STAGES OF EVOLUTION:Alternating Characters
SABREMAN AND WULF
QIt often makes no difference which of Knight
Lore’s dual identities you play as, but some
bouncing balls assault the Wulf and some ghosts
attack Sabreman. Moving blocks travel in the
direction the Wulf moves, but in the opposite
direction of Sabreman’s movements, and only
Sabreman can safely enter the wizard’s chamber.BARK AT THE MOON
QChanges between Sabreman and the Wulf
are beyond the player’s control, and occur
ever y sunset and sunrise. During these
transformations, your character is vulnerable to
attacks, and character swaps that occur halfway
through manoeuvres – like a timed run under a
falling hazard – can also prove fatal.HEAD AND HEELS
QHead and Heels can be swapped at any time,
and the two heroes have unique talents. Head
can jump higher and further and can change
direction mid-jump, where as Heels can run
faster. Although if Heels picks up a ‘Jump higher’
bunny he can boost his leaps, and Head gets a
speed bump if he picks up a ‘Go faster’ bunny.IN TWO MINDS
QSome puzzles require Head’s skills to solve
and some require gifts only Heels possesses.
For example, strange creatures called Hush
Puppies teleport away from Head, but allow
Heels to use them as staircase. Other challenges
require the pair to work together or combine as a
single character with both heroes’ abilities.character mechanic. “Jon was doing something
really interesting with the two characters of
Head and Heels, and how they interacted and
complemented each other,” Paul muses, “but I
was more tech-focussed and was content to do a
more traditional thing where the player character
was augmented by collectible objects that would
increase his abilities. Jon had taken a step with the
two characters that was unique, and I didn’t just
want to copy that, even though I loved the idea
and it was a lot of fun playing the unfinished game
when I saw it. I was also aware that if I’d somehowhad multiple characters swapping or transforming
between themselves that it would have slightly
mirrored the transformation in Knight Lore.”B
esides Superhero’s player character
mechanics, Head Over Heels also inspired
Paul to give thought to the accessibility of
the rooms in his game. “An element that
I included was that you could go into a segmented
room, possibly with another exit so that it was a
corridor, and in the inaccessible part there were
doors – and even collectibles or objects to interactwith,” he explains. “That way you could see places
of interest that you hadn’t yet discovered, which
you would have to find another route to. That was
an aspect that Jon had used in Head Over Heels.”
Other elements of Jon and Bernie’s games also
made their way into Superhero, including some
of their visuals, although Paul can’t remember
if his game’s hero – Thor – dated back to before
Batman became the star of the pair’s isometric
debut. “I’m reasonably sure that some of the
artwork in Superhero was unused content Bernie
had done for Batman and/or Head Over Heels,”
Paul ponders, “so it may be that Superhero’s Thor
character artwork was an existing character that
Bernie already had but that had not been used.”
On the question of Superhero’s Norse god
protagonist, Bernie is fairly sure he created it for
Paul’s game rather than in pre-Batman times,
but he’s certain that he armed Thor. “Working
with Paul was an aside that Jon arranged for us,”
Bernie says of working on Superhero. “I drew
Thor, and I came up with the hammer throwing
idea, and it all just came together. Paul then
negotiated his own deal with Codemasters.”
Superhero reviewed well and secured a position
for Paul at Rare. Jon and Bernie contracted
with the firm at this point, but a few years later,
Bernie dipped out of the industry. “I was off
teaching companies how to run factory lines and
warehouses – for a pittance,” Bernie sighs. “Then
Jon got hold of a Game Boy and realised he
could quickly jury-rig his code to fit it. For me, the
problem was reducing the detail in the graphics
so that they remained clear at the reduced size –
that’s why they didn’t have my usual style.”
The title and hero chosen for Jon and Bernie’s
Game Boy project were based on a doodle Bernie
had done of an aspiring galactic rockstar, who
Jon felt should go solo rather than being half of
a double act. “It would have gotten confusing to
have players switching between two big sets of
abilities in Monster Max,” Jon says. “Also, it was
hard enough just getting an isometric game onHow Head Over Heels took Knight Lore’s unique dual hero mechanic and turned it into the focus for its game
» [Game Boy] There are no Daleks in Monster Max, but there’s a rather cool joystick-controlled robot.» [Amstrad CPC] Super Hero was published by Codemasters and became a solid addition to its budget range.40 | RETRO GAMER