Gods
From Sega Retro
| Gods | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Mindscape (US), PCM Complete (JP), Accolade (EU) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer: Graftgold Ltd. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Original system(s): Atari ST | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer(s) of original games: The Bitmap Brothers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sound driver: Graftgold custom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: Action | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Gods (ゴッズ) is a 1991 platformer by The Bitmap Brothers, originally released for the Atari ST and later ported to a variety of home consoles and computers, including a 1992 port to the Sega Mega Drive. This version was the first game published by Accolade after acquiring an official license after winning Sega v. Accolade (though they still presumably continued to press unlicensed games).
Contents
Story
"Four guardians" have broken the citadel used to protect the city of the gods, and have asked any warrior to retake the citadel in return for a favor. The greatest gift of all: immortality. You play as one such warrior, who asks to become a god himself, equal to the others.
Gameplay
The game has a self adaptive difficulty level, sometimes giving out health and extra lives to players instead of score related items.
shoots your weapon (which you carry one of and find throughout each level). 
jumps. To jump off ladders, hold down and tap left or right. By pressing 
, you face the wall, and can then use to do actions like flipping switches on the wall. You can carry up to four extra items with you, such as keys (used to open doors). To take an item, hold 
to switch to item grabbing mode and hit to pick the item up and put it in one of four slots (shown in the HUD), and then hit again to move the cursor to the next slot. To drop an item, move the cursor onto an item and leave item grabbing mode. You do not need to drop items to use keys; they activate automatically when you approach a door.
Passwords are given out at the end of each world after defeating the respective boss. You are given a pre-defined amount of money to power up, should you continue using a password.
Enemies' appearance changes from world to world and sometimes also from stage to stage, but their behavior can be categorized:
- walk a predefined path
- walk straight for the player's position
- fly for the player's position
- turret like behavior
- So called "thieves" take a special position. Starting with world 2, these characters will grab items and carry them around. They can be attracted by dropping a golden key, the item they desire the most. They can be utilized to transport items out of areas they player can't reach by himself.
Points are accumulated by defeating enemies and collecting treasure, often hidden away in secret areas that can only be accessed by solving puzzle sections. A lot of the bonus sections are very hard to find without the use of external resources. Extra lives and bonus points are rewarded for certain scores. As all score is lost when powering off the console, a play session focusing on score needs to be done in one sitting.
While the score system was carefully crafted, a design oversight exists: The beehives in the labyrinth stage release an unlimited amount of bees, and thus infinite score can be accumulated.
Worlds
Each world is split into three sections. Between these individual sections, new weapons, power ups and other items may be purchased at a traveling merchant's shop.
| The City | |
|---|---|
| The Temple | |
| The Labyrinth | |
| The Underworld | |
Weapons
- Main Weapons:
- Each weapon has three power levels. Level 1 is a straight shot, level 2 is straight and upward, level 3 is straight, upward and downward. The angle the weapons are fired can be altered by pickups.
- Knife: standard equipment
- Throwing Star: stronger than the knife
- Spear: stronger than the throwing star, goes through walls
- Mace: weaker than the knife, can break certain blocks
- Axe: strongest weapon, no special properties
- Sub Weapons:
- Aside from these main weapons, the game also features sub weapons, which are fired simultaneously with the main weapons.
- Energy star: arching shot, can be used together with the hammer
- Hammer: jumps long the floor until it finds a target
- Spiked Ball: homing shot
Versions
- All versions are region locked. The PAL version has speed up music but slower gameplay. Disabling the region lock with a cheating device (e.g. Game Genie code EAAT-AL1T) makes the game and music run at the correct speed. Content wise, the games are identical aside from translation differences.
- Compared to the Atari ST and Amiga releases, the home console ports feature:
- A new, animated intro screen (but without the image song) compared to the still image of the original
- In-game music was added, while the ST and Amiga releases were silent
- New HUD that displays all items, this works without compromising the visible area as the Sega Mega Drive version runs at a slightly higher resolution.
- Some palette changes in all stages, likely due to the higher amount of simultaneously displayed foreground colors - Amiga:32 MD:64 (e.g. the hero's armor is slightly blue colored compared to the grey ST version armor, enemies now have their own palettes).
- The Amiga's "copper mode" background gradients, which can't be reproduced on the Sega Mega Drive without heavy dithering, have been replaced with parallax scrolling buildings and scenery.
- The final ascension to olympus scene was made exclusive for console versions.
- The ability to perform a straight vertical jump was added & walking speed is much faster, making it possible to clear the game in ~1 hour (compared to the Amiga version, which took ~2 hours).
- In the Atari ST version, you are given "immortality" by receiving a screen full of 1UP items after the final boss, which is missing in the Sega Mega Drive version. The extended ending scene is a replacement for this.
