Nebulus (1987)

Developer: Hewson Consultants, Hewson Consultants
Publisher: Atari Corporation, U.S. Gold, Krisalis Software, Hewson Consultants
Platforms: Acorn Archimedes, Atari 7800, Commodore C64/128/MAX, ZX Spectrum, Wii, Atari ST/STE, DOS, Amiga
Genres: Platform, Strategy
Rating: 4.0 of 5, 16 player ratings

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More games like this

How it feels

Guide a little green alien up spiraling towers while dodging enemies in this offbeat retro platformer.

quirkychallengingretroplatformeractionarcade

About

You play a small green guy who needs to blow up eight towers, because their presence is somehow poisoning the water of planets which could potentially be ideal colonies. Unfortunately you need to get to the top of these towers to blow them up. You make your way up to the top of the tower via walkways around the outside of the towers. You need to jump over, kick, and run from various enemies in your journey to the top. Most vertical movement is achieved by jumping onto moving ledges at the right moment. The game was considered revolutionary in its time for its graphic technique. As the main character walked around the outside of the tower, the character was fixed in the middle of the screen while the tower itself rotated. This gave it a pseudo-3D effect. Towers are linked together via a voyage through the sea in your trusty MK.7 submarine. This plays out as a side-scrolling collect-'em-up in which bonus points can be obtained.

Screenshots

More games like this

More by Hewson Consultants

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.