UFO 50 is a unique collection of games, made-up games. This collection is quite an amazing accomplishment in gaming. This small team has not only created a fictional “historical” game studio from the 1980s, but they have also created diverse catalog of games — fifty of them — inspired by the games of that era.
UFOsoft is a fictional game studio from the 1980s. The real life UFOsoft dev team is made up of Derek Yu (creator of the Spelunky game series), along with Jon Perry, Eirik Suhrke, Paul Hubans, Tyriz Plumer, and Djiro Fumoto. I’m curious to learn how the work distribution was handled for creating fifty games. Was it like a big “game jam” session, where everyone is working on ideas? Did everyone go to work on their own and come back with ten or more games each? What game ideas were left on the cutting room floor?
These are not fifty mini games or game demos. Each game has its own music, art style, menus, story, and more. Some games are even intertwined through sequels and lore. These games are good enough to trick my nephews into thinking that UFOsoft really existed, and these are the games that I grew up on. The developers could have even created a The Office style documentary-style series about UFOsoft.
After getting a taste of all fifty games in the collection, I now have a favorites page — which the game organizes for you. I ended up favoriting over twenty games — about half — that I’d like to return to. I don’t have time to go into detail on all twenty-ish games on my favorites list, so I have compiled a list of five games. These may not be my top five games from UFO 50, but I included these five games to show off the diversity in the UFOsoft catalog.
11 | Kick Club (released Sept. 1984)
“Sports are fighting over who is the Best! Let’s all play together!”
1 – 2 Player | Arcade, Platform
*A versus mode was started but not finished before the game’s release date.
As I journeyed through these fifty games in chronological order, Kick Club was the first game that really connected with me. I found some I was interested in prior to this one, but this was the first game in the UFO 50 collection that I was pretty good at. I even got to put my name on the high scores list.
Kick Club is a lot like a simpler version of one of my favorite recent retro games — Towerfall — the classic archery game from the creators of Celeste — another one of my favorites. In Kick Club, you are given twenty seconds to rid the screen of enemy players. If you’re quick enough you may even get some bonus points from eating snacks. Instead of using a bow and arrow, you are a kid with a soccer ball and three lives.
24 | Caramel Caramel (released May 1986)
“Melon got a new camera and is going on a galactic adventure to try it out.”
1 – 2 Player | Arcade, Shooter
*The camera ability was lifted from one of Chun’s canceled projects, a side scroller called Photo Mom.
There are a couple of arcade shooters in the UFO 50 collection, but Caramel Caramel is my favorite thanks to the unique camera ability. It’s like taking a polaroid picture of a point in time and any enemy ships within that point in time.
I haven’t even made it past the initial planet (the Snack Planet), but I can play this game over and over, and continuously die. I’ve always had a great time with space arcade shooters, most recently with the game B.A.R.K. which I know was inspired by so many of the classic games that inspired Caramel Caramel. Even with my terrible piloting, I continue to play this game.
25 | Party House (released May 1986)
“Can you throw the best house party of the summer without getting busted?”
1 – 2 Player | Strategy
*Many of the game’s party-goers were based on our friends and family.
Party House is like any episode of Phineas and Ferb, in that you are trying to throw a party without getting busted by the cops (or by their sister, Candace, in Phineas and Ferb’s world). Ok, so maybe it’s not really that much like an episode of Phineas and Ferb. There are a few strategy games within the UFOsoft game catalog that I wouldn’t expect myself to get into, but while playing them I thought, Wow, this is fun!
Party House is a great strategy game because it’s simple to understand, but not so easy to master. Each type of party has a simple win condition, but you can easily become distracted trying to build up your rolodex of party guests. In this aspect, Party House reminds me of Balatro in that you can easily become carried away working on big combos rather than your main goal. Just don’t get busted by the cops!
41 | Lords of Diskonia (released Aug 1988)
“War has come to the land of disks, and the red and blue armies are on a collision course!”
1 – 2 Player | Strategy
*In creating the design, director KC Levin was inspired by Carrom, a tabletop game from India.
What’s this? Another strategy game I have grown fond of? Yes, Lords of Diskonia is the second strategy game on my list, but mostly because it is a totally different kind of strategy game than Party House. Lords of Diskonia plays more like a tabletop game meets shuffleboard.
In Lords of Diskonia both teams select a roster of “disk lords” or heroes. From there, combat ensues and you must choose to attack, build strength or gain life. The main goal is to be the last “disk lord” standing. Are they called “disk lords” or did I just make that up? Either way, this is a fun game and I’m sure it’s more fun with two players.
50 | Cyber Owls (released Jul 1989)
“A Superweapon threatens to destroy the world, and it’s up to the Cyber Owls to save the day!”
1 Player | Platform, Shooter, Strategy
*We launched our latest game alongside an original comic book series.
There are also a couple of Beat ‘Em Ups to choose from in the UFO 50 catalog. Fist Hell is an exciting zombie fighter, but Cyber Owls is such a silly title for a game. It also happens to be the last game created by UFOsoft.
It’s got that classic arcade beat ‘em up style that I’m looking for. Lately, we’ve had some great arcade beat ‘em up revivals with TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game. I’m currently waiting on a few more, but for now the classic look of Cyber Owls is perfect.
What makes UFO 50 truly special is that it is a collection of fifty distinct retro-inspired games. You can spend hours jumping in and out of different games, or you can find your favorites and try to make it to the end.
*myVGBC.com was provided a code for UFO 50 by the publisher, Mossmouth.
VIDEO GAME BOOK CLUB 