Uridium
Encyclopedia
Uridium is a science fiction
side-scrolling
shoot 'em up
for the Commodore 64
(and other 8-bit machines). It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called Uridium (a fictional metallic element, not to be confused with the real metallic element iridium
). The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed."
Uridium was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System
in 1990. Mindscape
purchased a license to release a game based on the film The Last Starfighter
. Rather than program a new game, however, Mindscape decided to take an easier route by recycling an older, relatively obscure game. The title screen, sprites, and soundtrack were modified, but the levels and gameplay were identical. In 2003, it was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV
.
In 2008, the C64 version was announced as a title on the Nintendo
Wii
Virtual Console
. On 28 March 2008, Uridium was released for the Virtual Console in Europe, costing 500 Wii Points
.
s that cannot be destroyed. It takes a skillful Manta pilot to outfly the mines until they self-detonate.
Only when enough of the Dreadnought's defenses have been destroyed is the "Land Now!" signal activated, and the player allowed to slow its speed to a minimum land on the sternward landing zone. After this, the pilot presumably enters the interior of the mothership and sets its nuclear reactor to self-destruct. Finally, the Manta takes off again as the Dreadnought below it crumbles to atoms.
Later Dreadnoughts have tricky wall configurations where the gap between the walls is so narrow that the Manta must turn sideways in order to pass through it. This required skillful use of the joystick
. More skill could be exhibited (and more points awarded) by ignoring the "Land Now!" signal and destroying the elite fighters that attacked in waves of one.
, the surface of the Dreadnoughts scrolls horizontally, whereas the star
s in the background stay still.
Since the Commodore 64's graphics do not support parallax scrolling, particular trickery was required to achieve this. The way it was done is that the Dreadnoughts' surface is actually the background, and the black empty space and the stars are character glyphs on the foreground. As the Commodore 64's graphics chip scrolls the screen to the left or right, the character glyphs representing the stars change shape by shifting their single lit pixels to the right or left, countering the scroll of the screen and giving the impression they were stationary.
The last seven Dreadnoughts are obviously mining for resources as yet unknown to us. The final Dreadnought, Uridium, actually contains only a few screens of gameplay; the bulk of this Dreadnought consists of the "congratulations" message for completing the game (i.e., "GOOD ZAPPING... TURKEY."). This is initially made inaccessible by an impassable wall, but visible in the final overflight when the Dreadnought is destroyed.
platform.
praised Uridium for its graphics' ability to display depth, as well as the game's robust controls.
A later game done by Andew Braybrook, Morpheus, contained a homing mine enemy called an "Uridimine", named no doubt as a tribute to the homing mines of Uridium. Some afficiandos refer to the homing mines as "Uridimines" when talking about Uridium or Uridium 2, as well.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
side-scrolling
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
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 other 8-bit machines). It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called Uridium (a fictional metallic element, not to be confused with the real metallic element iridium
Iridium
Iridium is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C...
). The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed."
Uridium was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System
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...
in 1990. Mindscape
Mindscape Group
Mindscape is an international software publishing company, previously part of The Learning Company. They are now affiliated with EA . As of 2004, the group has offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. It has an annual turnover of €38 million and employs 150 people. Mindscape...
purchased a license to release a game based on the film The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter
The Last Starfighter is a 1984 science fiction adventure film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan , an average teenage boy recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war. It also featured Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Preston, Norman...
. Rather than program a new game, however, Mindscape decided to take an easier route by recycling an older, relatively obscure game. The title screen, sprites, and soundtrack were modified, but the levels and gameplay were identical. In 2003, it was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV
C64 Direct-to-TV
The C64 Direct-to-TV, called C64DTV for short, is a single-chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer, contained in a joystick with 30 built-in games. The design is similar to the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game...
.
In 2008, the C64 version was announced as a title on the Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
. On 28 March 2008, Uridium was released for the Virtual Console in Europe, costing 500 Wii Points
Wii Points
Nintendo Points are a currency that Nintendo uses for its Wii and Nintendo DSi systems through the Wii Shop Channel and Nintendo DSi Shop respectively...
