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It was 1994 and I got a thing that is wannabe for 10 years old master of the universe as my birthday present — 5¼” floppy discs drive. It was equipped with adapter that allowed to plug it to computer. Oh, that was a computer that I used to rule assembler and basic worlds. The computer that couldn’t start Turbo Pascal just because it didn’t have 16 colors to represent GUI. There were just white, cyan, magenta and black in one mode and you could switch to more warm palette where you had yellow, green, red and black again. You couldn’t combine palettes, but that didn’t seem to be the problem and the games were interesting and breathtaking. And after I got a 5″ drive I could start them from the floppies not from the cassettes that made me quite happy. One of the games that made me listen to the cawing of the drive was Thexder (テグザー). The robot — main hero of the game — that was running through mazes and could transform to a jet made me miss quite a lot homework.

Besides transformation zest of the game was that you spent your life energy to fire lasers or turn on protective shield. To get more life energy you had to shoot hamburger-like flying objects. You had to run, jump, evade and fly.

Those who had more advanced computers then I had could enjoy better graphics

Today, 15 years later I can’t cut my algebra or English homework but I can fail a deadline which I almost did. Thexder Neo — PSP remake of classic Thexder is out and it was installed on my PSP the day before yesterday. I never knew rest until I finished the game three times in a row on the normal (maximum actually) level. I must’ve looked like the most joyous idiot on Earth!

The same part of the first level is shown on this and previous screenshots

It’s easy to notice that the game changed, graphic was made more up to date, but the levels remained almost the same! I finished first level with my eyes almost shut, dodging, firing and transforming by intuition! The changes affected not just visual part (it’s easier on PSP) — new online game mode is now available. I can’t use it because the hours spent on becoming friends with Playstation Network were waste of time.

Game logo was changed too. It lost the spirit

Square Enix somehow managed to save the gameplay. Compare old a new versions to get added evidence that it’s true:

Thexder

Thexder Neo trailer

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It’s obvious that Thexder Neo release is made for fans like me who feel nostalgic for old computer games. The unobvious thing is why they skipped “Turn graphic mode like when you were child” option. I highly doubt it was hard to do.

I’m happy to see that the end of the first decade of the third millennium there are still people who create 2d scrollers that I miss so much and can enjoy once in a blue moon.