Stop the Express
Encyclopedia
Stop the Express is a ZX Spectrum
video game made by Hudson Soft
in 1983
. There were also versions for the Commodore 64
and the MSX
.
, jumping between carriages while avoiding enemy knives and obstacles. Half-way along the train, the player enters the train, and Stage 2 begins. The player must then proceed through the carriages, towards the front of the train, so that it can be stopped.
Upon the completion of each level, the game displays the Engrish
message “Congraturation! You Sucsess!”. The game then repeats from Stage 1, with more enemies. Enemies, known as "redmen" initially pursue from the rear on the roof of the train, and the front once inside, and will throw knives which the player must dodge by ducking under, or jumping over, them. In addition, once inside the train, the player can jump up and hang from the overhead straps out of the way of the redmen. However, ghosts flit up and down the carriages making it extremely dangerous to stay there too long. Once a few levels have been completed, redmen will approach from both front and rear.
The player has only two weapons at his disposal. When on the roof of the train, he can catch birds that fly overhead and then release them to run along the carriage and knock the redmen off, as well as high kicking them. Whilst inside, the high kick is the only option.
, in their list of the top 100 Spectrum games.
There was a NES/Famicom
port being planned, but due to only having the first train level, three levels were added and became Challenger
, which was released only in Japan.
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
video game made by Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
in 1983
1983 in video gaming
-Events:* A major shakeout of the video game industry begins. By 1986, total video games sales will decrease from US$3.2 billion to US$0.1 billion.* MCA Universal files suit against Nintendo, claiming that the latter company's video arcade hit Donkey Kong violated Universal's copyright on King Kong...
. There were also versions for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and the MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
.
Gameplay
In Stage 1, the player runs along the top of an express trainTrain
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
, jumping between carriages while avoiding enemy knives and obstacles. Half-way along the train, the player enters the train, and Stage 2 begins. The player must then proceed through the carriages, towards the front of the train, so that it can be stopped.
Upon the completion of each level, the game displays the Engrish
Engrish
refers to unusual forms of English language usage by native speakers of some East Asian languages. The term itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to inadvertently substitute the English phonemes "R" and "L" for one another, because the Japanese language has one alveolar consonant in place...
message “Congraturation! You Sucsess!”. The game then repeats from Stage 1, with more enemies. Enemies, known as "redmen" initially pursue from the rear on the roof of the train, and the front once inside, and will throw knives which the player must dodge by ducking under, or jumping over, them. In addition, once inside the train, the player can jump up and hang from the overhead straps out of the way of the redmen. However, ghosts flit up and down the carriages making it extremely dangerous to stay there too long. Once a few levels have been completed, redmen will approach from both front and rear.
The player has only two weapons at his disposal. When on the roof of the train, he can catch birds that fly overhead and then release them to run along the carriage and knock the redmen off, as well as high kicking them. Whilst inside, the high kick is the only option.
Critical acclaim
Stop the Express was rated as the 4th best Spectrum game by Your SinclairYour Sinclair
Your Sinclair or YS as it was commonly abbreviated, was a British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum.-History:...
, in their list of the top 100 Spectrum games.
Remake
In 2004, a remake of Stop The Express by Jetmans Dad took second place in the Retro Remakes competition. The remake is faithful to the original in most respects, although some aspects of the gameplay are tweaked slightly - the player can now pick up knives discarded by the redmen to assist in his task, and the ghosts have been replaced by robot sentries which also fire lasers on higher levels.There was a NES/Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
port being planned, but due to only having the first train level, three levels were added and became Challenger
Challenger (video game)
is a video game developed and published by Hudson Soft in 1985 for the Nintendo Famicom.-History:The game was originally planned as a port of the ZX Spectrum video game Stop the Express , which was released by Sinclair Research Ltd in 1983...
, which was released only in Japan.