Classic: Zeldarius

By: Paul Eres

On: June 5th, 2009

Zeldarius was released in 2002 for Game Maker (version 4) by Scott Hiroshige, and is a Zelda/Gradius hybrid fan-game. The graphics and music are all ripped from other games, but it’s still very fun regardless. I especially like how they timed the music perfectly with the oncoming enemy waves; playing it is a musical experience.

I include this in classics week not because it’s particularly exceptional (although I have played through it at least a dozen times) but because it’s almost unknown, almost disappeared from the internet entirely (even most veteran GM users have never heard of it), and I think it deserves more attention, because (as dessgeega once said) some games desire to be played, and are made happy when people play them.

It was the first Game Maker game I ever played, when I tried it I was amazed at how much can be done with that engine as opposed to the O.H.R.RPG.C.E. In my mind it’s a great example of the type of game that Game Maker allows people to make — some kid just thought “wouldn’t it be great if I combined Zelda and a shmup?” and then BAM! The game existed.

Posted in Freeware, Shoot-em-ups, Windows | Tags: ScottHiroshige

Protector one

You meant:
“BAM! There it is!”
Paul Eres

haha
evktalo

haha, the write-up was just great.
Zmann

This is a good game, and I totally played it back in the day.
http://wherecouldtom.be Tom Sennett

I REMEMBER THIS GAME AND IT WAS AWESOME.

I’m going to play it right now!
http://wherecouldtom.be Tom Sennett

Haha, the music in the second mission is “Take On Me” as a MIDI. This game is about as awesome I as I remember it.
J

Epic. And for anyone else scratching their heads over the controls: Q to move the title screen cursor and Space to pick an option. In-game it’s arrow keys to move, A (wha…?) to shoot, and D or B to use bombs.

I know I heard a couple Gundam Wing songs in there, plus the Pokemon theme.

Also, the tornadoes in Mission 1 act as warps. I love this game.
Andy .E. Hamm

I keep every Game Maker game I download, and still have Zeldarius v1 to this day. Nice to see classics remembered.
Anonymous

EASTER EGGS:

– Warp in Mission 1 – Toward the end of Mission 1, many tornadoes will move across the screen horizontally. Find the one moving more slowly than the others (it moves left to right) and touch it with your ship. You will warp to Mission 3.

– 30-life code – At the title screen, before pressing to start the game, press the following keys: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, ‘b’, ‘a’. Then press to start the game. You should have 30 lives at the beginning of Mission 1. Note that you cannot use this code and the 9-bomb code at the same time.

– 9-bomb code – At the title screen, before pressing to start the game, press the following keys: ‘u’, ‘p’, ‘w’, ‘a’, ‘n’. Then press to start the game. Every new life you get should start with 9 bombs. Note that you cannot use this code and the 30-life code code at the same time.

– Missing-man formation – If you beat Mission 6 with fewer lives than you started the game with (3 or 30, depending on whether you used the 30-life code), the group of five planes will fly a “missing man” formation.

– Perfect mission reward – If you finish any mission without letting a single enemy escape destruction, you will get a “Perfect” message on the screen and start the next mission with the maximum number of boomerangs.