I.O. - Into Oblivion
Original title: IO
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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An enemy has entered your region of space in a mothership, and unleashed foes aimed at destroying you. As the planet's top pilot, the player is sent out to ultimately destroy the mothership, in this horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up. As well as aliens, the player will encounter gun turrets and missiles, plus bosses at the end of each level. Levels 3 and also add narrow R-Type-style gaps.

Smart bombs appear on the screen at random intervals, which can be used in two ways. Flying over them destroys everything on the screen, but shooting them turns them into power-up tokens or protective orbs, to be picked up. Players lose all these weapons every time they are defeated by enemies.

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Description

At the start of the game the mother ship puts down the hunter.
It is again about nothing else than a new home for humanity. After the Earth became uninhabitable due to environmental destruction, a convoy full of spaceships set out for a new planet. But on the way there dozens of hostile spaceships thwart the player.
IO is a horizontally scrolling Shoot'em Up by Firebird from 1988. It might be one of many, but it is one of the better ones.

Design

You need to overcome four different levels.
The appeal of IO lies in very pleasant graphics and fluent scrolling. Two players in turns can fight their way through the attacking alien waves. While player 1 flies in a blue ship, player 2 fights in a red one. The status display at the bottom also correspondingly changes its colour. Lovingly small details, as e.g. the putting down oif the player from the mother ship, top the game off.
The end bosses are also inventive. If you fight your way successfully through the four levels, a successful animation of the convoy of mother ships awaits you.

Hints

Controls in the starting screen: 
Joystick left = single player 
Joystick right = two players 
press fire button = start

Controls in the game: 
In all directions = steer spaceship 
press fire button = fire 
Run/Stop   = pause (move joystick to continue )
Q   = abort game

By touching the smart bombs you can destroy all enemies on the screen.
If you shoot at the smart bombs (4x) you can get extra weapons or satellites.
Satellites mean extra life at the same time. If the ship is hit while you have a satellite at your side, you will at first only lose the latter.
You get an extra life after 20.000 points, and then every 50.000 points.{-}}

Miscellaneous

The game is officially named only "IO" (as the Jupiter moon). The title "Into Oblivion" can only be found on the cover of the "Prism Leisure Low-Budget Release". 
The game "Into Oblivion" on the other hand really exists as a CPC game.

Cheats

The version by "Remember" contains next to seven different cheat modes and the manual also some small fixes.

Pokes: 

After a reset you can enter the following POKEs:
poke 25117,173	 $621d	 $ad	 unlimited lives
poke 27015,010	 $6987	 $0a	 indestructible
poke 25076,002	 $61f4	 $02	 best weapon
poke 25306,002	 $62da	 $02	
sys 24576	 $6000		 start


http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/IO_–_Into_Oblivion
