''Martianoids'' is a

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

developed by

Ultimate Play the Game Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex- arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games fo ...

and released in 1987.

Gameplay

Although it uses

isometric projection Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings. It is an axonometric projection in which the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and ...

, as with Ultimate's second-generation isometric releases such as ''

Nightshade The Solanaceae , or nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and orna ...

'' and ''

Gunfright ''Gunfright'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ultimate Play the Game and published by U.S. Gold. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in December 1985, then released for Amstrad CPC and the MSX the following year. The player takes ...

'', ''Martianoids'' used a

scrolling In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the tex ...

display rather than the

flip-screen This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

of earlier titles such as '' Knight Lore'' and ''

Alien 8 ''Alien 8'' is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game. It was released for the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC and MSX in 1985. The game is a spiritual successor to the best-selling '' Knight Lore' ...

''. As with the contemporary Ultimate title ''

Bubbler A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and ...

'', ''Martianoids'' was not written by the partnership of Tim Stamper and

Chris Stamper Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later became developer ...

. It was instead programmed by a team at

U.S. Gold U.S. Gold Limited was a British video game publisher based in Witton, Birmingham, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Anne and Geoff Brown in parallel to their distributor firm, CentreSoft, both of which became part of Woodward Brown H ...

, and was therefore an Ultimate game in name only. It was Ultimate's penultimate title for 8-bit home computers. In 1988 the company became Rare, embarking on a long-running partnership with Nintendo to develop console games.

Plot

Players are given a cryptic introduction describing an attack by aliens known as "The Martianoids". The Martianoids enter the player's ship and attack the brain of the ship with "photon weapons". The player must act to prevent further damage. The player has lasers for defence which destroy internal walls, computer components and so forth, and the aliens.http://www.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-info/m/Martianoids.txt

References

External links

''Martianoids''
at Ultimate Wurlde *

at ''CRASH'' magazine {{Ultimate Play the Game 1987 video games Rare (company) games ZX Spectrum games Amstrad CPC games MSX games Video games with isometric graphics Video games developed in the United Kingdom