralizec have updated their website with a new design. Celebrating this restyle, they have declared their games Bomb Jack, Dahku and Kralizec Tetris freeware. You can download them all on the new Kralizec website. Currently Kralizec are working on a new game, which they expect to release at the end of this year.

Relevant link: Kralizec

Comments (23)

By pitpan

Prophet (2560)

08-01-2007, 21:19

Cool! Thanks for making the games freely available!

Great games, great guys!

By Google

By jltursan

Paragon (1340)

08-01-2007, 21:25

Wow!, great!

By msxgamesbox

Champion (393)

09-01-2007, 00:14

Applause! Big applauses!

By viejo_archivero

Paragon (1295)

09-01-2007, 03:31

Grrreat news

By turbor

Champion (264)

09-01-2007, 08:50

Dang, I bought those games, created dsk images from them and didn't have time to play them yet.
And now they are already declared free...
I could have saved myself some euro's

By KNM

Master (165)

09-01-2007, 10:38

I bought those games too,but now are accesible to all people who haven´t got.GREAT NEWS!

By wolf_

Ambassador (9124)

09-01-2007, 11:24

While obviously great news for those who didn't have thse games yet, I was a bit surprised to read this. Why make a pay-game when it'll become freeware a year later? While the current MSX-scene is not highly commercial and strict, it still is not a good signal. Next time ppl might say: "nah, I'll wait half a year orso, and it'll be free". Anyhoo, it's the choice of the creators (and distributors I hope)..

(2ct)

By Imanok

Paladin (718)

09-01-2007, 12:20

You should ask them to refund your money

By Ivan

Scribe (8942)

09-01-2007, 12:22

I didn't buy those games but I agree that they have been declared freeware quite fast.

Well, I am happy

By Huey

Prophet (2132)

09-01-2007, 12:50

I guess buyers got something more than a download link ;P

By wolf_

Ambassador (9124)

09-01-2007, 14:32

21890 points on first-time tetris tho ^_^

By SaebaMSX

Hero (533)

11-01-2007, 09:49

Wolf: This is so sad as you say. People do it in this way too much, I think. I can imagine how frustrating can be to create games and see how people wait to get it for free.

Anyway, I would like to add some questions to people who not considerated to buy them in the past and are lucky to get them now:

1. After testing them, were they bad games and did not deserve to be bought?
2. Was it a problem of bad advertising? (were these games hard to get?)
3. If you actually (after having tested them) think they do deserve to spend some euros on them, will you buy next productions?

Greets.

By hap

Paragon (1714)

11-01-2007, 12:05

1: After testing those promos, I didn't like Dahku much. Bomb Jack however is a very nice port, and I hesistated buying it. I ended up not buying it, since I'm not an active MSX gamesplayer; I'd just play the arcade version in MAME instead.
2: no
3: Depends. Honestly, asking money for a port (or a translation, eg. Delta Soft) you don't own the rights of is, to say the least, disrespectful to the original owner.

By SaebaMSX

Hero (533)

11-01-2007, 12:35

Thanks for answering!!

1. If you don't like a game it is normal that you won't buy it, that's a very good reason. If you are not going to play it, that is the perfect reason to not to buy it either. Anyway, playing MAME is not playing the real machine and as the port is so good, I honestly prefer to play it on my MSX.
3. Do you think that BJ for MSX was programmed by itself? Most of games are already invented, just check last "commercial" MSX games (BombJack, Bombaman, etc). The same goes for GFX and Sound when they are not ripped (of course, we lose "creation" here): they are easier to be done, but using different chips, they have their work after all.

In fact, and if someone thinks I'm wrong just correct me, I think these developers do not earn almost anything (money) for their work. Most of money goes to the packaging of the product and advertising in fairs.

I would like to hear more opinions about it, since it could help to developers to act in a wiser way.

By wolf_

Ambassador (9124)

11-01-2007, 13:06

1. After testing them, were they bad games and did not deserve to be bought?

Their games are very decent and polished! Definitely worth buying (if you're into buying that is). I otoh am not really a gamer, I like to make games, but I rarely play games. So count me out for any typical poll. Still I think these games have a certain value which would be enough to declare it a pay-game.
A game worth playing is a game worth paying..

2. Was it a problem of bad advertising? (were these games hard to get?)

Afaik these games could be bought from Bitwise on fairs, I'd say that makes the game obtainable for us Dutchies, dunno how things are arranged in other countries. Naturally I can't remember being bombed with Kralizec advertisements 'n stuff, so maybe advertising could be better? otoh, such a ting could be seen as spam perhaps. It's a bit hard to estimate. The real question is -I think- not so much whether Kralizec games are good, cheap, overpriced or whatever, but whether the modern MSX'er wants to pay for new MSX software anyway. Ppl seem to be paying good money for old games on ebay (konami games, microcabins, falcoms etc.), but those are collectables and have a certain historical -and emotional- value. Recent games have been made by sceners, with which I don't mean they're bad (I think some of the scene MSX1 games are *better* than what we saw from companies in the 80's), but because they're "from the scene", there's this subjective feeling around it that it should be freeware in the first place! I think this last point is quite important. Come think of it: our MSX'es don't really need upgrades (like PC's), MRC is free, other fora are free, (most) emulators are free, there's a lot of free stuff in the MRC database, MSXDev games are free, MRC challenge games are -ofcoz- free, many ppl will regard their 1000 disks with JP warez-games as free, so in short: our MSX-life is pretty free all-in. Even small scene-things that sold in the 90's (musicdisks, demos) are more or less free these days. In the old days you at least needed a disk and a label, and perhaps a box. Now we have internet, and most ppl will be content with a .DSK of it. When so many things are free, it's an act of courage to *sell* something, and it's noble to *buy* something, but isn't buying simply dying, because many ppl work for free these days?

