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The legendary classic Supaplex series comes to Linux on Steam

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Supaplex, a game originally released back in 1991 now has multiple modern versions available on Steam and it seems the developers have now added Linux support years later.

Originally created as an extended clone of Boulder Dash, Supaplex is known for its difficulty. By modern standards, there's probably far more exciting puzzle games to look for but as a good bit of nostalgia it seems to do the job just right.

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From what I can see, these games are not from the original developers so they're actually remakes. It's not entirely clear how they've been able to use the Supaplex name but it seems no one is around from the 90's to cause a fuss over it.

On Steam they have a few versions of it including Supaplex, Supaplex HARD and Supaplex SQUARES - all of which now have native Linux support and it seems the developers are working towards bringing Linux support to the other titles they have up in the series too.

You can find them all on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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Ehvis Jan 26, 2022
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Blast from the past. I remember Supaplex as the first game that managed a smooth scrolling level on a standard VGA PC. I also remember that it was not easy.
cere4l Jan 26, 2022
First game I ever put hundred of hours in.. ever. If you hadn't said it's not the original devs I would have bought it in a heartbeat despite never wanting to launch it these days.
morphles Jan 26, 2022
But on Linux you could play it via Rock's and Dimonds for decades probably, so not sure how much this brings to table
Mal Jan 26, 2022
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Wow. The nostalgia.
pb Jan 26, 2022
What worries me is that they were not willing to disclose if they have the permission from the original developers and if they share the profits in any way. One thing that is pretty sure, though, is that they don't have permission(s) to sell any additional levels (like "supaplex hard", "supaplex square" etc.) as they are just packs of levels contributed by various people years ago: https://www.elmerproductions.com/sp/levels.html

To be honest, it's probably best to just load up the Supaplex levels in Rocks'n'Diamonds.
https://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/
Liam Dawe Jan 26, 2022
Quoting: pbWhat worries me is that they were not willing to disclose if they have the permission from the original developers and if they share the profits in any way. One thing that is pretty sure, though, is that they don't have permission(s) to sell any additional levels (like "supaplex hard", "supaplex square" etc.) as they are just packs of levels contributed by various people years ago: https://www.elmerproductions.com/sp/levels.html

To be honest, it's probably best to just load up the Supaplex levels in Rocks'n'Diamonds.
https://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/
I asked about it, they mentioned they "can provide all necessary documents" if it came to it.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 26 January 2022 at 3:29 pm UTC
TenSuns Jan 26, 2022
FYI, there's an open source implementation of the original: https://github.com/sergiou87/open-supaplex (also open-supaplex in AUR)

Honestly, I prefer the pixelated graphics, it's what I grew up with.
pb Jan 26, 2022
Quoting: Liam DaweI asked about it, they mentioned they "can provide all necessary documents" if it came to it.

So, can they? And do the original creators get any cut of the sales?
Because on the steam forums they just continue to delete all posts mentioning copytighs etc.
Example: http://web.archive.org/web/20181123183647/https://steamcommunity.com/app/833140/discussions/0/3051633726578192728/


Last edited by pb on 26 January 2022 at 5:24 pm UTC
emphy Jan 27, 2022
Not a fan of the mobilification nor of the shady situation regarding the copyrights.
Liam Dawe Jan 27, 2022
The developer spoke to me again today and they confirmed clearly now the original developers did give their approval on it.
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