Quoting: slaapliedjeGood to see that they're still updating it then!

Absolutely. They also addressed a long-standing criticism of the original game, where hazards aren't always obvious when moving at high speeds - you can now set a different level of contrast on them so they stand out more. I haven't tested it, though, so I don't know how well it works in practise. I'll take a look the next time I do a playthrough.

Quoting: slaapliedjeA Zool 3 would be awesome, I still haven't beaten any of them, I keep thinking I should play 1 and 2 on my CD32, at least I have a Competition Pro for it!

Yes, you should do that! :grin:

I did a full-series run for Zool last year, and to make it a bit longer I also included the two novels (which make up a two-part follow-up to the games, and have some fun worldbuilding and references packed in), and then followed it up with Zool Redimensioned (just going to be a mega-geek for a moment and note that this is the correct chronological order for the series :tongue:).

Quoting: slaapliedjeAt least Bentley Bear eventually got a platformer! https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1198 [External Link]

Oh awesome - always nice to see folks trying to get more out of the Atari 7800! And do I spy some Wonder Boy series influences there? :grin:

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Quoting: ssj17vegetaI had it on the Amiga.

At the time, I didn't have many games and coming back from my friend's place (who owned a NES and Super Mario 3) was somewhat a frustrating experience. Until Zool came out ! :woot:

A great game I have very fond memories of !

Platformers are one of my all-time favourite genres, so I was just happy to have more of them in general. :grin: (Except for Bubsy... :tongue: Too many game-design issues there for my liking, though they certainly nailed the Looney Tunes-ish look.)

Quoting: slaapliedjeAre they actually supporting it? Or is it just a matter of Valve telling them they tested it on the Deck, it worked, and so they announced it was verified for the Steam Deck. It's not like they were required to patch it. It likely just worked the first time someone tested it.

They are! :smile: In mid-May (almost two years after launch) there was an update adding some local multiplayer mini-games and a couple of new quality-of-life tweaks, as well.

Quoting: slaapliedjeAre they going to be doing Zool 2?

It's not as well-liked as the first one so I kind of doubt it, though I'd honestly love to see them fix it up for a sequel-remake.

That said, they did make what looked like a hint at a Zool 3 in this one, and speaking as someone who's a bit of a sucker for a number of somewhat-forgotten platforming mascots including Zool (I own a nice chunk of the official Zool merch that's been issued over time :grin:), I was quite happy to see that. :grin:

Quoting: slaapliedjeI think Atari at one point was trying to get Rayman, or Bubsy, or... Something.

Bizarrely, they had both of those guys and Zool, at that point. The Jaguar really had a disproportionate amount of mascot-platformers, considering that it only had five platformers in total during its original run! (I gather it's gotten at least a couple more ported to it in more recent years.)

Quoting: slaapliedjeThey could have just done more Bently Bear stuff, though most probably don't remember the incredible game, Crystal Castles...

Well, Bentley was in Atari Karts, at least, so I guess there's that... Very odd that he didn't get a platforming appearance, considering the era!

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Quoting: StoneColdSpiderCongrats on your submitted article getting published.......
Nice portrait photo too..... :smile::tongue:

Haha, thankyou my friend. :smile: And many thanks to Liam for approving it! Hopefully it'll be ok for me to submit more in the future.

Quoting: neffoI mean everyone knows the Atari ST version was the original...

:grin:

Quoting: tuubiThey might "know" that, but they'd be wrong. :grin:

It's an Amiga game that got ported to a bunch of computer and console platforms, including the ST and the Mega Drive.

Quoting: Liam DaweHeh the feature list was from Steam. I assume by “original” they simply meant unedited. I originally played it on Amiga.

Yeah, they definitely mean unedited - though, that said, the boot credits screen has modified copyright info, and the Chupa Chups sponsorship is gone! :tongue:

I originally played it on the Mega Drive myself, for what it's worth. That version has different stage-designs which I presume was done to better suit the expectations of the console audience (it seems a little bit less "home-micro Europlatformer" influenced), and the remake seems to be primarily based on that version.

