Turrican 2

Turrican II. Maybe my most favorite game of all the time. I know this is about nostalgia, but that's it. I've used to play mainly Amiga version of the game, both on a real Amiga 500 and later using a WinUAE emulator, but the PC version is almost identical, even music is the same quality.

So what is the game about? Your spaceship was attacked by some evil aliens and all your allies were defused. You're left alone and dress on a Turrican suit and you're going to beat the evil and rescue your friends. That's the intro, consisting of a few images surrounded with music.

The game itself is nothing but 2D scrolling platformer, but it has a very good atmosphere, music and level design. You run, jump, shoot, throw bombs and megabombs, and use a laser. The game has 11 levels (5 worlds I think) - in one level you both run and swim, in three levels you drive a spaceship, in others you just run. You can also roll, which makes you invulnerable. You are also collecting some extras - multiple weapons, bombs, longer laser, extra lives, invulnerability. You shoot many different monsters, and monster bosses. Finally you kill the master monster boss and luckily you win.

Rather than describing all the aspects of the game, I would rather point out some things that I particularly remember.

• The music is wonderful. Perfectly fitting and changing with the game. Maybe the best one was the intro music. I remember having my computer on just for listening to Turrican II music.
• If you play the game for a while you find it rather easy. You start with 3 lives (which means you can die 3 times, 4th is a real death). First time I finished the game, I was left with 4 lives. Next time I finished it with 21 lives remaining! My record is 32 lives. Did any one better?
• Best shots are the ones those with the D shape. To have these you must collect these extras four times. Personally I hate ball shots.
• Most monster bosses can be beaten without losing a life, or even a scrap of en energy. With final boss, I always lost one life.
• Roll! Roll whenever possible. Because during a rolling you're invulnerable to enemies and their shots. Just don't fall. Don't ever bother with shooting all the enemies.
• The game doesn't remember a lot. Once you run somewhere and return back, the enemies won't probably be there anymore. So the platforms to get an extra life.
• All levels are finishable all the time. You shouldn't be able to get stuck and not be able to finish the level.
• In 4th level in the beginning, don't forget to have "gaidas" (this is how I call the D-shaped shots) and use the net by the big abyss to jump back up. There are 6 lives.
• Be patient, some enemies will jump into your laser so you don't need to unfold yourself.
• The first "purple" level can be legally shortened, when going on a long plateau and then jumping down, just hold the right arrow to jump on the "mouse" monster. And then further left. Then find the exit.
• The "mouse" monsters (I call them so) do come with several variations during the game - running, swiming, flying.
• The 10th level is really frightening. I really don't like it and I roll whenever possible. When a spider fastens to you, you lose in 2 seconds, unless you have and can throw a megabomb.
• Even a smallest monster can kill you in 2 seconds, if it stays in your position for enough time, or you run along with it.

Game Downloads: Turrican 2 download (Amiga), Game Downloads: Turrican 2 download (PC), WinUAE emulator