Alessandro Grussu


Booty The Remake

Author: Alessandro Grussu
Publisher: salvaKantero
Machine: Spectrum 128K

 
Published in Al's Spectrum Annual 2020

Booty The Remake

Another remake of a famous Spectrum game, created for the ZX Dev Remakes 2018 competition: a new version (128K-only) of the platform-and-ladders game Booty by John F. Cain. In the role of Jim the cabin boy of a pirate ship, you must wander around 20 screens, connected to each other by an intricate system of passages, in search of treasures hidden in the hold.

Your task is hindered by the presence of numerous doors to open, each one with its own key, by the pirates themselves - who certainly do not like the booty being stolen under their nose - and by other risks such as mice, parrots and hidden bombs. Falling off the platforms will also cause Jim to lose a life.

The screens of the classic Firebird title have been faithfully reproduced and playability is not lacking. However, in all honesty I continue to prefer the 1984 Booty. The old larger and differently coloured sprites on a black background perform better than the new game's small sprites on monochromatic and perhaps overly-detailed backgrounds, which also give a certain impression of monotony. AY music is certainly much better than Booty's beeper tune, but I would have preferred old seafaring songs instead of generic, good-for-anything themes.

In short, this remake is good as a game in itself, but the original is still unsurpassed.

Alessandro Grussu

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