- The game doesn't loop infinitely with an increased difficulty level after clearing it. Instead it brings the player to the highscore screen
Production credits
- Design: Eric Matthews, Steve Tall
- Original Coding: Steve Tall
- Graphics: Mark Coleman
- Original Music: John Foxx
- Sega Conversion: Gary J. Foreman at Graftgold Ltd.
- Sega Sound: Jason Page
- Additional Graphics: Mark Coleman, Eric Matthews, Philip Williams
Magazine articles
- Main article: Gods/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Physical scans
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77 |
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| Based on 44 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, US |
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 Cover
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 Cart |
| Mega Drive, EU |
|---|
 Cover
|
 Cart  Manual |
| Mega Drive, JP |
|---|
 Cover
|
  Cart  Manual |
Technical information
ROM dump status
| System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1MB | 1992-06 | Cartridge (US) | ||||||||||
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1MB | 1993-09 | Cartridge (EU) | ||||||||||
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1MB | 1992-06 | Cartridge (JP) | ||||||||||
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1MB | 1992-06 | Page |
References
- ↑ File:SegaVisions US 10.pdf, page 93
- ↑ File:GamePro US 042.pdf, page 61
- ↑ File:MeanMachinesSega15UK.pdf, page 67
- ↑ File:MAN!AC DE 1993-11.pdf, page 12
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 File:MAN!AC DE 1993-12.pdf, page 47 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:MAN!AC DE 1993-12.pdf_p47" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 File:CVG UK 139.pdf, page 99 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:CVG UK 139.pdf_p99" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 7.0 7.1 File:ASM DE 1994-07.pdf, page 118 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:ASM DE 1994-07.pdf_p118" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ File:BeepMD_JP_1993-05.pdf, page 23
- ↑ File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 87
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 File:CVG UK 146.pdf, page 71 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:CVG UK 146.pdf_p71" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, Virgin Books, page 52 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesEssentialSegaGuide Book UK.pdf_p52" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 12.0 12.1 File:GameFan US 0101.pdf, page 6 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:GameFan US 0101.pdf_p6" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 13.0 13.1 File:GamePro US 042.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:GamePro US 042.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 14.0 14.1 File:MDAG UK 03.pdf, page 38 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:MDAG UK 03.pdf_p38" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 15.0 15.1 File:Mega UK 16.pdf, page 87 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:Mega UK 16.pdf_p87" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 16.0 16.1 File:MegaTech UK 11.pdf, page 50 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 11.pdf_p50" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 17.0 17.1 File:MeanMachinesSega02UK.pdf, page 90 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega02UK.pdf_p90" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 18.0 18.1 File:SegaZone UK 01.pdf, page 60 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:SegaZone UK 01.pdf_p60" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 19.0 19.1 File:SegaForce SE 1994 02.pdf, page 12 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name ":File:SegaForce SE 1994 02.pdf_p12" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ File:VideoGames DE 1992-12.pdf, page 62
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 89
- ↑ Alaab Alcomputtar, "" (SA; 1995-08-xx), page 73
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "May 1993" (JP; 1993-04-08), page 23
- ↑ Consoles +, "Décembre 1993" (FR; 1993-1x-xx), page 172
- ↑ Digitiser (UK) (1993-04-09)
- ↑ Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 319
- ↑ Famitsu, "1993-04-16" (JP; 1993-04-02), page 37
- ↑ Games World (Teletext) (UK) (+0:00)
- ↑ Hippon Super, "January 1993" (JP; 1992-12-04), page 83
- ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 92
- ↑ Mega, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-03-17), page 63
- ↑ Mega Action, "June 1993" (UK; 1993-05-20), page 65
- ↑ Mega Action, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-04), page 42
- ↑ Mega Force, "Décembre 1993" (FR; 1993-12-10), page 90
- ↑ Mega Fun, "11/92" (DE; 1992-10-xx), page 39
- ↑ Mega Machines, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-09), page 40
- ↑ Marukatsu Mega Drive, "January 1993" (JP; 1992-12-xx), page 107
- ↑ Player One, "Décembre 1993" (FR; 1993-1x-xx), page 157
- ↑ Play Time, "5/93" (DE; 1993-04-07), page 106
- ↑ Power Unlimited, "Nummer 5, December 1993" (NL; 1993-12-01), page 42
- ↑ Sega Power, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-xx), page 98
- ↑ Sega Pro, "November 1992" (UK; 1992-10-08), page 34
- ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 65
- ↑ Sega Pro, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-14), page 62
- ↑ Sega Zone, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-25), page 54
- ↑ Sega Mega Drive Review, "1" (RU; 1995-04-03), page 57
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
- ↑ Sonic the Comic, "February 4th 1994" (UK; 1994-01-22), page 12
- ↑ Todo Sega, "Diciembre 1993" (ES; 1993-1x-xx), page 76
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 16
- ↑ Video Games, "12/92" (DE; 1992-11-23), page 64
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