My Music Memories: Monstercat Favs

Well, this is a memory from not long ago.

In 2015 I learned (via my son) that the hottest music used in countless YouTube videos, RoBlox games, etc etc came from Monstercat.

A music label, specialized in Trap, Dubstep, Electro, Nu-Disco, Glitch-Hop, DnB and more I forgot.

Their logo is very famous and there were lots of Monstercat logos to choose from, I choose this one above, because I like the colours and the semi chaotic style. Below you see an other logo, my son used it as background on his desktop PC for more than a year.

Monstercat became hot in 2013 (I think), but back in 2015 I discovered and learned to like Trap, Glitch-Hop and Dubstep of Monstercat artists.
So instead of downloading all tracks separately or download only the mixes, I decided to create some YouTube playlists.
I made a rather larger one (154 videos) and a shorter one (37 tracks).
Hope you enjoy these tracks, mostly instrumental but some have nice vocals too.

In 2016 the hype seemed to go away and I got back to the music I listened already for years at mix.dj, like Progressive Trance, Deep-House and Techno variations.
Until at the end of 2016 I discovered a new music-style, but that's for another post...

112 MSX Basic games presents: 112-MENU.BAS (games 99 - 79)

There is no better way to start my blog in the new year, with the next 112 MSX Basic games selection on disk. This time all the games from 99 until 79:

99)    DIPSHIT.GAM
98)    HEXAPION.GAM
97)    MOSQUITO.GAM
96)    SLOPSLAP.GAM
95)    DUCKSHOT.GAM
94)    SUPERLA.GAM
93)    CRAZY-G.GAM
92)    CAVERN.GAM
91)    JACKJUMP.GAM
90)    THELIFT.GAM
89)    KARATE.GAM
88)    KLEIDUIF.GAM
87)    UNTIL-0.GAM
86)    ASTRO.GAM
85)    CLOWN.GAM
84)    HORROR.GAM
83)    SUMITUP.GAM
82)    NED-HELI.GAM
81)    TRADER.GAM
80)    STARJET.GAM
79)    THEWALL.GAM

The list contains lots of action and some puzzle/mind games.
It's not mixed like the first collection, so only HEXAPOIN, SUMITUP, NED-HELI and TRADER
are not joystick wreckers. It contains also my first (finished) game ever UNTIL-0
and a 2-player game KARATE.

But even in the action games there are some differences.
There are shooting games like: MOSQUITO, SLOPSLAP, DUCKSHOT and KLEIDUIF.
Platform games like: SUPERLA, CAVERN, JACKJUMP, THELIFT, ASTRO, HORROR, STARJET and THEWALL.
Don't know how to name the category of the rest of the action games like: DIPSHIT, CLOWN and CRAZY-G.

I tried to change each of these games according the 5 rules I mentioned in the first
release of the 112 MSX Basic Games 112 til 100:

1) an intro displaying the title of the game
2) short introduction about the story in the game
3) short howto play and which controls will work
4) saving a highscore during playing the game
5) should stop nicely after CTRL-STOP or other mentioned key.
6) the difficulty should be increased during playing

But sometimes I forgot 5) or didn't how to apply 6) into the game.
I hope you don't mind and play these games anyway, they really deserve it.
Have a lot of fun !!

Mediafire  / Pcloud

NB: I don't own the book in the picture, but lot of my MSX Basic games came from books like this and lots of magazines. Of course some were downloaded from Viditel sites and MSX-BBSes (maybe I will post something about this period, this was all before everybody had internet and e-mail).

112 MSX Basic Games presents: THEWALL.GAM (79)

I wil release the next disk with all 112 games until 80 soon, but first I want to let you show this MSX-2 game THEWALL.GAM.

You could say it's plays a lot like Tetris, but the computer does some dirty tricks
to stop you from getting any score.
You have to move your sprite from left to right to avoid the falling blocks and get
on the high wall to fly away with the air balloon.

The name THEWALL stands for the Berlin Wall and this game is about helping people escape with the air balloon, while the Berlin Wall is build.

Not all part are MSX-2 only, only the main game. So the game has very playable speed
and looks good at the same time. Maybe a better programmer could make an MSX-1 Basic only version, I think it's a waste of my time.

I have seen other Tetris look-a-like games made in MSX-Basic, but as I said before in my 112 MSX-Basic games list, I dont want just another Pacman or Tetris clone.
It should be more original than giving it a different name, like Happer or Crunchman...

Mediafire / Pcloud

NB: This game was made by a Dutchie and the overal theme is a bit strange.

112 MSX Basic Games presents: STARJET.GAM (80)

Here is another action game and it's totally made in MSX Basic only !!!
I know it's just another "DON'T HIT THE WALLS" game, but the response on the cursorkeys and joystick is fast enough to make it playable, it has 7 levels and it sabes your best score.
That is not bad at all...

It took me a while before I found out how to complete a level, cause there were no instructions. I looked in the listing and lucky for me the programmer had left some Dutch comments here and there.
With this info and playing more than 10 times I was able to create instructions and modified some layouts to make them better and...
I found out there were 2 ways to play it, a sort of Campagne mode and a Test mode.

The programmer forgot to let the player choose, that's why I added a menu to let the player choose between the Campagne mode, which means you have to play all levels one after another with only 3 JETS. And the Test mode, just to find out the best way to succeed.
Only if you choose the Campagne mode you can get a highscore, well that makes sense...

The goal is to get to the white dot first and go back to the yellow F, without hitting anything with your STARJET. If you do the opposite you must start the level all over again.

I hope you like this simple game as much as me. It's 1 player only, but if you ae better than the highscore, the game will ask for your name and will remember if you keep playing it.

Mediafire / Pcloud

112 MSX Basic Games presents: TRADER.GAM (81)

I was already working on this one in 2016, but because the translations messed around with the GFX, I had to trial and error a lot before it looked fine after translation.


That was not all, the original game didnt end before one of the player had earned 100 dollar.
All players start with 50 and I found out it took at least more than 20 rounds to complete the game. 
So I  kept on trying until I could configure the game by let the player(s) choose how many rounds they wanna play. 

At least 5, otherwise it's more luck than being smart 
to win the game. 
The game is called TRADER.GAM with a good reason.
With 2 dices you must decide if you buy/sell shares or 
let the rate of the shares go up or down. 

You can play with max 3 players, but beware if you dont fill in a name and let MSX join the game. 
MSX hates to loose and I am not sure it doesnt fool around with those dices...You have been warned !!!

There are plenty of those decision making games on MSX, most of them are text-only and this one has a nice GFX interface. One of the reasons I picked this one out.
The other reason was the playability.

Mediafire / Pcloud