| Zoop | |
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| Developer(s) | Hookstone Ltd. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video |
| Publisher(s) | Viacom New Media |
| Platform(s) | Super NES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, MS-DOS, Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, PlayStation |
| Release date | NA1995 |
| Genre(s) | puzzle game |
| Rating(s) | K-A (ESRB) |
| Media | cartridge or CD-ROM |
| System requirements | stock console |
| Input methods | direction pad and buttons |
- This article is about the game. Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 The is a handheld video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. The Sega Game Gear is a Handheld game console which was Sega 's response to Nintendo 's Game Boy. MS-DOS (short for M icro' s' oft D isk O perating S ystem is an Operating system commercialized by Microsoft. The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America The Atari Jaguar is a Video game console, released by Atari Corporation in. The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console See also [[Game classification]] Video games are categorized into Genres based on their Gameplay interaction A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of Video games into suitability-related groups Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. For other uses, see Zoop (Disambiguation)
Zoop is a puzzle game developed by Hookstone Ltd, and published by Viacom New Media. Puzzle video games are a genre of Video games that emphasize Puzzle solving Viacom ( ( short for " Vi deo & A udio Com munications" is an American Media conglomerate with various worldwide interests
Some of its rules resemble those of Plotting (known in some territories as Flipull), but unlike Plotting, Zoop runs in real time. Flipull / Plotting is a Taito puzzle Video game from 1989 It is called Flipull
Official Zoop games have been released for Game Boy, Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Macintosh. The is a handheld video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. The Sega Game Gear is a Handheld game console which was Sega 's response to Nintendo 's Game Boy. The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit Video game console that was The Atari Jaguar is a Video game console, released by Atari Corporation in. The is a 32-bit Video game console that was first released on November 22 1994 in Japan, May 11 1995 in North America The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc
To garner interest for the game, Blockbuster offered the game as a free rental for the SNES for a time. Blockbuster Inc ( is the largest chain of DVD and Video game rental stores in the world [1]
Contents |
Game play
The player controls a triangle in the center of the screen. Every second (or more often in advanced levels), a piece comes in from the side and possibly pushes other pieces forward. Two consecutive pieces will never come in from the same quadrant, and runs of consecutive identical pieces on one row are longer than one might think statistically. Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection analysis interpretation or explanation and presentation of Data.
If a piece falls into the center square, the game is over.
If the player shoots a piece of the same color as their triangle, it will be "zooped" (cleared) and points are earned. In a Game the score refers to the amount of points achieved by a player or team If the piece behind the target piece is also of the same color, it is also "zooped. " The same goes for the next piece, and so on. In the example Image:Zoop genesis.jpg, shooting to the left of the position in the screenshot will "zoop" the green pieces and return the player to the center, facing right (the opposite direction).
If a piece of a different color than the player's current piece is shot, the player's piece will switch colors with it. This is also what happens when a piece of a different color is encountered after zooping one or more pieces of the same color. In the example, shooting down would bounce off the orange piece (leaving a green piece behind), and return with the orange piece.
When the quota of "zooped" pieces is met, the game speeds up and (before level 10) the background changes.
Various special pieces do different things:
- A proximity bomb (shaped like a lightning bolt) blows up pieces in a 3×3 area centered at the target piece.
- A line bomb (often shaped like a gear) clears a whole target line of pieces.
- A color bomb (often shaped like a paint splotch) clears all the pieces in a quadrant that match the target piece.
- Collect five spring pieces to clear the whole screen.
- If a piece is pushed right next to the center square, it immediately disappears. In this way, the player may not lose because of a powerup entering the middle square.
Points
Generally speaking, every cleared piece is worth 100 points. In the case of zooping more than one piece at once, each piece is worth 100 points more than the piece before it. For example, zooping 3 pieces results in 100 + 200 + 300 = 600 points. In addition, if a row is full (one more piece being added will cause a loss of game) and all the pieces are of the same color, zooping the row earns a bonus of 5,000 points for the smaller rows on the top and bottom, and 10,000 for the rows on the left and right. All pieces cleared as a result of any of the four powerup items are worth 100 points.
Opti-Challenge
To make matters even more difficult, the game also employed what was referred to as "opti-challenge" backgrounds. As the game progressed, the backgrounds would become increasingly distracting. Early on, this would involve the use of contrasting colours, and increasingly intricate colour schemes. Background patterns would also become more intricate and would make subtle use of asymmetrical elements. Ultimately, the background on level 9 employed black and white tiles, roughly the size of the invading pieces, while the center square contained a picture of clouds, which expanded to fill the screen on levels 10 and later. Although the opti-challenge element of the game was used as a selling point, very little information exists about the technique itself, and no other game on the market has ever openly claimed to use opti-challenge graphics.
Clones
There is an enhanced windows version at: http://netfiles.freespaces.com/bestgames.html There is also a Java Applet clone of Zoop here: http://joel.spolsky.com/zoop/
The freepuzzlearena package contains a clone called Zeus; other (less faithful) clones include Millennium Bugs and XMAS98.
References
- ^ MobyGames Ad-Blurbs for Zoop. Retrieved on April 10, 2007.