Zzyorxx II

Zzyorxx II is an unreleased scrolling shooter video game that was in development and planned to be published by Virtual Xperience on a scheduled 1994 release date exclusively for the Atari Jaguar. It was one of the three projects Virtual Xperience had under development for the system that would never be finished and released to the public. In the game, players would have taken control of two distinct fighter crafts across five stages taking place on different time periods while fighting against an armada of enemies. Despite never receiving an official release to the public, a ROM image of an early build of Zzyorxx II was released online in 2018 at the AtariAge forum.

Zzyorxx II
Title screen
Developer(s)Virtual Xperience
Publisher(s)Virtual Xperience
Producer(s)Rodolphe Czuba
Programmer(s)Thierry Schembri
Platform(s)Atari Jaguar
ReleaseUnreleased
Genre(s)Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, co-op

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot from the released beta build.

Zzyorxx II is an arcade-style scrolling shooter game similar to Axelay and Life Force where players take control of two distinct spacecraft through five stages set across different time periods, each one featuring their own thematic and alternating between horizontal and vertical scrolling, while fighting against enemies and bosses.[1][2][3][4][5]

Pressing A activates a weak laser shot, while pressing B unleashes a special weapon unique for each craft.[4] In addition, players could also collect power-ups in order to increase the ship's firepower, energy to restore their respective lifebars, and shields for protection against enemy contact.[3]

History

Virtual Xperience was a French video game development studio founded by Rodolphe Czuba on December 1993 after his previous company, Retour 2048, was closed due to management issues from two of their employees and would later be involved during the development of Shen Technologies' Super Burnout.[6] The company had three projects under development for the Jaguar platform, two of which were Zzyorxx II and a platform game titled Indiana Jags.[1][2][3][7][5][6] The game was first announced in early 1994 under the name Zozziorx and was touted for a Q2 1994 release,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] however GameFan and French magazine Joypad previewed some of the first screenshots for the game in the third quarter of 1994, now under the title Zzyorxx and planned for a Q3 1994 release instead.[1][15]

It remained to be previewed across multiple magazines through 1995 under its final name but had no concrete release date set.[2][3][4][16] However, Rodolphe and programmer Thierry Schembri stated that development of the project was halted two months before nearing completion by their then-managing associate at Virtual Xperience, with no reason given to this decision and the game was left unreleased as a result.[5][6][17] It was listed by online magazine Atari Explorer Online in the last issue under their original name on January 1996,[18] and was also last previewed by CD Consoles the same month.[19]

Zzyorxx II made use of the console's DSP chip and runs at 60 frames per second.[1][3][4] The hand-drawn graphics are rendered using the 256 color format and displayed up to 70 sprites on-screen, while sound effects were created using Atari Falcon.[3][4] Thierry has stated in an online interview that he still owns some of the game's assets but not the development tools, which were made on the Amiga, making it difficult to retrieve.[17] He also stated that the rights to Zzyorxx II are now under Colt Technology Services, who purchased Virtual Xperience.[17]

Release

On April 25, 2018, a ROM image of an early playable build of Zzyorxx II was released online by video game collector Clint Thompson at AtariAge which was stored on a diskette preserved by the National Videogame Museum, making it the only build of the game that has surfaced to date.[20] The build supports two players simultaneously, however, it only features one stage background and the gameplay is very prone to glitches.

References
  1. "Dossier - Jaguar - V.X. Un Français Dompte La Jaguar!". Joypad (in French). No. 34. Yellow Media. September 1994. pp. 116–117. Archived from the original on 2018-12-02. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  2. "Other Jag titles..." Ultimate Future Games. No. 5. Future Publishing. April 1995. p. 17. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  3. "News - Jaguar - Zzyorx II". Mega Fun. No. 32. CT Computec Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. May 1995. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  4. Ballester, Carlos (September 1995). "Versión Beta - Jaguar - Zzyorxx 2". Última Generación (in Spanish). No. 6. MV Editores. p. 27.
  5. Celine (February 2, 2012). "Zzyorxx II [Jaguar – Cancelled]". unseen64.net. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  6. "Features: Jaguar Story - Rodolphe Czuba recalls a blast from the past". MyAtari. No. 4. myatari.net. January 2001. Archived from the original on 2003-01-15. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  7. "CVG News - Jag attack... eyes down". Computer and Video Games. No. 154. Future Publishing. September 1994. p. 9.
  8. "Jaguar Tackboard - Developer / Game List 1.2". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 3 no. 1. Subspace Publishers. January 22, 1994. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  9. "News - Jaguar bares its claws - Complete Atari Jaguar thirdparty release schedule". Edge. No. 5. Future plc. February 1994. pp. 10–11. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  10. "News - Update - Around the corner... - Expected Release Dates". ST Format. No. 56. Future plc. March 1994. p. 48. Archived from the original on 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  11. "News - Update - New Jaguar Development System Released - Expected Release Dates". ST Format. No. 57. Future plc. April 1994. p. 50. Archived from the original on 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  12. "Update - Games News - Atari ooze confidence at ECTS - Jaguar Developers". ST Format. No. 59. Future plc. June 1994. pp. 56–57. Archived from the original on 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  13. "Warpzone - Jaguar - Angekündigte Jaguar-Spiele". Video Games (in German). No. 32. Future-Verlag. July 1994. p. 32. Archived from the original on 2018-08-04. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  14. "Atari Jaguar - ZZYORXX II". atarimania.com. Retrieved 2019-05-03.
  15. Halverson, Dave (August 1994). "Inside Atari: Someone Let The Cat Out!". GameFan. Vol. 2 no. 9. Shinno Media. p. 86. Archived from the original on 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  16. "Dossier - Ils Arrivent Sur Jaguar - Zzyorxx II / Jaguar". CD Consoles (in French). No. 5. Pressimage. March 1995. p. 77. Archived from the original on 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  17. Moreau, Frédéric. "Voici l'interview exclusif de Thierry Schembri ancien de Virtual Xperience Et programmeur de Zzyorxx II". jaguar-64bit.pagesperso-orange.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2018-12-02. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  18. "Jaguar Tackboard - AEO Development List 2.10 - Titles in Development". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 4 no. 9. Subspace Publishers. January 1, 1996. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  19. "Actualités - La Jaguar sort ses pingouins!". CD Consoles (in French). No. 13. Pressimage. January 1996. pp. 24–25. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  20. Thompson, Clint (April 25, 2018). "Zzyorxx II and Burnout Preview Released". AtariAge. Archived from the original on 2018-12-01. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
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