Moon Bugs (2018)

Summary

160 x 100 16-color mode (text mode indeed) This rare game uses very specific resolution, i.e. a special tweak of the 80 x 25 text mode. Character height register is changed, so that only 2 lines per character are displayed. Thus the number of lines is 100. Then there are special characters with byte code 221 0xDD "" and 222 0xDE "" and there goes the fine-tuned display mode (CGA 16 colors). You can easily find more information about it in CGA specifications. Bonus round When you shoot down a small UFO ("COMBAT" text is displayed while the alien ship is moving) in the beginning of a level (starting at level 2), you can play a simple shooting at alien character, which moves faster after each hit, giving you more score. After you miss, the game round closes. New lives After you reach score 20.000, you get an extra life . Hacks, tricks and cheats Some UFOs display negative value, meaning that if you hit them, your score actually descreaes (which is an interesting idea). I tried this after I reached 20.000 points (after getting a new life), UFO with negative value was shot down, my score changed back to ca 19.000, and then I thought "maybe when I reach 20.000 again, there will be another bonus life", but that did not happen :) New lives are added strictly by multipliers of 2, i.e. 20.000, 40.000, 80.000, 160.000, 320.000, etc. Now, you can open your hex editor and change some values: 0x130h = set starting level for real play (16 bits) 0x136h = set starting lives for real play (16 bits) (use only a value between 1-7) (and during the game play make sure you don't get the 8th life -- there is a bug and the game will enter an endless loop -- which, I assume, could hardly occur in a game without cheats) 0x787h .. 0x78Ah = set these 4 bytes to 0x90h (meaning 4x no-operation instruction) (this way your lives will not be decreasing). Found bug (a Moon Bugs bug :) ) If you change the code not to decrease lives, and you think it will be easy to play, it won't be. Each time you get...