Nebulus

The tower rotates as the player moves horizontally, giving a 3D effect. The game's original 8-bit release received some critical acclaim, in particular the Commodore 64 release, which garnered a Gold Medal award from UK magazine Zzap!64. Followed by the lesser-known Nebulus 2 for the Amiga in the 1990s.

• Title — Nebulus • Developer — Hewson Consultants • Publisher — Hewson Consultants U.S. Gold Triffix Entertainment • Designer — John M. Phillips • Composer — John M. Phillips David Whittaker (Game Boy/NES) • Released — 1987 Game BoyOctober 30, 1992 • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Game Boy, NES, Atari 7800, Acorn Archimedes, MS-DOS

• Illustration — Amiga version • Illustration — Palm OS screenshot Nebulus is a platform game. The player character, a green creature called Pogo, is on a mission to destroy eight towers that have been built in the sea by placing bombs at the towers' peaks. The actual gameplay happens at each tower in turn. Pogo starts from the bottom and finds the way to the top. The towers are cylinder-shaped and have ledges on the outside, either horizontal forming stairs or connected by elevators. A notable feature of the game is that when Pogo walks left or right, the tower behind him turns clockwise or counterclockwise with a convincing sense of depth. This was noted favourably in reviews of the game. During the ascent, Pogo encounters many different enemies, mostly shaped like basic geometric shapes. Pogo can shoot some of the enemies, while others are impervious to being shot. Contact with an enemy knocks Pogo down to the ledge below. If there is no ledge below, Pogo falls into the sea and drowns. At the top of the tower, Pogo enters a door to trigger the tower's destruction mechanism. Pogo then boards his submarine and enters a bonus stage (in some versions, but not for example in the ZX Spectrum version), where he can shoot various kinds of fish to score bonus points.