UFO 50

Barbuta

Barbuta (01), the first game in the collection, is a puzzle platformer where the player explores a castle, with the ultimate goal to "liberate the castle". There are items and money scattered throughout the environment which the player can collect. The items affect the game in various ways.

Like many games in UFO 50 that were directed by Eirik Suhrke in real life, Barbuta is credited to the fictional developer Thorson Petter.

Paint Chase

In Paint Chase (04) players control a car that leaves a trail of paint behind, and try to paint a maze / race track in their own color, while opponent cars paint the track in a different color. When the player car runs into an opponent car, the opponent car gets removed without affecting the player car, so it is often to the player's advantage to remove the opponent cars before they can paint much of the maze. There are various types of enemy units, which have various properties to challenge the player as they try to paint the maze in their color.

Every level has a minimum percentage of the map that must be painted in order to progress to the next level, and each percentage of the map above that threshold that gets painted gets added to the player's score. At certain score thresholds, the player gains extra lives.

Magic Garden

Magic Garden (05) has the player collect so-called "oppies", small characters that resemble jelly, and "saving" them by bringing them to a delivery area. Upon collection, the oppies follow the player character in a tail that lengthens in a manner reminiscent of the classic game Snake, which disappears when the oppies are saved.

The player must avoid running into this tail of oppies, as well as enemy oppies that spawn at regular intervals. Enemy oppies can also arise from friendly oppies not being in the delivery zone when the player tries to save them.

Enemy oppies can be removed by drinking a potion, which puts them into a vulnerable state for a limited time, during which they are removed when the player touches them.

The game is won when 200 oppies are saved.

Mortol

Mortol (06) is a platforming game where the player can sacrifice their current character to improve the state of the game. The player starts with 20 lives, and a limited amount of extra lives can be collected in each level. Because the game continues from one life to the next, terrain that is destroyed or created in a previous life (including the bodies of the previous lives) can impact the gameplay during a current life. In this way, it is often necessary to sacrifice many lives in order to complete a level. The player may sacrifice their character using three different "rituals" - blowing up; flying horizontally across the screen (leaving a platform where the character contacts a wall), or turning into a cube of stone.

Mortol has a sequel in the collection, Mortol II. (These two games were conceived of separately at the start of UFO 50's development by Jon Perry and Derek Yu, respectively, and were made into one series with common theming and story elements during development due to their shared mechanics. Fictionally, Benedikt Chun originally had the idea for Mortol, but Gerry Smolski directed the game because Chun was preoccupied at the time. Mortol II was Chun's chance to make the game in a manner more true to his original vision.)

Velgress

Velgress (07) is a fast-paced platforming game where terrain crumbles away a short time after the player first stands on it. The player must climb 30 stories to complete each level, and a grinder rises as the player goes up, destroying any terrain, and killing the player if they fall into it. The grinder is the only way the player can lose the game, but various obstacles can stun the player and remove the player's ability to control their character, making it likely that the player will fall into the grinder.

Velgress is the first game to feature Alpha, a recurring character in UFO 50, who also is the player character in the later game Overbold (34).

Attactics

Attactics (09) is a strategy game, simultaneously real-time and turn-based. Two armies face off, automatically deploying units from opposite ends of the battlefield. Although structured in discrete turns, unit movements / swaps are entered under a short real-time timer, forcing the player to make rapid decisions.

The game takes place on a 8-by-6 grid. Each turn, units move automatically forward and attack units directly ahead, with different unit types serving as ranged attack, defense, mobility, or area damage, among other roles. When a unit reaches the other side of the grid, it removes a flag on the castle wall, and the player wins when all their opponent's flags get removed.

Attactics is the first game that was developed for UFO 50.

Devilition

Devilition (10) is a puzzle game where the player must defeat hordes of invading demons by placing bombs and detonating them in a chain reaction. Different types of bombs have a distinctive geometric pattern in which they explode, so they must be placed strategically in relation to the demons and the other bombs in order to create the most effective chain reactions. Friendly townspeople also spawn on the board, and the player must avoid hurting them. If the number of townspeople is ever less than the number of demons after a round, then the player loses the game.

Devilition is a remake of Derek Yu and Jon Perry's 1999 game Diabolika.

Kick Club

Kick Club (11) is a platformer game made by Benedikt Chun (in real life, Derek Yu). Kick Club is a linear series of pre-authored single-screen levels, divided up into four worlds with ten levels each.

The player character must defeat all the enemies on the screen, but cannot attack directly. In order to attack, the player must pick up a football (soccer ball), which can then be launched to damage the enemies.

The player starts with 2 extra lives, which are lost on any contact with an enemy. If the player takes a hit with no remaining lives, the game is lost, and must be started from the very beginning.

Avianos

Avianos (12) is a strategy game. Each turn, the player chooses one of three deity-ancestors to "pray to". Each ancestor grants a unique set of 3 actions that the player will benefit from that turn, in a specific order. There are 5 different ancestors, so not every ancestor is available each turn. There are two armies on the map, and the player controls one army, with the aim of wresting control of castles away from the other army, in order to win the game. There are 5 different unit types that the player can recruit and use in order to triumph in combat.

Mooncat

Mooncat (13) is described in UFO 50 as being conceived of as a spiritual successor to Barbuta, sharing the same developer both fictionally (Thorson Petter) and in real life (Eirik Suhrke). Mooncat, a platforming game, is noted for its non-standard and counterintuitive controls.

Camouflage

Camouflage (16) sees the player controlling a lizard with the ability to change its color to hide in its surroundings. There are predators such as frogs, gators, and birds, which will eat the lizard if they can see it. Because the lizard cannot change its color and move at the same time, the player must carefully plan out the route to take in order to get to the end of the level, and optionally collect fruits and a baby lizard along the way. The overworld (level selection screen) has branching paths, so there are multiple ways to get to the final level and beat the game. This game's cherry is earned upon attaining 100% completion (collecting all fruits and baby lizards in all levels).

Campanella

In Campanella (17), the player controls the eponymous space ship Campanella to get through a series of levels with various obstacles. Horizontal movement is controlled by the d-pad / arrows, while vertical movement is managed by a thruster, controlled by one of the buttons. Inertia plays an important role in the Campanella's movement and control. Using the thruster to gain vertical momentum costs fuel, which runs out fairly quickly.

The space ship Campanella is the titular UFO that the UFO 50 collection, as well as the fictional UFO Soft, gets its name from. The Campanella is featured as the spawn point for the character Pilot in the games Planet Zoldath and Pilot Quest. Campanella also has two direct sequels, Campanella 2 and Campanella 3, as well as a spin-off, The Big Bell Race. The Campanella is also featured to a lesser degree in other UFO 50 titles.

Campanella and its sequels (but not the Zoldath games) are among the games in UFO 50 that are fictionally directed by Thorson Petter, and in real life were directed by Eirik Suhrke.

Golfaria

Golfaria (18) is an open-world adventure game comparable to The Legend of Zelda, but with the twist that the player character is a golf ball, and is controlled similarly to other golf games. This aesthetic is reinforced by the player only being able to hit the ball a limited number of times before running out of strokes and having to start from the previous checkpoint.

The Big Bell Race

The Big Bell Race (19) is a multiplayer racing game, featuring the same physics, controls, and engine as Campanella (and Campanella 2). The game takes place on a series of race tracks, which the player must complete a loop around multiple times. The player aims to complete each race faster than the other racers. The game is won if the player comes in first place in the tournament consisting of a race around each race track. The game's cherry condition is satisfied if the player wins first place in each race in the tournament.

Warptank

In Warptank (20) the player controls a tank with the ability to warp to stand on whatever surface is opposite it. For example, the Warptank can warp from standing on the floor to "standing" on the ceiling; or go from being on one wall to being on the opposite wall. Using this maneuver, as well as side-to-side movement, the player must successfully navigate the level to reach the end.

Warptank is one of several games in UFO 50 that are fictionally directed by Thorson Petter, and in real life were directed by Eirik Suhrke.

Porgy

Porgy (22) is an underwater exploration game with a Metroidvania-like structure. Like many games in the Metroidvania genre, the player character, a submarine called Porgy, starts out very weak, with few powers, and a small fuel tank. This fuel tank determines how far the player can explore in each dive, as moving burns fuel. If Porgy takes damage from a creature, that will also reduce the amount of fuel in the tank. Porgy is refueled whenever it reaches one of two stations on the surface of the water.

The player will find fuel tanks as they explore the ocean, allowing them to explore further and deeper. In order to collect the fuel tanks, in addition to other collectible items, the player must not only reach the item in the ocean, but must successfully return to a station without running out of fuel. If Porgy does run out of fuel, whether due to traveling too far, or taking damage from creatures in the ocean, then the item will return to its original location, and must be retrieved again in order to collect it (once an item is successfully delivered to the station, then it will not be lost again).

A number of large creatures, called "roaming bosses" by the developers, roam the ocean. These can hinder the player's progress, but once defeated, they will not come back.

The player must delve into the deepest and darkest parts of the ocean in order to discover what is going wrong in the ocean, and win the game. By collecting all items and defeating all bosses, 100% completion may be achieved, getting the cherry for Porgy.

Party House

Party House (25) has the player manage a series of parties, and the list of guests invited to each party. As the player gains popularity, they can invite more and better guests to the party. Money can be used to buy a bigger house that can fit more guests. Most guests provide popularity and / or money to the player, but some also cause trouble. If 3 troublesome guests show up, without any way to mitigate that trouble, then the police arrive and end the party, and no popularity or money is scored for that round. The game ends after 25 nights. The player must invite special star guests, and have 4 stars in one party before time runs out, in order to win the game. In order to get this game's cherry, the player must win 5 randomized scenarios in a row without running out of time on any of them.

The design of Party House has been compared to deck building card games like Dominion^[11].

Vainger

Vainger (29) is a Metroidvania platformer game where the player can flip gravity upside-down.

Mortol II

Mortol II (32) is the sequel to Mortol. Unlike the original Mortol, players cannot gain extra lives. Also, Mortol II features a singular non-linear level, instead of multiple linear levels. See the entry for the original Mortol for information about the development history of the Mortol series.

Unlike the original Mortol, the player at the start of each life chooses between one of five character classes, each of which has only one way of being sacrificed (instead of the 3 in Mortol). The Warrior has a short-ranged attack, and turns to stone upon sacrifice. The Gunner has a long-range attack, and creates a permanent ammo refill when sacrificed. The Engineer has a moderate arced ranged attack, and can be sacrificed to create a downwards pipe. The Scout can double-jump in midair, has a medium-ranged attack, creates a portal from the starting location to where the Scout is sacrificed (there may only be one portal at a time, and making a second will remove the first). The Bomber blows itself up.

Campanella 2

Campanella 2 (35) uses the same engine as the original Campanella, and controls in the same way for part of the game. The game actually features a different ship than the Campanella, known as the Big Belle, which is piloted by Isabell. Isabell's brother Pilot (the pilot of the Campanella) has gone missing, and Isabell must find him and free him. Campanella 2 distinguishes itself from Campanella 1 by allowing the Big Belle to land, allowing Isabell to exit the ship and explore on foot. There are two different on-foot modalities. Immediately after exiting the Big Belle, Isabell is rendered as a very small sprite, just a few pixels tall. In this modality Isabell is very fragile, dying immediately to any damage from enemies, or even from a fairly short fall. Upon entering a door, a more typical side-scrolling platforming modality is activated, and Isabell is rendered at a more normal size, and is less fragile.

Another manner in which Campanella 2 distinguishes itself from Campanella 1 is that instead of featuring fixed levels, the levels in Campanella 2 are randomly generated for each run, making Campanella 2 similar to Spelunky (which was designed by UFO 50's Derek Yu, and whose soundtrack was composed by the Campanella series' director, Eirik Suhrke).

Hyper Contender

Hyper Contender (36) is a fighting game with platformer elements, featuring a roster of 8 different characters which all control in different ways. Side-to-side movement is common to all characters, but instead of having a common jump movement, each character has a unique "Maneuver" ability which in some way or another allows the player to influence their vertical position. Each character also has a unique attack ability.

Both the platforming elements and the diverse roster of characters have drawn comparisons to the Super Smash Bros. franchise.

Grimstone

Grimstone (40) is one of the largest games in the UFO 50 collection, with an expected playthrough time comparable to many major video games. Grimstone is an RPG with a western setting, including many references to the state of Texas. Lava flows through the world the way rivers and oceans might flow through a typical landscape. Religious themes are referenced and brought to life in the world of Grimstone, with devils and angels walking the earth, as well as stand-ins for the Judeo-Christian God (Biggan) and Satan (Malus).

Night Manor

Night Manor (42) is a point-and-click horror game. The game starts with the player character running into an obscure figure while driving home from a party (the party is implied to be from the game Party House). The player character blacks out, and wakes up locked in a room with several off-putting characteristics. The player must explore the house they are trapped in, and escape from a killer that attacks them. The back-story of what happened in the house previously is revealed through journal entries which the player finds throughout the game. Several corpses are scattered throughout the grounds. A series of four statues in the backyard stand in the back yard, with their mouths open "as if waiting to be fed". Each statue has a distinct inscription, forming the following poem when put together:

"On spring green fields the children play,

The red hot sun will warm the day,

When yellow leaves begin to fall,

The white wind comes to take them all."

Pilot Quest

Pilot Quest (44), subtitled Return to Zoldath, combines the mechanics of the action-adventure game and idle game genres. The game starts with Pilot crashing the Campanella onto a foreign planet (indicated to be the same Planet Zoldath from the earlier game in the collection). Pilot must figure out how to use the various items, characters and ruined buildings in the starting space to improve their economy, eventually generating passive income that even gets produced as the player plays other games in the UFO 50 collection. By receiving meat from the huntress Parvina, Pilot can enter the Wild Zone, and survive longer in the Wild Zone with more meat. If Pilot stays too long in the Wild Zone without enough meat, then Pilot will collapse and lose everything that he was carrying with him (but items stored in the base remain).

The Wild Zone has a strong resemblance to the original NES The Legend of Zelda game, and contains a number of references to that game. The exact layout of the Wild Zone is randomly generated for each playthrough of Pilot Quest, and remains the same from the start of the game until the game is completed (at which point later visits to the Wild Zone will have a new randomized layout). The overall structure of the Wild Zone remains the same across all playthroughs of Pilot Quest.

Pilot Quest can be considered a sequel to game 8 in the collection, Planet Zoldath, with Pilot being the player character, spawning near the Campanella, with the planet Zoldath randomly changing from one visit to the next (though unlike in Planet Zoldath, the layout of Pilot Quest's world does not change when Pilot runs out of time in the Wild Zone; there are also many mechanical differences between the two games). Pilot Quest also shares much of its central IP with the Campanella series of games (Isabell from Campanella 2 also appears in Pilot Quest as a friendly character); but those games have a very different style of play from the Zoldath series.

Combatants

Combatants (46) (also stylized as COMBAT ANTS: A Hill To Die On on the game's title screen, with "combat" and "ants" as two different words^[12]) is a strategy game where two colonies of ants fight against each other. The "history" tab in UFO 50's menu (which chronicles the fictional history of UFO Soft and the development of its games) says: "Mr. [Tao] Nemuru created the vision for this highly innovative strategy game!"^[13]

Seaside Drive

Seaside Drive (48) is a shoot 'em up game. Unlike the other shoot 'em ups in the UFO 50 collection, Seaside Drive only allows the player to move along one axis - the road on the bottom of the screen. This is justified because the player character is a car driving along that road.

The goal of each level is to survive the onslaught of oncoming enemies, which can be destroyed by shooting them, then defeating a final boss at the end of each level. By completing all the levels, the player wins the game.

Seaside Drive is the only game in UFO 50 that was spearheaded by Ojiro Fumoto of Downwell fame (Fumoto played a supporting role in the development of some other UFO 50 titles). The drifting mechanic, where one button both moves the player backwards, and also charges up the player's weapon, is a continuation of Fumoto's minimalist game design style evident also in Downwell, where the design explores how multiple mechanics, such as movement and combat, can be fit into a single input mechanism.

Campanella 3

Despite sharing the same name as Campanella 1 and 2, Campanella 3 (49) has little in common with the previous games, and runs on a different engine. Campanella 3 is a pseudo-3D game, with obstacles appearing first in the distance, and getting closer as the Campanella flies closer to them. The Campanella can shoot both towards incoming obstacles, and well as sideways (up / down / left / right). All obstacles can be destroyed by shooting them, but can damage the Campanella if they reach the screen, and are in the same x-y position as the Campanella. Each level consists of 3 "waves" of obstacles, followed by a boss fight.

Cyber Owls

Cyber Owls (50) is the final game in the UFO 50 collection. The Cyber Owls are an elite team of 4 anthropomorphic owls, each with a distinct set of skills. Players must navigate a variety of levels, each with a different gameplay style tailored to the skills of one of the Cyber Owls. If a mission is failed, then that owl is captured, and a rescue mission must be completed in order to rescue that owl, and that owl's mission cannot be retried until they are rescued.

List of games in UFO 50

Director credits explicitly stated when directly sourced.^{[note 1]}

More information #, Name ...

#	Name	Genre (as listed in-game)	Versus	Co-op	Fictional year of release	Directed by
1	Barbuta	Adventure, Platform	—N/a	—N/a	1982	Eirik Suhrke
2	Bug Hunter	Puzzle, Strategy		—N/a	1983	Jon Perry
3	Ninpek	Arcade, Platform	—N/a		1983	Eirik Suhrke
4	Paint Chase	Arcade		—N/a	1983	Jon Perry
5	Magic Garden	Arcade	—N/a	—N/a	1984	Main Director: Derek Yu Additional Support: Jon Perry, Tyriq Plummer
6	Mortol	Platform, Puzzle	—N/a		1984	Main Director: Jon Perry[11] Additional Support: Paul Hubans
7	Velgress	Arcade, Platform	—N/a	—N/a	1984	Derek Yu
8	Planet Zoldath	Adventure	—N/a	—N/a	1984	Jon Perry
9	Attactics	Arcade, Strategy		—N/a	1984	Derek Yu,[14] Jon Perry[14]
10	Devilition[note 2]	Puzzle, Strategy	—N/a	—N/a	1984	Derek Yu,[15] Jon Perry[15]
11	Kick Club	Arcade, Platform	—N/a		1984	Derek Yu
12	Avianos	Strategy		—N/a	1985	Jon Perry[16]
13	Mooncat[note 3]	Platform	—N/a		1985	Main Director: Eirik Suhrke[18] Additional Support: Ojiro Fumoto[18]
14	Bushido Ball	Sport			1985	Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer,[19] Jon Perry, Paul Hubans
15	Block Koala	Puzzle	—N/a	—N/a	1985	Derek Yu, Paul Hubans
16	Camouflage	Puzzle	—N/a	—N/a	1985	Jon Perry
17	Campanella	Arcade	—N/a	—N/a	1985	Main Director: Eirik Suhrke[18] Additional Support: Ojiro Fumoto[18]
18	Golfaria	Adventure	—N/a	—N/a	1985	Main Directors: Derek Yu,[20] Tyriq Plummer[20] Additional Support: Paul Hubans
19	The Big Bell Race	Sport	—N/a		1985	Eirik Suhrke[19]
20	Warptank	Adventure, Puzzle	—N/a	—N/a	1985	Eirik Suhrke[19]
21	Waldorf's Journey	Arcade, Platform		—N/a	1986	Jon Perry
22	Porgy	Adventure, Shooter	—N/a	—N/a	1986	Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer[19]
23	Onion Delivery	Arcade	—N/a	—N/a	1986	Main Director: Eirik Suhrke[20] Additional Support: Paul Hubans,[20] Tyriq Plummer[19]
24	Caramel Caramel	Arcade, Shooter	—N/a		1986	Eirik Suhrke
25	Party House	Strategy		—N/a	1986	Jon Perry[11]
26	Hot Foot	Sport			1986	Jon Perry
27	Divers	RPG	—N/a	—N/a	1986	Eirik Suhrke[19]
28	Rail Heist	Platform, Strategy		—N/a	1987	Main Director: Jon Perry[11] Additional Support: Paul Hubans
29	Vainger	Adventure, Platform	—N/a	—N/a	1987	Derek Yu, Tyriq Plummer[19]
30	Rock On! Island	Strategy	—N/a	—N/a	1987	Derek Yu, Paul Hubans
31	Pingolf	Sport		—N/a	1987	Eirik Suhrke
32	Mortol II	Adventure, Platform	—N/a		1987	Derek Yu[21]
33	Fist Hell	Arcade	—N/a		1987	Derek Yu[19]
34	Overbold	Arcade, Shooter		—N/a	1987	Jon Perry
35	Campanella 2	Adventure	—N/a	—N/a	1987	Eirik Suhrke[19]
36	Hyper Contender	Platform, Sport		—N/a	1988	Jon Perry
37	Valbrace	Adventure, RPG	—N/a	—N/a	1988	Main Directors: Tyriq Plummer,[19][22] Derek Yu[19] Additional Support: Paul Hubans
38	Rakshasa	Platform	—N/a	—N/a	1988	Director: Eirik Suhrke[23]
39	Star Waspir	Arcade, Shooter	—N/a	—N/a	1988	Derek Yu
40	Grimstone	RPG	—N/a	—N/a	1988	Main Director: Derek Yu[19] Additional Support: Paul Hubans
41	Lords of Diskonia	Strategy		—N/a	1988	Jon Perry
42	Night Manor	Adventure, Puzzle	—N/a	—N/a	1988	Main Director: Paul Hubans[22] Additional Support: Derek Yu
43	Elfazar's Hat	Arcade, Shooter	—N/a		1988	Eirik Suhrke
44	Pilot Quest	Adventure	—N/a	—N/a	1988	Main Director: Derek Yu,[21] Additional Support: Jon Perry[21]
45	Mini & Max	Adventure, Platform	—N/a	—N/a	1989	Main Director: Jon Perry[16] Additional Support: Paul Hubans
46	Combatants	Strategy		—N/a	1989	Derek Yu
47	Quibble Race[note 4]	Strategy, Simulation		—N/a	1989	Derek Yu,[15] Jon Perry[15]
48	Seaside Drive	Arcade, Shooter	—N/a		1989	Ojiro Fumoto[18]
49	Campanella 3	Arcade, Shooter	—N/a	—N/a	1989	Eirik Suhrke[19]
50	Cyber Owls	Platform, Shooter, Strategy	—N/a	—N/a	1989	Derek Yu, Paul Hubans, Tyriq Plummer[19]
51	Miasma Tower[note 5]	—N/a	—N/a	—N/a	1990	Unknown

Close

The Campanella / Big Belle / Pilot / Isabell

A number of games feature The Campanella, a red spaceship, (or its grey-colored lookalike, Big Belle) as a vehicle controlled by the player character. Closely related are Pilot and Isabell, siblings who fly in The Campanella and Big Belle, respectively. Other games contain them as minor references.

"Big Belle" and "Campanella" are complementary names to each other, with "Campanella" meaning a little bell in Latin and Italian ("Campana" means bell, and "-ella" is a diminuitive suffix).

Campanella, Campanella 2, and The Big Bell Race all use the same game engine for controlling The Campanella / Big Belle. Furthermore, the player controls The Campanella in Campanella 3, though the controls are different (with planar 2D motion to dodge obstacles as a common theme).

Eggs

Eggs are a recurring theme in UFO 50, often in abstract, potentially absurdist contexts. Many appearances of eggs are linked to the fictional UFO Soft developer Thorson Petter.

Awards and nominations