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.