Qix Neo Game Sample - PS1
15There is a lot of footage recorded right now, but PS3 recordings have been SLOW --- Ragnarok Odyssey Ace requires such an investment in time to get anything beyond a "beginner level", so I have been slowly grinding away at that and a couple others that others have recommended I try. I also have a cool import I need to put time into that was given to me...SO, with the coming of indie and TG-16/PCE, I have a few PS1 games to put up over the coming days. This game isn't exactly new to the channel --- it was, however, one of a relatively few that was lost when one of my old computers died before it could be backed up. No biggie, really, since that video was roughly only a minute and a half long and was recorded with really old software (back when I did not have good tools at my disposal).
Qix Neo is one of several "last minute greenlight" games on the PS1 in North America that were published by "Mud Duck", late in the life of the PS1. PS2 was already out, so many of the late games didn't see too much success, nor were they anything overly ambitious. The game was brand new for $9.99 and generally speaking, much of the late games you would see published in North America were typically much older games, plenty of which were "Success" games or other budget games. Think "Superlite" or "Simple series" and those kinds of games were what Mud Duck typically pushed out. The interesting thing to note is that Mud Duck is a "ZeniMax Media brand". While Mud Duck is now defunct (has been since 2007), ZeniMax Media Inc. is known for owning Arkane Studios (developer of Dishonored and Prey), id Software (developer of the Doom and Quake series, and Rage), MachineGames (developer of Wolfenstein: The New Order),[2] Tango Gameworks (developer of The Evil Within),[3] publisher Bethesda Softworks with its Bethesda Game Studios (developer of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, and Starfield (video game)) and ZeniMax Online Studios (developer of The Elder Scrolls Online).
As for the game, Qix Neo is essentially...well...QIX! The original Qix is an arcade game released by the once-ubiquitous Taito, creator of many gems and classics. Qix rocked the scene in October of 1981 and has seen numerous ports and upgrades throughout the years. The general premise is that you draw shapes and fill in the field, while avoiding baddies and so long as you aren't in the middle of a "drawing", you cannot be harmed. Enemies have different movements and patterns and studying them is the key to victory...they also have behaviors when you start drawing, so you have to be mindful of that. You have a "shield" that acts as a sort of timer too. When your shield reaches zero, you will no longer be safe, even if you aren't in the middle of drawing and boss attacks (the boss is the big bad on a level) can eliminate you if they touch you, something that does not happen if you aren't drawing and possess shield power.
Original Mode is actually the game "Volfied", which was released after Qix II - Tournament, and Super Qix. There are various powerups (Speed up, laser, and even an ultra weapon that is rare that can kill the boss...I use that weapon in this sample) to add to the fun, but don't expect much in the way of audio or video...the game has only a tiny bit of music --- you are mostly listening to sound effects. The arrange mode has some updated versions of older music, but again, you won't hear much music in arrange mode either. Arrange mode is actually what you would call "Qix Neo"...it's supposed to be an "audio/visual update" to Volfied, with some different item placement and enemy characteristics...but the "audio/visual update" part is debatable. One other thing to note is that it isn't very well known, but there are three Qix games on Playstation. North America would only receive one of those 3 games. The other 2 are Battle Qix and Qix 2000.
If you like Qix, I suspect there is something here for you. My goal is to try Qix 2000 and Battle Qix as well...Battle Qix looked a bit funky, in an interesting way.
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