Delta
Alternative title: Delta Patrol  (US title)
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Shoot everything and collect extra weaponry", this perfectly describes the happening in the game.
Delta is a horizontally scrolling Shoot'em Up by Thalamus from 1987. You need to master 32 levels before the game starts anew.

Alert in space eposide 2059! While the diplomatic relations between the Earth's government and the hsfiffish Khanat increase to corrode, it gets conspicious that more and more terranean transporters disappear in a sector of the galaxy named "Delta". The clever ones and the cool-headed militaries instantly sensed a correlation and reactivated the elite formation "Damokles" from Sanxion. 

A punishment expedition is equipped instantly against this slimy, yellow-skinned and rabbit-toothed aliens that cheat during poker, are mean to their mothers and jump the lights.

A heroic pilot is needed, a fighter of virtually galactic size with nerves of steel and other highly praiseworthy attributes. And WHO do you think could this be? WHO do we always ask, when the fate of humanity hangs in the balance? Exactly: your neighbour! But he is sick and could not come...

So we enforcedly take you this time, you who has signed up for three years at "Damokles" a few weeks ago while being drunk in the head. Well then go for the victory! Dismiss!

Design

At the end of the "Sea of Illusions" you are facing a bigger enemy.

In 1987 Delta was a role model for clean scrolling and fluent animation. The collision query is utterly precise and even registers the smaller shape of the own spaceship caused be the rotation around its own axis. Also flickering of sprites or slowing downs are completely foreign words here. It is also striking that the upper and lower rim of the screen were used for displays such as score and activated extra weapons. The whole game is for its time on a high technical level.

Rob Hubbard's contribution to the game consists of two tracks to which you have access without much problems and a victory melody, which is played after finishing all 32 stages. The groovy title melody belongs without doubt to the most well-known and most often covered SID-tunes. As ingame track, however, works a 9-minute monster, which picks up speed with a cover version of Pink Floyd's "On the run" and then fades smoothly into the hubbardesque interpretation of the climax from the soundtrack to "Koyaanisqatsi" by Philip Glass. If you rather prefer the sound effects, they can also convice fully and e.g. contribute to the scifi atmosphere by the massive use of resonance.

Hints

The "Sun of Dreams" is a stormy affair!

You get an extra life every 10.000 points!

Completely shot alien formations are most of the time (!) awarded with a credit. These credits can be invested in extra weapons between the attack waves, by flying over one of the blue coloured icons with the spaceship.

A collision with a grey coloured icon is deadly and you are only allowed to choose one single extra. 
Spare credits expire after the icons have passed.

All extras only last a certain time and then need to be collected anew. In the case of extras with several upgrade steps, as e.g. speed and bullets, you are set back to the next lower level.

Extras

Speed Up
Absolutely necessary to have any chance at all to avoid the later attack waves, shots and obstacles. Lasts for long and therefore must only seldom be renewed, but then has absolute priority. Beware: too much speed is also not good. Two speed ups are optimal. 1 Credit

More Bullets
Raises the fire rate and is also utterly important. Here you should make sure - if possible - that the maximum number of pipes is always available. Firepower add-ons last rather long. 2 Credits

Multiple Shot
With this you can also shoot up/down and behind you. This is most of the time very comfortable, if you do not want to go head-on into the rain of the enemies' missiles. In some situation you practically do not stand a chance without this extra and cannot continue the game. Burns out relatively fast. 3 Credits

Fish Weapon
Raises the fire power considerably, but burns out relatively fast. The high price makes this extra a luxury, which you cannot afford for the whole game. 4 Credits

Protector
A ball that rotates around your ship and can destroy nearest hostile objects. Relatively useless and burns out rather fast. 5 Credits

Warper
Slows down the attackers. 6 Credits

Supa Shield
Gives you indestructibleness and is of course also supa expensive. 7 Credits

It happens very seldom that you are able to collect four or more credits!

Keyboard controls

W : up
X : down
A : left
D : right

RETURN : fire
RunStop : pause, then T  to abort the game

F1 : choose number of players
F3 : choose joystick or keyboard controls
F5 : choose background music or sound effects

Solution

During the fight against deadly space jelly on the stage "Jelly of Dreams"...
At the latest before leaving the stage "Leaving Rocks of Death" the second speed-up must be collected or otherwise you will not survive the following obstacle course.

Not all hostile formations give you a credit after shooting them, some even subtract a credit (if possible). Some rainbow-coloured formations must especially be taken with a pinch of salt.
It is not always advisable to collect the most expensive extra, sometimes, as simple speed-up or a threefold shot is more important than a fish weapon.

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Trivia

The music in Delta (by Rob Hubbard) is heavily based on the organ theme Prophecies by Philip Glass from the 1982 movie Koyaanisqatsi.

Whereas the C64 version is considered a classic, the Spectrum version was voted as the worst game of 1990 by several of Your Sinclair's journalists. The fact that its publishers Thalamus shared some ownership with Newsfield who published rival magazine Crash! is surely coincidental.

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Description from the packaging  (Delta-Patrol US version) :

A nice place to visit, but... The Baddest neighborhood in space.

Delta Sector- the patrol nobody wants.

A nightmare of galactic pirates, alien fighterships and rampaging creatures.

Your assignment: terminate all renegades.

Show no mercy and expect none in return- for no one has ever come back alive.

The Sea of Dreams.
Catch one of these waves and it will be your last.

The Spiral Gyro.
While you're admiring his colors, he's terminating you.

Space Donuts.
These neon hoops are definitely not for playing ring toss.

Your ship.
More firepower than the Enterprise and you don't have to deal with Scotty.

The Fish Weapon.
Will reduce any space monster to it's smallest component molecules.

The Alien Mothership.
If you could make a U-turn, now would be the time.

Over 30 different levels, dozens of exotic aliens and environments, plus a continuous symphonic sound track.

Delta Patrol, programmed by Stavros Fasoulas and Thalamus Software Limited.

http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Delta
