Super Crate Box

By: Derek Yu

On: November 3rd, 2010

In Vlambeer’s Super Crate Box, the goal is not to kill as many enemies as you can, or even to last for as long as possible. Instead, the player scores points by collecting weapon crates that appear randomly around the room (a new crate appears as soon as the last one is collected). Enemies drop out of the top of the screen and make their way down to the bottom, where they fall into the pit and respawn up top as faster, red versions of themselves.

The game makes you think it should be a lot easier than it really is, partly due to the small map size. In reality, it’s quite challenging to find the right balance between clearing out enough enemies so that they don’t overwhelm you and actually scoring points. Also, the weapons vary in terms of their overall usefulness and collecting crates forces you to change up your strategy constantly.

So yeah, super-addictive platformer with nice graphics and a funkedified soundtrack by Eirik “Phlogiston” Suhrke. Super Crate Box also comes with 3 maps, an extra-hard SMFT mode, and various weapon and character unlockables, too. Good stuff!

TIGdb: Entry for Super Crate Box

Posted in Freeware, Highly Recommended, Windows | Tags: Jwaap, Vlambeer

Peevish

The video in the TIGDB entry? 295 on SMFT? That person is a FUCKING FREAK.
rinkuhero

drats, was going to add that to the weekly i mean monthly report, now will have to find a new game to fill it :)
http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

If you call it “The Eres Report” it will transcend time. ;)
Guest

Best arcade style indie game since Rescue The Beagles. Will still be fun years from now.
PeterShultz

Really fun. Loved it!
bitbof

thanks to this bump it will be even harder for me to fight my way into the highscore -_-

absolutely love this game
tso

loving it guys.

suck at it tho hah
cactus

Great game! JW is great at designing arcade games :)
John Sandoval

This game is the very essence of streamlined fun. Everything about it is designed to keep the player going, from the continual change in weapons, to the single button press it takes to get back into the game when you die. And though death comes often, you will often find yourself saying, “Okay, just one more… no, one more… okay this is the last one… no, this one…”

A very, very solid game.
http://ortoslon.makgam.com ortoslon

aww thanks for the compliment <3
http://ortoslon.makgam.com ortoslon

videos of me scoring best (at the moment of posting) on SFMT:
Construction Yard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PvcvUre1E0
Rocket Silo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTCBvzW4k4
Moon Temple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-faU0chS0

please beat these scores
http://twitter.com/salameboy Luis Ignacio Perdomo

please more stages and armor! this is awesome! :D
Ajezard

I want to play but for some reason it thinks Im constantly holding left :(
Maciej

How to redefine keys?
http://www.squidoo.com/indie-games Steve

Looks great.
A rabbit

It'd be much more fun if it didn't punish you for playing it. All but one of the weapons you unlock is either a crappier version of one of the stock weapons, detrimental to use, or just crap in general.

It reminds me of that game Desktop Dungeons, which would punish the player by adding some sort of ridiculous monster to every subsequent game whenever you managed to beat it.
PhasmaFelis

Disagree! The whole challenge of the game is dealing with the mix of good and bad weapons you get. Run like hell when you pull dual pistols, then cackle and obliterate everything when the flamethrower comes out. With a good weapon and a good position you are basically invincible–having to deal with the bad weapons is the whole point.

Also, both the flamethrower and revolver are awesome, so you're wrong about that. :)

I do wish the laser rifle had been better, though. :-/ It's the last weapon, it oughta at least decent. Maybe a chainsaw!
Wilson999

I actually quite like the system, in both Super Crate Box and in Desktop Dungeons. It increases the difficulty as you go through, and gives you a sense of progression. I wouldn't see it as punishing the player, but opening up more of the game for them while increasing the challenge.
A rabbit

Being invulnerable with a “good weapon and a good position” is a moot point, since kills are not how you earn score in this game.

Also, I consider the flamethrower detrimental to use, since it hinders your ability to make accurately timed jumps when standing near the fire being sprayed everywhere.

@ Wilson999

This is the reason we have the alternate game modes SMFT and Ambush which, unlike the weapon unlocks and Desktop Dungeons' monsters, are totally optional instead of being forced on the player after X amount of play time/victories.

Now see, I can sort of see Desktop Dungeons' approach that if you managed to actually beat a dungeon, you probably know what you're doing and the difficulty can be increased to keep the game challenging for you, but this isn't even the case with Super Crate Box's weapon unlock system. You could be so bad at the game that you only ever score a max of five points on any given round, but because the weapon unlocks are based on TOTAL crates collected instead of crates per round, the game will eventually get harder by adding crap like the laser gun or the grenade launcher to the weapon rotation. That's not progression, that's just stupid.
cce

Ok I admit I love this game, the graphics are ace and gameplay rock solid!
PhasmaFelis

“Being invulnerable with a “good weapon and a good position” is a moot point, since kills are not how you earn score in this game.”

Yeah, dude, that was my point. If you only got good weapons, then after each crate you could wipe out everything on the screen from a safe position before making a dash for the next.

“Also, I consider the flamethrower detrimental to use, since it hinders your ability to make accurately timed jumps when standing near the fire being sprayed everywhere.”

Seriously, the hotfoot bothered you that much? The flamethrower is devastating. It covers a wide area and keeps covering it even after you've turned somewhere else. The hotfoot is the only thing keeping it from being the best weapon in the game, IMHO. Learning how to use weapons' idiosyncrasies in your favor are part of the challenge. The grenade launcher, flamethrower, and mines are all very powerful weapons if you're aware of their limitations and use them properly.

I'm not quite sure why you think the weapon rotation gets *worse* as you play. If you didn't notice, half of the starting rotation are kind of shit. :)
Mike Hunt

I remember getting this issue too. Forgot how I fixed it though, sorry :(
(Might have something to do with updating DirectX.)
MisterX

Gamepad plugged in?
MisterX

Damnit, wrong reply button, this here is what I wanted to reply to..:

Gamepad plugged in?
http://twitter.com/JasperByrne Jasper Byrne

So addictive, keep dipping in. Still haven't got many crates.
Landovers

This game is amazing! It reminded me of Spelunky, both graphically and in how compelling it is to play, in how it taunts you to play just one more time…