Popeye in Space (2025, ZZARKO)

An arcade space shooting game whose story is based on a humorous fictional game review published in a Yugoslav computer magazine in April 1990.

The game is written using Turbo Rascal, a tool that enabled me to significantly cut down development time (compared to writing the entire game in assembly).

35 years later, due to the popularity of the article, a programmer decided to make it into a real game and finished development by 1 April 2025.

Game concept: Popeye boards a spaceship to rescue Olive, who has been sent into space by Bluto. The mission is to protect Olive and defeat Bluto.

Gameplay: Popeye fires canned spinach to protect Olive and himself from meteorites, asteroids and missiles.

Levels and challenges: the game consists of six short levels, progressively more difficult, and at the end of each level there is Bluto, who can be defeated in exactly 17 hits.

Development information: The game was created using Turbo Rascal, and the graphics and music are borrowed in places. This is the first C64 arcade game from the developer.


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