Bluevolution Vic 20 + 3k expansion

The Blue Meanies are back but this time they're meaner and have grouped together into deadly clusters. Their sole intent is to give you a bad day. Show them they can't win and blast your way to glory!

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Ensure your Vic 20 or emulator is set up with a 3K RAM expansion and has a Joystick. 

The game comes as a PRG file that can be loaded into an emulator (usually just drag and drop). This can also be placed onto an SD2IEC drive or other modern device to load on a real Vic 20.

Instructions

The goal is to survive as long as possible by shooting the invading Meanies, avoid the hazards that descend the screen and amass a huge score. Use the Joystick to play.

• Press FIRE to start the game and fire your lasers. 
• Push LEFT AND RIGHT on the stick to move, you can wrap around the screen.
• Hold DOWN to activate the shield. Note this will eat away your score and multiplier!

Destroying a cluster of Meanies will increase your stage multiplier, shown on the screen as "SG". The stage multiplier determines how much you score for hitting a Meanie or the meanie fragments that fall to the ground. 

As the stage multiplier increases, so will the number of Meanies. They will become more aggressive and attack more directly, falling to the ground at speed.

Don't hang around in one spot for too long, a Mean Satellite will come along and blast you, and the shield won't protect you from its shots. 

Hints

• Try to increase your stage multiplier for larger scores but focusing your fire on a cluster of Meanies at a time

• Take your finger off the trigger from time to time, all that shooting can make the screen real busy with meanie fragments

• Watch for Meanies that fall faster to the ground, they can catch you out. Use the edges of the screen to escape if you can, or as a last resort activate your shield

• Don't use the shield all the time, you lose precious score and stage multipliers the longer it is on
• Chill and take your time. Enjoy the exercise of tidying up the screen. Or don't and blast the Meanies back to where they came from. 

About

Bluevolution is my answer to what you get when you cross Killer Comet with Blue Meanies from Outer Space.

Killer Comet is a type-in listing found at the back of the Commodore Vic 20 manual. It is a simple game with your gun fixed in place at the bottom of the screen and a huge meteor (or comet?) at the top, advancing across the screen and slowly descending. Time your shots right and you can blast away a piece of the meteor until it has been completely destroyed or a part of it hits you.

Blue Meanies from Outer Space is a unique game I have fond memories of. It is a very early game, released in 1981, and was written in BASIC. In it the Blue Meanies are descending from the top of the screen with intent to chip away at your bases defences until they hit your reactors. Use lasers and a repair ship to defend your base and protect your precious reactors.

Both games were written by Duane Later, a member of the 'Vic Commandos' early on in the Vic 20's life when it was being bought to western audiences. Not much is known about Duane and his time with Commodore appears brief, but the impact his few early games made have stayed with me for 40+ years.

Thank you Duane, and thank you reader for playing Bluevolution, my evolution of Killer Comet and Blue Meanies. Please share with your friends and have fun!