Pluff
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
_________________________

A colourful single screen platform adventure game comes in the form of a oddly named game ‘Pluff’… Named after the blobby main character who has to go around various rooms collecting various objects, in classic JSW style action.  The game feels like a mixture of Bod Squad and Demon Blues, what with its decoration and look and feel.

Pluff comes as a nicely animated blob with a hi-res overlay, though oddly has a yellow outline, which doesn’t look quite right – but seems to be intentional. Other sprites are also of the same nature of detail and merge nicely into the game.

Graphics are very colorful, and detail is reasonable throughout the game’s quite large map (Considering its a preview), although its very block based in design.  It’s still functional enough!  Playability wise, it seems to lack the substance of other games of its kind and a little simplistic, but a fun game none the less!

It has been believed for years that the game was never actually completed, but recently in 2014 – contributor Asphodel spotted the game on Retrocollector.org, and it seems the game was released in very limited numbers in Poland by LK Avalon back in 1996.  We haven’t ever seen any reviews of it though or adverts for the game.

Thanks to the very kind loan from Havar B. Hojem,  GTW64 has been able to fully preserve the title and present the full version which many will never have seen.   The game was a complete pain to preserve.  Luckily the tape had 3 copies recorded on one side, and after about 8 attempts – we got one of those copies to work!  Just!   The tape seems to use some kind of fast load, and the game is very quick indeed to load.

The full version differs slightly from the preview it seems, but the main thing you get is a nice intro picture, which is similiar to Creatures… and a nice little animated intro sequence before the game kicks in.  The title now has a quick random sound that plays, some minor differences from the preview too.  We haven’t yet played all the way through – but many of the screens look the same as the preview.  No doubt there is a lot more tucked away!

You can also check out the inlays and tape scans in the gallery.  Many thanks to Havar for his kind loan, which now means that this surprise finding can be laid to rest!  Maybe soon we will hear from the coder and find out more about the game that went on sale.

Case closed!

Contributions: Asphodel, Retrocollector, Havar B. Hojem, Jazzcat, Pugsy, Dezert


http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/pluff/
