Xenon 2 Megablast

Xenon 2: Megablast is a 1989 shoot ’em up video game developed by The Bitmap Brothers and published by Image Works for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was later converted to the Master System, PC-98, X68000, Mega Drive, Commodore CDTV, Game Boy, Acorn Archimedes and Atari Jaguar platforms. The game is a sequel to Xenon and takes place a millennium after the previous title. The goal of the game is to destroy a series of bombs planted throughout history by the Xenites, the vengeful antagonists of the first game.

Xenon 2: Megablast is the third major video game release by The Bitmap Brothers. Its subtitle is derived from the Bomb the Bass track “Megablast (Hip Hop on Precinct 13)“, which serves as the game’s theme music. The original release of Xenon 2: Megablast was met with critical acclaim and commercial success, with reviewers praising the detailed visuals, addictive gameplay, variety of weapons and innovative soundtrack.

Gameplay – Xenon 2 Megablast

Xenon 2: Megablast is a vertically scrolling shoot ’em up^[1]: 5 in which the player takes on the role of a starship pilot who must destroy five bombs planted throughout history by the villainous Xenites.^[1]: 3 The player controls the Megablaster, a small battlecraft that can move in multiple directions, is equipped with a raygun as an offensive measure, and is shielded from enemy attacks and collisions for a temporary period.^[1]: 5

The game is split into five scrolling levels ranging in theme from the Cambrian era to futuristic metallic spaceways. The levels are primarily inhabited by aggressive lifeforms that have been mutated by radiation emanating from the bombs planted at the end of each level.^[1]: 6

Attacks from these enemy characters will decrease the player’s shield. If the shield is completely depleted, the ship will be destroyed by the next hit it sustains, and the player will lose a life.^[1]: 5 Each level contains six “restart positions”, from which the ship will respawn at the most recent position passed if a life is lost.^[1]: 9

If all three lives are lost, the game ends prematurely.^[1]: 5 The shield can also sustain damage if the ship is trapped in a corner of the scenery and is crushed as the screen continues to scroll. The player can reverse the direction of the scrolling to a limited extent by pulling back on their directional input when the ship is at the bottom of the screen.

A boss character is found at the end of each level and requires a specific strategy to destroy. When the boss is defeated, the bomb within the level will defuse. The first level only features one boss character, while the other four feature another boss at the level’s halfway point.^[1]: 7

Capsules can occasionally be found within the levels, and release one of a variety of collectible tokens when destroyed.^[1]: 8 These tokens can augment the ship’s weaponry or speed, restore a portion of the ship’s shield, or allow the ship to dive into the background for a limited time.^{[1]: 10–12}

Destroyed enemies leave behind currency known as Real Cash, the quantity and value of which depending on the size of the enemy. Real Cash can be used to buy and sell tokens at “Crispin’s Swop Shop”, which the player can access twice per level.^[1]: 8 Xenon 2: Megablast is primarily single-player, but allows for two players to play intermittently.^[1]: 4–5

Development and release – Xenon 2 Megablast

Xenon 2: Megablast was conceptualized and designed by The Bitmap Brothers (consisting of Mike Montgomery, Steve Kelly and Eric Matthews) and published by Image Works.^[2] It is the third major release by The Bitmap Brothers after Xenon and Speedball.^[3] Matthews reckoned that “everyone seems to be into destruction and extra weapons in a big way”, and sought to satisfy this demand with Xenon 2: Megablast.

The development team drew inspiration from Scramble, Gradius and R-Type, and attempted to deviate from the shoot ’em up formula by making the enemy characters less predictable and predetermined. The Megablaster’s ability from the previous title to transform into a tank was omitted to make the gameplay more straightforward.^[4]0:22The title’s namesake, “Megablast (Hip Hop on Precinct 13)” by Bomb the Bass, was arranged by David Whittaker and incorporated as the game’s primary musical theme.

The game was programmed by The Assembly Line, who wrote the code on an IBM Personal Computer and then ported to an Atari ST.^[3] The graphics were created by Mark Coleman,^[2] who designed the visuals based on Matthews’s brief descriptions using both DEGAS Elite and additional animation routines written by Montgomery.^[3][4] The audio was created by David Whittaker,^[2] who arranged the Bomb the Bass track “Megablast (Hip Hop on Precinct 13)” as the game’s background score.^[5]

Other versions – Xenon 2 Megablast

The Sega versions were assessed positively by Mean Machines. Julian Rignall and Richard Leadbetter both praised the Master System version’s graphics as some of the best on the console, and considered the gameplay to be as addictive as its 16-bit counterparts due to the variety of weapons, though Leadbetter felt that the pace of the gameplay was slow and that the sound effects were lacking.^[12]

Rignall and Leadbetter also complimented the visuals of the Mega Drive version, but were disappointed by the jerky scrolling and poor musical arrangement.^[18] Damien Noonan of Amiga Format rated the Commodore CDTV version a paltry 32%, commenting that, while innovative at the time it was first released, the game had aged poorly and its gameplay was not well-balanced.^[21]

In a middling review of the Game Boy version, Nintendo Power spoke positively of the mechanic of buying weapons to upgrade the ship and the challenge provided by the enemies approaching from all sides, but criticized the slow speed of the ship and the absence of continuous firing.^[41