Armalyte

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Description

In the Delta region of space, the remnants of a long forgotten war remain - far beyond what those in the Terran system were used to. This technology is potentially valuable, but retrieving it from the 8 sectors will involve a lot of blasting and dodging.

Armalyte is a left-to-right horizontally-scrolling shooter and was marketed as the sequel to Delta, even though that one was done by different developers. Extra weapons are gained by shooting crystals and then collecting the resultant pod. Weapons on offer including lasers firing vertically and outwardly, as well as faster weaponry recharging. Weapons upgrades are not lost when dying, but they are taken away at the start of a new level, except for the batteries and the generators that are reduced one level above the initial one, if applicable. There are eight levels and a boss at the end of each one, with smaller bosses in the mid sections. Some parts of the scenery can also be lethal to the ship. The craft is accompanied by a computer-controlled drone with the same capabilities and in the two-player mode it is replaced by a regular ship.

The later PC version is done by a different team but officially approved by the owners of the IP. It has the same gameplay, but updated graphics, animation, music and sound effects.

Screenshots

Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

• "Delta II Armalyte" -- C64 packaging and advertisement title

Part of the Following Groups

• Delta series
• Genre: Scrolling shoot 'em up

User Reviews

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Critic Reviews

Zzap!	Commodore 64	Nov, 1988	97 out of 100	97
Pixel-Heroes.de	Commodore 64	Mar 16, 2008	9 out of 10	90
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	Commodore 64	Dec, 1988	10.8 out of 12	90
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Commodore 64	Oct, 1988	9 out of 10	90
The Games Machine (UK)	Commodore 64	Nov, 1988	90 out of 100	90
Commodore User	Commodore 64	Oct, 1988	9 out of 10	90
Power Play	Commodore 64	Oct, 1988	85 out of 100	85
Commodore Format	Commodore 64	Jul, 1991	82 out of 100	82
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Commodore 64	Oct 26, 2007	8 out of 10	80
Joystick (German)	Commodore 64	Mar, 1989	7.5 out of 10	75

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Trivia

Cancelled conversions

Although being previewed and advertised in magazines in 1988, the ZX Spectrum version was never released for unknown reasons. Later, a demo version appeared on this platform. Also, the Atari ST and Amiga versions of this game were announced for the same year and never made it to production, eventually replaced with the development of the 1991 release on this platforms Armalyte: The Final Run.

Cancelled sequel

Cyderdyne Systems planned a sequel in 1990, under the name Maglyte, but it never happened due to the company being contracted to System 3. Plans included improved AI, a power-up shop and improved graphics, but was not intended to be a two-player game. A small demo was created showcasing some of these improvements over a level of the original game, which is available to download from here.

PC version

Jason Mackenzie from Psytronik Software explains how the updated PC version was greenlighted:

Well, it's basically a story of everyone being in the right place at the right time. After the Psytronik re-release of Mayhem in Monsterland proved to be so popular I decided to contact Dan Phillips to ask if I could also re-release Armalyte on the C64. He gave the idea the thumbs-up so I contacted the owner of the Armalyte IP (Andy Roberts) and he also approved the idea. Smila mentioned that he and Stu C were busting to do a remake of Armalyte for the PC so I ran the idea of releasing a PC remake of Armalyte commercially past Dan & Andy and the Armalyte PC version was given the green light!

Awards

• Commodore Format
  • January 1991 (Issue 4) - listed in the A to Z of Classic Games article (Great)
• Computer and Video Games
  • Issue 06/1989 - Winner Golden Joystick Award 1989 for Best 8-Bit Graphics (reader's vote)
• Power Play
  • Issue 01/1989 - Biggest Sprites per Square Centimeter Ratio
• Zzap!
  • January 1990 (Issue 57) – 'The Best Games of the 80's Decade' (Robin Hogg)