A retro space shooter
Space Firehawk (C64) is a free action video game that was developed by Karsten Senkel. It is a retro space shooter that was inspired by Space Firebird, an arcade game that was released by Nintendo back in 1980. It was made for the Commodore 64 8-bit home computer system using PAL and NTSC systems, two common standards for CRT monitors in computers throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was tested to work on the VICE Commodore emulator, as well.
What is Space Firehawk?
Space Firebird was an arcade space shooter game that was developed and released by Nintendo in 1980. In it, players take control of a spaceship that encounters mysterious spherical objects in space. These spheres shapeshift into creatures called Firebird that starts attacking the ship. It is the players' mission to seek out and defeat these hostile space creatures. Space Firehawk is an indie game for the Commodore 64 home computer system that was inspired by this classic game.
Space Firehawk features the same retro pixel art style as the original arcade game. It has 12 enemy types that will come at you in waves and a boss battle at the end of each level that you need to face and defeat. To add to the challenge, there are asteroid fields that you need to destroy or evade while you battle the Firebirds. There are power-ups that you can pick-up to help you out, though.
In addition to power-ups, there are also various ship and weapon upgrades that you can purchase to help defeat enemies. Lastly, the game features a scoreboard that displays your highest score throughout your runs. As mentioned earlier, Space Firehawk was made for the Commodore 64 8-bit computer system and is also compatible with the VICE Commodore emulator. Unfortunately, these are your only two options to play the game as there's no support for other systems or devices.
A classic space shoot 'em up reborn
Overall, Space Firehawk (C64) is a great space arcade shoot 'em up and an homage to a classic game. It retains everything that fans loved about the original while adding some improvements and tweaks of its own. It is only playable on the Commodore 64 or VICE emulator, though. Apart from that, this is a shooter that is worth checking out.
