| Nebulus | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Triffix Entertainment Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Hewson, U.S. Gold |
| Designer(s) | John M. Phillips |
| Platform(s) | Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C64, Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari 7800, Acorn Archimedes, Wii Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) | 1987 Virtual Console EU June 13, 2008 NA May 4, 2009 |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E PEGI: 3+ |
| Media | Floppy disk, Cartridge, Audio tape, built into controller, online download |
| Castelian | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Triffix Ent. Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy |
| Release date(s) | JP
October 30, 1992 NA May 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Nebulus, also known as Castelian, Kyorochan Land, Subline and Tower Toppler[1], is a computer game published by Hewson in the late 1980s for various home computer systems. The US version, which was published by U.S. Gold, was released under the title Tower Toppler.
The Nintendo versions were released as Castelian, in which the character is called Julius. The Game Boy version of Castelian was developed by Bite Studios and released in the United States by Triffix and in Japan by Hiro Entertainment.
The Italian version was called Subline.
The game's original 8-bit release came to some critical acclaim, in particular the Commodore 64 release, which garnered a Gold Medal award from UK magazine ZZAP!64. Nebulus was followed by a lesser-known sequel, Nebulus 2, on the Amiga and Atari ST in the 1990s.
Contents |
Nebulus is a platform game with some distinctive unique features. Your character, a small green creature called Pogo, is on a mission to destroy eight towers that have been built onto the sea, by planting bombs at the towers' peaks. Pogo's progress is hindered by enemies and obstacles, which he has to avoid in order to reach the top of the tower.
The actual game play happens at each tower in turn. Pogo starts from the bottom and has to find his way up to the top. The towers are cylinder-shaped and have ledges on their outside, either horizontal, forming stairs or connected by elevators. Because of the cylindrical shape, the towers have no "left" or "right" edges, instead allowing Pogo to walk all around the tower.
A graphical innovation, and perhaps the most notable feature of the game, is that when Pogo walks left or right, he always stays in the centre of the visible screen. Instead of the Pogo sprite moving, the tower behind him turns clockwise or counterclockwise with a convincing sense of depth. This was featured favourably in reviews of the game.
Along his way to the top of the tower, Pogo encounters many different enemies, mostly shaped like basic geometric shapes. Pogo can shoot some of the enemies, while some are impervious to shooting. Contact with an enemy knocks Pogo down to the ledge below. If there is no ledge below, Pogo falls into the sea and drowns.
Once he has reached the top of the tower, Pogo needs to enter a door to trigger the tower's destruction mechanism. After that, the tower crumbles to the sea. Pogo then boards his submarine and enters a bonus stage (in some platforms, but not for example in the ZX Spectrum version), where he can shoot various kinds of fish to score bonus points.
Computer Gaming World gave the game a positive review, saying, "Between delightfully benign game play ..., clever obstacles (though none are very difficult to figure out), and lively animation, you will have a great time with this game. Well, maybe you won't, but I will."[3]
The name of the game apparently influenced another game Perestroika to have a second name Toppler (executable file was called toppler.exe). Not to mention a curious similarity of the main character of this different games.
Clones of the game exist for e.g. for the Linux platform and for the iPhone.
A technically noticeable enhanced clone, that is underlying a free GPL v2 licensing, is those of hobby games developer Andreas Röver that can be tracked to at least as early as February 2003 with a last official release build from July 2007. Despite the lack of current releases and the project retirement of Röver the development and fixing on that independent code, graphics and sound collection base seems to continue up to present times including e.g. a level editor. The whole project is based upon SDL and was run at least on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and BeOS. Several Linux distributions have incorporated those game version into their media deliveries and updates. The game is present on source forge under the keyword "toppler"[4] even if it refers to itself often as "Tower Toppler".
Nebulus | Table of Contents | Walkthrough
| Nebulus | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Triffix |
| Publisher(s) | Hewson, U.S. Gold |
| Designer(s) | John M. Phillips |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| System(s) | Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C64, Game Boy, NES, Atari 7800, Acorn Archimedes, Virtual Console |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) |
ESRB:
 EveryonePEGI:
 Ages 3+ |
Nebulus, also known as Castelian, Kyorochan Land and Tower Toppler, is a computer game published by Hewson in the late 1980s for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and Acorn Archimedes platforms. A version for the Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System and Atari 7800 was also released. The US version, which was published by U.S. Gold, was released under the title Tower Toppler. The Nintendo versions were released as Castelian (Kyoro-Chan Land in Japan), in which the character is called Julius. There is also an unfinished version for Atari XE/XL computers. In 2004 it was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV, and on June 20, 2008, the same version made its comeback on the Wii's Virtual Console download service in Europe on June 13, 2008 and later in North America on May 4, 2009.
You're witnessing a typical sparkling, summer morning in downtown Jemmerville. Both suns have risen over the planet Centrus, where summer, of course, is the only season. And it is here, on the island's precious gem-deposits are talked about throughout the Triangulum galaxy, and they're the envy of almost every life-form in this corner of the universe.
Julius is asleep in his terraineum when the holographic intercom sprays out its message. It is the president of Domoloco and Sons inc.: "Julius we have a serious situation. The governor has reported that 7 alien towers have surrounded the island. If one more appears, the island will be completely enclosed. The naviports are almost cut off. The hyperfreighters are trapped…nothing is getting in or out."
"I've given the governor my personal promise that Domoloco and Sons would handle these towers... No one knows what they are or where they came from but I want them demolished! Now that's not too difficult a mission, is it?" Julius slowly opened his eyes and found that the president's personal hologram – not the one of his secretary – was still activated: "Wake up, Julius, and topple that tower!"
As Julius starts to say something, the hologram begins to dissolve as quickly as it appeared.
 Nintendo cover art. |
 U.S. Gold cover art. |
 Alternate U.S. Gold cover art. |
 Japanese cover art. |
| Nebulus | |
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| Developer(s) | Bits Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Hewson, U.S. Gold Home Computers Atari Atari 7800 Triffix NES (NA) Storm NES (EU) Hiro Famicom |
| Release date | Famicom: December 11, 1992 (JP) NES: December 11, 1992 (NA) 1993 (EU) |
| Genre | 2D platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Age rating(s) | N/A NES |
| Platform(s) | Amiga Atari ST ZX Spectrum Commodore 64 Atari 7800 Nintendo Entertainment System Game Boy |
| Media | Cartridge NES |
| Input | NES Controller |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Nebulus (Kyoro-Chan Land on the Famicom, Castelian on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy, and Tower Toppler on the Atari 7800) is a game released for home computers and consoles.
 Famicom Boxart |
 NES Boxart |
 NES European Boxart |
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