Sundance

Sundance[]

Programmer: George Pelonis
Publisher: FURY
Release Year: 2011
Limited: Yes (150)
Numbered: Yes
Contents: Cartridge
Players: 1
Original Price: $30

Background[]

Sundance was a little seen arcade game where players either captured or destroyed suns that bounced in between two grids.

The Vectrex release is a port of the arcade game, although with several enhancements and minor changes.

Gameplay[]

Each game starts off with two 9 x 9 grids taking their respected places – one at the top, the other at the bottom of the screen – and the player uses the bottom grid to catch any runaway suns that appear from the top in a one player game. The player must open a black hole in the bottom grid in order to capture a sun; if they fail to catch it, the sun will bounce back upwards and the two grids will move closer together, giving the player less time to respond to any suns. If the grids come close enough to touch each other then the game ends.

The player can also shoot a sun to destroy it with a nova, rather than catch it. These can only be fired off when a black hole is open. If the player misses a sun, the nova will bounce in between the two grids until it either collides with a sun or the player opens up another black hole in their grid and catches the nova, which they can then fire it off again. Only one nova can appear onscreen at a time.

(Note: in game one on the one player version, there are no novas.)

Game variations[]

For the solitary player, game one is the training mode, with only one sun appearing at a time, although the player has no novas that they can fire. Game two is the intermediate level, with two suns, and game three is the expert variation, with three suns appearing at once.

For two player games, player two takes control of the top grid, as these variations are for two player simultaneous play. Game one (entitled Sun War) has two suns and the ability to fire novas (as do all two player games); whoever scores 50 points first is the winner. Suns can also start from the bottom of the screen and travel upwards (unlike all single player variations where suns appear at the top only and work their way down). A player can also absorb the other’s nova by catching it with a black hole.

Sun War II, the intermediate level, has three onscreen suns, as does the expert level of Dark War, although the grids are totally invisible, save for when a black hole is activated, which is all that appears onscreen.

Whichever player scores 100 points first on the latter two variations is the winner.

Differences between versions[]

The arcade original had a nine button keypad, plus pressing any of the buttons would automatically open a black hole (whereas the Vectrex version takes two actions at the same time for the same function). The game was also timed and grids did not move closer together during gameplay on a single player game, but rather after a round. The original also didn’t have three different games per player setup, bonuses were awarded after a round, plus the animation was slightly different with the approaching suns (i. e. even the big suns would start out small, then grow in size, whereas the big suns on the Vectrex version start out big and stay that way).

Scoring[]

Capture or destroy sun–1 point

Controls, title screen[]

Calibrate graphics (if needed)–joystick or D-pad
Exit to menu screen–button 4

(player/game selection screen)[]

Choose number of players–button 1
Choose game number–buttons 2 and 3
Start game–button 4

(in-game)[]

Choose grid area for black hole placement–joystick or D-pad
Open black hole–button 4 (while holding down position on joystick or D-pad)
Fire nova–button 3 while black hole is open (Note: this option is not available on game 1 on the single player mode)

(return to title screen after game)[]

Any button