Songbird

Very cool! And here I didn't think a game could be created in < 256 bytes...

I agree, and am a fan of Hoplite / The Hunt. Having some ranged attacks and deterministic enemy movement would open up the combat quite a bit. I hope to work on a sequel eventually!

Congrats on collecting so many crowns! I don't think crowns are guaranteed to appear on each level, so you have to play through multiple times. You should always receive the message when entering a level if a crown is present (that was something I suggested during beta testing, so a player could know if he needs to explore an entire level or if he can proceed to the next one). I agree selling equipment would be nice, since you get lots of surplus during the game. Permadeath, for better or for worse, is a feature of roguelike games. If you could save at any point, the game could become too easy. For a sequel, maybe there could be a happy medium of saving every 4 levels or something like that? Fighting enemies of course is the only way to gain experience. Experience will improve your stats, including health, magic, search (ability to find food & gold), attack accuracy, and defense. So while it's possible to bypass most enemies, you may struggle on the later levels where enemies can one-shot you if you're not properly leveled up. Great feedback overall, and glad you're enjoying the game!

Just got confirmation: Duke #1 and #2 will be back in stock at Songbird in the next 1-2 weeks! Pre-orders are back online now. Duke #1: https://songbird-productions.com/product/evercade-duke-nukem-collection-1/ Duke #2: https://songbird-productions.com/product/evercade-duke-nukem-collection-2/

Spent a couple hours trying to figure out a bug in Microvaders where collisions stopped working when the screen is flipped by the user. Kept scratching my head thinking the coll bit was not set in the SCB, or the coll value was changed, or the coll buffer address was changed. Turns out I forgot NO_COLLIDE is in the same SPRSYS reg as LEFTHAND. Apparently there was a 30-year-old bug in the Lexis code that never set this value properly for the hidden game. Corrected the value and now it works. There. I feel better now.

Nice sprite animation and mockup screenshot! I like the use of earth tones to give it that underground cavern look.

Check on eBay, I see at least one seller offering just the plastic screen. Search on "lynx replacement glass".

Blue Lightning is an amazing game, and fun too. I really like Checkered Flag as well. It's essentially Pole Position, but soooo well done.

Can you reach the warp gate? Hint: there will be more than one wave of enemies to defeat.

I guess this means I need to release a new Microvaders video. Didn't realize I went all of 2023 without a new video!

Does the LCD screen still work and it's just the outer plastic that is cracked? Or is the LCD damaged too?

@Giles N Check your spam folder for tracking details -- probably Songbird email is getting stuck there. It looks like the package is in Norway already. Please send me an email through the Songbird site if you need more details.

Yep, it's true! Get 'em while you can. Also just added Super Pocket branded carry cases, a couple of VS controllers, and more restocks. https://songbird-productions.com

Nice review!

Great job @hutnutmen! Very cool you not only beat the game, but found both easter eggs. 😎 Regarding the second easter egg: that's a picture of Vince and Jag sitting at their desks developing the game back in the early 1990s.

Who else has found the first easter egg? What about the second? Anyone? Be sure to catch the latest Pixel Addict #17 if you want to read a review of Towers II Enhanced other Songbird games!

Wow, that's cool! Always thought that game belonged on the Lynx. Nice work!

Would be cool to own a N504, but not for that price! https://www.ebay.com/itm/375134316341

Strange. I don't understand why I am seeing a problem with the same ROM and the Felix 0.6.0 *.exe. The repro rate is nearly 100%. I have tried the "Re-Open" option within Felix, and also exiting Felix and restarting the application. Just now I was able to get it to boot and start the game with the correct palette, but then I did the reset combo and started another game, and here is what I got. Many palette variations over many tries. One thing I noticed is that as soon as I press the reset combo (Pause + Opt 1), the colors will switch to the correct palette before returning to the Microvaders title screen. I tried a few other ROMs to ensure it's not a pervasive problem, and did not see palette issues on any other game. I did still hear the faster/distorted audio in all games, however. Also, Sky Raider has a lot of flashing which is not present on Handy or a real Lynx.

I should have clarified I downloaded the latest *.exe dated from this month (did not rebuild) and ran it on a Windows 10 PC. Did you try losing a game and saying "yes" to play again? That is where I am seeing a problem. Edit: Sometimes I even see the issue when I first boot the game. It seems random whether I get the correct palette or not, although the title screen and story screen always look correct. Here is a pic from the first level on first boot. You can see green lines on the moon which should not be there, and the big star in the background is messed up too. It appears only a couple of colors (two light shades of gray / off-white) are messed up in the above example. But sometimes more colors are messed up. The pink/purple/blue hue you see when the level zooms in is intentional. But it always arrives at the "correct" palette before the invaders appear.

I tried Microvaders on Felix, and am observing a few issues: Sometimes the screen stays black even though I hear sound. This has happened both on the very first boot screen, but also later when displaying an in-game story screen. Sound is not accurate. Music is playing faster and sounds corrupt / distorted compared to Handy or real Lynx. Is there a way to rotate the screen for vertical play? There is an issue with reloading the palette. If I say "yes" to play again after losing a game, I get random colors in the palette. It continues to change each time I play again (all within the same cartridge boot). All of the above are observable on the public beta I released last year. You can also see screenshots of how the game should look. https://songbird-productions.com/2022/12/16/microvaders-beta-now-available/ Here are some corrupt screens. Let me know if you need any more details.

If you want to find a bunch of aftermarket goodness for the Lynx, here you go: https://songbird-productions.com Sky Raider, Unnamed, Centipede, Championship Rally, Alpine Games, and Wyvern Tales are some of my best sellers. For original 1990s releases, I would recommend almost all of the arcade ports such as Joust, Robotron, Klax, and Roadblasters. Most of the Epyx releases were pretty good, including Blue Lightning, Xenophobe, and Slime World. Have fun!

Looks like I have one left in stock as of this writing... https://songbird-productions.com/product/skunkboard-ce/

Nice! That's much faster progress than I made in this game. At least you get to inherit gold each time you start a new game.