3. If you actually (after having tested them) think they do deserve to spend some euros on them, will you buy next productions?

no, see 1

By Manuel

Enlighted (7237)

11-01-2007, 13:17

I bought the games (Dahku and Bomb Jack), because:
1) I like to have a new shiny MSX game, with a cool package (especially a cartridge)
2) I like to support the (new) authors of MSX software
3) I liked the games. But to be honest, I didn't have the time to play them yet, as I'm also not much of a gamer... But OTOH: they were definately not expensive, considering the very good packaging you get with it.

By Ivan

Scribe (8942)

11-01-2007, 13:20

Saeba, these are my answers to your questions:

1. Bomb Jack is an excellent MSX2 port from the arcade but I don't like the original game itself. Something like Abu Simbel Profanation for MSX2, that version is excellent but I don't like very much the original game (and this one was sold only online, without package). And about Dahku, after playing the promo, it did not convinced me. But I would pay anything for cartridge versions of The Cure, Kralizec Tetris, Operation Wolf Extended and the upcoming Manbow 2.
2. No.
3. If I like their new productions of course I will buy them!

By Samor

Paragon (1363)

11-01-2007, 13:25

1. I thought Krizalec Tetris already was free =P. Not interested in Dahku. Bombjack is nice. Like jonemaan, I almost bought it. I didn't. My reason is slightly different - I don't care much about the MAME/Arcade version. I simply passed up on the opportunity.
I've been playing the .DSK version now on an MSX emulator. Yeah, an emulator. I could have been playing MAME just as well, but I'm a weirdo who likes MSX even if it's an emulator
If Bombjack's worth money? Well, it's a nice game... maybe a few euros... maybe I'd have bought it eventually if it hadn't become freeware, but I'm not going to now =P
As for Krizalec Tetris, it's nice as a freebie but I wouldn't pay for it.

2. nope, they were easily available...

3. Maybe. I see Jon's point in Deltasoft's translations too, which are, unlike the ones done by Woomb, not respecting copyrights (but if I'm wrong on that I'd like to hear why). This could perhaps be improved by just selling the translation patch, and not the game it's meant for with it.
The same kinda goes for Bombjack as a game, but that's probably remade almost entirely, which is different IMO (legally, it's probably not). Yet, I'd prefer to see original content. Too many games released in the MSX community contain "ripped" elements. That's also the bad part about Manbow 2 IMO. While I think it's great what they're doing, I'd have found it much more impressive if it had been an entirely new game, and would be more tempted to buy it then (provided that I'd like the game, of course... so promo's are important, I guess - if I can't try them I wouldn't buy them at all).

By SaebaMSX

Hero (533)

11-01-2007, 17:11

Yes, Kralizec Tetris was already for free. It is included in the Pazos' MultiROM cartridge too. Even if it is the best tetris ever made for MSX, it should have more extras to get it for sale, IMO. But I guess they thought the same and finished it just for fun.

Don't worry, Samor, you had 2 years to buy BJ, so it would be stupid to buy it after it was declared freeware.

As I see for your reactions, it is not a matter of price, which is good, since I considerate them as really cheap.

About the translations, yes, it is wiser to deliver just the patch. But most of people don't have the originals (which are copyprotected most of times), and having copied DSKs don't help. Commonly people have different revisions of games, bad dumps, cracked versions, etc. So it could be a problem, in this case. In 90s nobody complained about selling translations together with the game. But of course, now it seems different.

By Manuel

Enlighted (7237)

11-01-2007, 21:27

No, all Oasis translations (as far as I'm aware of) were sold as patches, without the original game. They were legal.

By SaebaMSX

Hero (533)

11-01-2007, 23:01

Well, I do know more the Spanish translations (Pacho Software, Teo & Frans Lopez del Castillo, Manuel Pazos...). I don't remember if all these ones came as patch disk, but I don't think so. In fact, I just remember 1 patch from Pacho Soft, it was for Dragon Slayer VI. Patches back then were dangerous if you had a HD (assuming A: was the diskdrive always).

I forgot it... those translated games were normally more than 1 disk and they were not cheap back then, so I suppose it was better for Oasis to sell just 1 disk.

By turbor

Champion (264)

11-01-2007, 23:27

To answer the question:

1. After testing them, were they bad games and did not deserve to be bought?

I bought them and they deserved it .
Like Manuel, I buy new titles as a sign of support for the developer. Having created several MSX programs myself I know how time consuming it is and I consider it a token of appreciation to buy such stuff, especially if they are as good as these games. They are incredibly low priced for the excellent quality you get, both in packaging (HW) as the game (SW) itself.

In case of BJ I prefer MAME since that is the closed you can get to the real game-play (I can play the first levels with full score because I know the patterns of the enemies...) and that behaviour is lacking in the new version. The enemies react differently and and don't feel like investing that much time in figuring out new patterns for this port.

2. Was it a problem of bad advertising? (were these games hard to get?)

Simple small announcements of new products here at the MRC together with some user reviews at other sites are probably the best advertising you can get now a days for new MSX products.
Being a Belgian I visit the Dutch fairs or ask others to buy them for me ( hi Manuel ) so for me they are not that hard to get.

3. If you actually (after having tested them) think they do deserve to spend some euros on them, will you buy next productions?

I certainly will, especially with at this incredible level of quality/price ratio

By doraemonppc

Master (193)

12-01-2007, 19:34

I think thats a great move!
I bought DK and BJ 5 month ago but.... well, another time I will have more luck

Thanks Kralizek!