''Nebulus'' is a platform game created by John M. Phillips and published by

Hewson Consultants Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced video games for home computers in the mid-1980s. They had a reputation for high-quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable ...

in the late 1980s for home computer systems. International releases and ports were known by various other names: ''Castelian'', , ''Subline'', and ''Tower Toppler''. The game's original 8-bit release received some critical acclaim, in particular the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

release, which garnered a Gold Medal award from UK magazine '' Zzap!64''. ''Nebulus'' was followed by the lesser-known ''Nebulus 2'' for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

in the 1990s.

Gameplay

''Nebulus'' is a platform game. The

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

, a green creature called Pogo, is on a mission to destroy eight towers that have been built in the sea by planting bombs at the towers' peaks. The actual gameplay happens at each tower in turn. Pogo starts from the bottom and finds the way to the top. The towers are cylinder-shaped and have ledges on their outside, either horizontal, forming

stairs Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

or connected by elevators. A notable feature of the game is that when Pogo walks left or right the tower behind him turns clockwise or counterclockwise with a convincing sense of depth. This was noted favourably in reviews of the game. During the ascent, Pogo encounters many different enemies, mostly shaped like basic geometric shapes. Pogo can shoot some of the enemies, while some are impervious to shooting. Contact with an enemy knocks Pogo down to the ledge below. If there is no ledge below, Pogo falls into the sea and drowns. At the top of the tower, Pogo enters a door to trigger the tower's destruction mechanism. Pogo then boards his

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

and enters a bonus stage (in some versions, but not for example in the ZX Spectrum version), where he can shoot various kinds of fish to score bonus points.

Releases and ports

The game was originally released by Hewson for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC,

, Commodore Amiga,

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

and Acorn Archimedes. The US version, which was published by U.S. Gold, was released under the title ''Tower Toppler''. A version for the Atari 7800 was also released with this title. The Game Boy and

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

versions of ''Castelian'' were developed by

Bits Studios Bits Studios was a British video game developer. The company has had over 30 titles published over the United States, Europe and Asia on multiple platforms. Bits Studios' parent company, PlayWize sold off all assets and technologies held by the g ...

and released in the United States by Triffix and in Japan by Hiro Entertainment; in these, the lead character is called Julius. The Game Boy and Nintendo versions were later released in Japan as ''Kyoro Chan Land'', which replaced Julius with Kyorochan, jewels with Chocoballs, altered the enemy graphics and (in the Famicom version) added a password system and a pause feature. The Italian bootleg version was called ''Subline''. The Nintendo versions were composed by David Whittaker, and the title songs were covered by Whittaker from the original Tower Toppler game's title screen. In the Famicom version, the title screen plays what is the bonus game theme from the US version. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

it was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV. The C64 DTV version made comeback on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

's Virtual Console download service in Europe on June 13, 2008 and later in North America on May 4, 2009. The

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

version was being developed around 1988 by the author of the Atari 7800 port, and was intended to be released by Atari Corporation for the XE Game System. Although the game appeared in Atari promotional material of the time, it never reached the market. The game's prototype cartridge was later found.

Reception

'' Compute!'' stated that the Commodore 64 version of ''Tower Toppler'' had "good arcade action, with well-executed graphics". Orson Scott Card wrote in the magazine that "the graphics are terrific ... As science fiction, it's fun but shallow. As an action game, it's just plain fun". ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'' gave the game a positive review. It earned a Zzap! Gold Medal Award. The game was voted Best Original Game Of The Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. The ZX Spectrum version was rated number 30 in the '' Your Sinclair Official Top 100 Games of All Time''. The Amiga version was ranked the 14th best game of all time by ''

Amiga Power ''Amiga Power'' (''AP'') was a monthly magazine about Amiga video games. It was published in the United Kingdom by Future plc, and ran for 65 issues, from May 1991 to September 1996. Philosophy ''Amiga Power'' had several principles which com ...

''.

References

External links

* *
''Tower Toppler''
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828142109/http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=713 , date=2018-08-28 for the Atari 7800 at AtariAge

at

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1987 video games Acorn Archimedes games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Atari 7800 games Atari ST games Cancelled Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Game Boy games Golden Joystick Award winners GP2X games Nintendo Entertainment System games Palm OS games Platform games U.S. Gold games Video games scored by David Whittaker Virtual Console games ZX Spectrum games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Hewson Consultants games