.
Plot
The plot of Uridium is described as follows:The solar systemSolar SystemThe Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
is under attack! Enemy Super-Dreadnoughts have been placed in orbit around each of the fifteen planetPlanetA planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s in this galactic sector. They are draining mineral resources from the planetary cores for use in their interstellar power units. Each Super-Dreadnought seeks out a different metal for its metal converter.
Your Manta class Space FighterFighterFighter or The Fighter may refer to:*Warrior, a person skilled in combat*Soldier, someone in the army*Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplanes in air-to-air combatFilms...
will be transported to each planet in turn and it is your task to destroy each Dreadnought. First you must attack the defensive screen of enemy fighters, then you must neutralise the majority of surface defences before you land on the Super-Dreadnought's master runway. Once on board you must pull as many fuel rods as possible from the metal converters before you take off for a final strafing run as the Dreadnought vaporises into the ether.
Game play
In practice, each level takes place at a fixed altitude just above the surface of the Dreadnoughts. The screen scrolls horizontally in both directions as the Manta flies over the Dreadnoughts. Each Dreadnought has a different configuration of walls and other high structures which must be negotiated in order to reach the landing zone. This task is hampered by squadrons of enemy fighters that attack the Manta in waves. Lastly, flashing ports on the Dreadnought's surface release homing mineNaval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
s that cannot be destroyed. It takes a skillful Manta pilot to outfly the mines until they self-detonate.
Only when enough of the Dreadnought's defenses have been destroyed is the "Land Now!" signal activated, and the player allowed to slow its speed to a minimum land on the sternward landing zone. After this, the pilot presumably enters the interior of the mothership and sets its nuclear reactor to self-destruct. Finally, the Manta takes off again as the Dreadnought below it crumbles to atoms.
Later Dreadnoughts have tricky wall configurations where the gap between the walls is so narrow that the Manta must turn sideways in order to pass through it. This required skillful use of the joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
. More skill could be exhibited (and more points awarded) by ignoring the "Land Now!" signal and destroying the elite fighters that attacked in waves of one.
Technical details
When Uridium was originally released, reviewers were impressed by the way the Dreadnoughts were presented. In a simulation of parallax scrollingParallax scrolling
Parallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, popularized in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the camera slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...
, the surface of the Dreadnoughts scrolls horizontally, whereas the star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s in the background stay still.
Since the Commodore 64's graphics do not support parallax scrolling, particular trickery was required to achieve this. The way it was done is that the Dreadnoughts' surface is actually the background, and the black empty space and the stars are character glyphs on the foreground. As the Commodore 64's graphics chip scrolls the screen to the left or right, the character glyphs representing the stars change shape by shifting their single lit pixels to the right or left, countering the scroll of the screen and giving the impression they were stationary.
Levels
- Zinc
- Lead
- Copper
- Silver
- Iron
- Gold
- PlatinumPlatinumPlatinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
- TungstenTungstenTungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
- Iridon
- Kallisto
- Tri-alloy
- Quadmium
- Ergonite
- Galactium
- Uridium
The last seven Dreadnoughts are obviously mining for resources as yet unknown to us. The final Dreadnought, Uridium, actually contains only a few screens of gameplay; the bulk of this Dreadnought consists of the "congratulations" message for completing the game (i.e., "GOOD ZAPPING... TURKEY."). This is initially made inaccessible by an impassable wall, but visible in the final overflight when the Dreadnought is destroyed.
Sequels
Uridium was followed by Uridium+, and Uridium 2 on the AmigaAmiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
platform.
Reception and legacy
Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
praised Uridium for its graphics' ability to display depth, as well as the game's robust controls.
A later game done by Andew Braybrook, Morpheus, contained a homing mine enemy called an "Uridimine", named no doubt as a tribute to the homing mines of Uridium. Some afficiandos refer to the homing mines as "Uridimines" when talking about Uridium or Uridium 2, as well.