Upsad Down (NESDEV Edition)

Status (02/22/2021)

This game is version 0.6 of the game submitted to the NesDev compo 2021. It is playable via jsnes emulator on itch.io.

NEW : ROM is available for download.

How to play :

All modes :

Left/Right : move piece
A/B buttons : rotate
Down : soft drop
Up : exchange with stock piece

Single mode only :

Select button : use special power-up from jauge.

Modes :

Single mode :

In single mode, you play on only one playfield. Your goal is to make lines.

But there is a twist, the ball will help you or crush your better plans. It is up to you to decide how to manage the ball, will you use it as a destruction ally, or try to protect your construction ?

Each time a line is made, or a brick is destroyed by the ball, the jauge on the left rise :

Description of power-up :

• Level Up : the speed of falling is increased, you gain more points each time you make lines.
• Level down : the speed of falling is decreased, you gain less points each time you make lines.
• Stone : This item is automatically activated when jauge has the level. The next piece will be a 2x2 bloc, and will drop at max speed, this bloc can only be remove by the superball. You can also invoke it just like other power-ups.
• Freeze ball : freeze the ball for a limited amount of time.
• Super ball : the ball will destroy everything on its path, including stone blocks. There is 2 super ball power-up in the jauge. The first one if shorter than the second one.
• 1000 points : add 1000 points to your score

Use Select button to activate the power-up.

Special mode :

In Special mode, you play on two playfields alternatively. Each time the ball destroy a brick on one playfield, it is recreated on the other one.

There is no power-up, but special brick appears randomly in the playfield. Once destroyed by the ball, the special effet is set :

Description of special effects :

• Speed Up : the speed of falling is a bit increased, but cannot rise the next level
• Level down : the speed of falling is decreased, but cannot rise the previous level.
• Transfert : next piece will be play on the other playfield.
• Stone : The next piece will be a 2x2 bloc, and will drop at max speed, this bloc can only be remove by the superball.
• Super ball : the ball will destroy everything on its path, including stone blocks. There is 2 super ball power-up in the jauge. The first one if shorter than the second one.
• Freeze ball : freeze the ball for a limited amount of time.
  Note : freeze ball has priority over super ball. This means that is super ball when a freeze ball is set, the freezing time will be counted, then the remaining time of super ball will be played.

Story Mode :

In Story mode, your goal will be to explore a level, and play different challenges.
In this beta release, there is only 1 screen and 9 challenges available, so the difficulty ramp up quite quickly.

You start your journey as Leaf (spirit of Air), and playing challenges, you will get more abilities and power. You will also meet the spirit of Fire and Water, and pay their respective avatar.

Each avatar has its own power-up :

• Leaf : jump, then double jump. Leaf can also use switches
• Fire : bomb (you can destroy wooden boxes)
• Water : slide (you can go into small tunnels), then fllod (not in this release)

Right now, there is only 1 screen and he is quite straightforward, but expect more screens, and more exploration/puzzles in final release.

A challenge is always base on the same goal : help Leaf to escape from the left screen before the 2 minutes chrono is over,  by making lines on the right screen, but there can be some obstacle on your road :

• The ball will destroy bricks on left screen
• Stone blocs on the left screen cannot be removes (no superball), so you have to deal with them
• Stone blocs on the right screen must be removed first. To do so, you must make a (at least) 2 lines combos on the right screen at the same lines

Screenshot of Leval 9 show a nightmare example of what has to be done, first you must make a 2 line combo at the bottom of the playfield, than make 8 lines in order to succeede (tip : I did not succeed this time :D).

Note : Avatars and power-ups are inspired by my previous Atari Lynx game : Ynxa, which is a puzzle/exploration platform game, and will get an updated physical release later this year via Coté Gamers. So both Ynxa and Upsad Down are set in the same universe.

Credits :

Graphics : 

• Inca Game Assets by Kronbits (itch.io)
• Story mode character from Elthen's Pixel Art Shop - itch.io
• Other assets by Fadest

Music :

• Temporary placeholder music : Fadest (I'm not a musician, so I apologise but am not responsible for any damage to your ears, there is an option to switch off the music :D )
• Final music : Rayxamber (Coté Gamers)

SFX :

• Incomplete placeholder SFX : Fadest

Tools & code

• Made in C with Shiru's NesLib
• FamiStudio by BleuBleu (itch.io)
• NES Screen Tool by shiru
• Original (?) idea, code by Fadest

Todo List

• Proper end screen  of Story Mode 
• Finalize SFX 
• Finalize Music 
• New effects in Special mode ?
• Story Mode  (Final release)
• And so many other things...
• ... take time to do them