I'm quite impressed by how long they've been supporting it for, at this point - and they seem to be willing to give Zool another chance, which is cool.

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It's all great and I love it all, except, at least on the current Xubuntu with x11, there's an annoying focus-stealing bug that happens every time a Steam Chat notification pops up, requiring switching to another window and then back to the one that you were in so as to resolve it. Fairly irritating when chatting whilst trying to scroll through documents and edit stuff in GIMP!

I did some searching and it seems this was reported back in May, when it was still in beta, so here's hoping that it's fixed soon. :tongue:

EDIT: A Xubuntu update came in a short while ago, and the issue with Steam seems to be fixed now! :grin: I guess it was an Xfce issue (couldn't be compositor - I have that turned off), not a Steam one, in my case?

EDIT: Nope, it's still causing problems. Back to waiting! :tongue:

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Quoting: MayeulCNo worries, I always check my GoL notifications, even if I don't visit the website every day :)

I use the USB-C input (Display Port Alt mode plus PD charging) of my DELL monitor (Daisy chained to a second one via a DP->VGA adapter), and connect the SSD to one of its side ports via USB. The setup is pretty solid, though it's tempting to disconnect the Steam Deck or turn the screen off (either would interrupt the connection to the boot drive, which would be a bad idea). No issues so far though, and the Steam Deck, even with this complicated setup, has had one of the most robust suspend and resume implementation I've ever encountered on Linux. There were a few hiccups with Daisy Chaining due to an AMD regression on recent kernels, but it's getting quite stable these days.

I would be in the market for more esoteric USB-C adapters, such as a simple USB-C -> USB-C + USB-A hub (that retain PD and DP Alt). Or something that injects DP Alt signals from a separate video output. I might need to design these myself, though.

That is wonderful information - thankyou SO much. :grin:

It sounds like the Deck would be more than up to standing in for a laptop if I'm travelling and still do what I need from those, which would cut what I need to carry by a good bit. Thanks again!

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A fan of classic retro gaming? GOG just put up the Contra Anniversary Collection that has Contra (Arcade), Super Contra, Contra (NA), Contra (JP), Super C, Contra III: The Alien Wars, Operation C, Contra Hard Corps, Super Probotector Alien Rebels and Probotector.

£3.19?! That is a bloody good deal for all of that! I do hope that we see more collections like this from Konami, too. :smile:

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I hadn't heard of this until today, and it looks hilarious - will definitely have to give it a look! :grin:

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Quoting: Liam DawePretty much all traditional joysticks will eventually drift, the design of these is supposed to last far longer and potentially never see drifting issues.

I assume it's safe to say that the Steam Deck's sticks are at least better than, say, the absolutely notorious ones used in the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Cons, though? :unsure:

I don't have a Deck yet, and if they are like that, it would be a big dealbreaker for me - I got sick of repairing those things and that contributed to my move over to 100% Linux-gaming.

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Quoting: Craggles086Looking at you Taito

You can blame Square-Enix for that, since they bought Taito years ago. :tongue: That said, I quite enjoyed Bubble Bobble 4 Friends [External Link] for what it was.

Quoting: Craggles086Was a Tetris Clone called Falling Up that flipped the axis on you in the middle of the game. Was kinda cool.. :)

I discovered a really good NES homebrew Tetris clone, titled "From Below [External Link]"; Its twist is that there's a Kraken interfering with the game! :shock:

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Quoting: sarmadIf you are lucky to have an AMD GPU you'll probably not encounter any breakage unless if you tinker with your system.

Can confirm the same with Xubuntu + Intel for the last 15 years, and Kubuntu + Intel for one year before that. I've never had anything break - though, for clarity, although I'm a major geek I have very ordinary computing requirements (text, photos, games, web), so I'm the least-likely sort of user to run into issues.

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