Crystal Wave and Sky Scream

By: Derek Yu

On: November 15th, 2010

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Johnny B. of Golden Beast Studios (Anyman, Techno-Drone Alliance) has started a rapid development project called Lazy Brain Games. His goal is to release one game per week, restricted to NES graphics and 8-bit sounds. So far he’s made two little shmups controlled with WASD+mouse.

Crystal Wave is a score-based arena shooter that plays a lot like JW’s Coptra: it goes from easy to crazy in thirty seconds as enemies come from all directions. Score mostly comes in the form of large gems that fly randomly across the screen. The game has a small online highscore table, currently occupied by yours truly.

Sky Scream is a vertical shooter inspired by Sin and Punishment, Contra and Megaman. It takes about four minutes to beat the game but it’s hard enough that you won’t reach the end on your first try. The colorful background looks great in motion: