Help me name that 1984-1988 shmup...

[The Coop]

Yes, tonight does seem to be the night of "What the hell was that game's name?", doesn't it?

Earlier this evening (like a few hours ago), a old game from yesteryear popped into my head, and the other "name it" thread in here brought me to this. Here's what I can remember...


The game was released between 1984 and 1988. It's a top view shmup, where your character is riding what looked to be (if I recall correctly), a futuristic hoverbike of some kind. The stage that's currently in my head, was that of a desert stage, and when you shot the enemies, I could swear they released various coins for you to pick up (whether they were just for score or for between round goodies, I don't remember).

For the longest time, I thought the game's name was Romstar, but as I've learned, Romstar was involved in arcade games, and that word was likely just a label of the company's name. However, after a rather exhaustive search, I'm not so sure the game was made or released by Romstar, as I've yet to find a game they were involved with that looked familiar (perhaps the cabinet was converted?). I've also dug through the Xeno files on this site, and none of the games from that time period looked familiar either.


Some tidbits that may not be accurate...

- I could swear the hoverbike-like vehicle your character was riding was goldish in color
- It was two player simultaneous if I recall
- Time or time periods may have been involved in the title or the game itself
- For some reason, the idea of "Egyptian Theme" is linked to the stage I mentioned above


Anyone have any thoughts of what this game might be?

[BER]

Is it Gondomania? This link gives you some pictures of this game:

http://images.google.com/images?q=gondomania&hl=en

Gondomania was released in 1987. Indeed, it is a top-view shmup in which you control an futuristic-looking air bike ("hoverbike"). You can collect coins from destroyed enemies in order to buy various weapons and air bike upgrades. I didn't encounter a desert stage when I briefly played it, though.

To address some of your other tidbits:

• Neither player's air bike have a golden color, but some of the upgrade items look like golden air bikes.
• It has two-player simultaneous gameplay.
• I saw some temple-looking structures similar to those in Egypt.

[The Coop]

BIN-FUCKING-GO!

That would indeed be the game. The second I saw the hoverbike, I recognized it. Looking at what few screenshots are out there, I'm not sure where the desert thing came from. But it's nice to know that most of my memories of it were still pretty accurate (it's been ages since I played it last). Guess I'm not going senile just yet.

Thanks much for the answer BER

[zaphod]

The romstar bike shooter was Thundercade. give that one a look.

Gondomania was by data east.

If the game you played used a twisty stick, then it's definitely Gondomania.

[The Coop]

No, it was Gondomania. I'm sure of it, zaphod. The Romstar memory likely meant it was a converted cabinet with a new marquee slapped along the top.