Desolator
An authentic re-creation of the arcade hit "Halls of Kairos"
Spectrum 48/128K + 2 Sega
Desolator
Halls Of Kyros
Category: Arcade
Link
Copyright: Orig: Alpha, Sega
C64: U.S. Gold
Prod. Year: ?
Programming: Source
Graphics: Source
Sound: ?
Distr. Media: ?
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D e s o l a t o r - Link
(c)1987 US Gold (Desolator)
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An authentic recreation of the arcade-hit "Halls of Kairos"
Title Year Publisher Language Type Model
Desolator 1988 US Gold Ltd English Maze Spectrum
The Mission:
Your mission as Mac is to fight your way through the castle owned
by Kairos - the great satan, and free the captive infants
(called "Peters" here) held behind mysterious mirrors.
Smash the mirrors to break kairos' evil spell and upon completing
your quest, transform into the invincible MachoMan and desolate
all in your path !!!!!!
So far to the story.......
Controls:
Run/stop - pause
Space - jump
Fire - punch (joystick)
Characters:
Mac the hero enters the castle to save the Peters and once the
Red Peter is secured he gets a power up which transforms him into
the invincible MachoMan.
Features:
Telephone: transform all of the enemies of which one is the secret
invincible character.
Gas pipe: your enemies disappear if you destroy the tip of the gas
pipe.
Energy bomb: can destroy the enemies in a straight line.
Peters: Red Peter gives you a power up to transform you into the
invincible MachoMan.
Blue Peter increases your speed. Getting 2 of them in 2
steps results in attaining the maximum speed.
White Peter enables you to score
Green Peter gives you additional lives.
Timekeeper Characters:
Bat: When Mac stays in the same room for too long, it
comes to attack him.
Bee: Just as with the bat when Mac is in the same room for
an excessive period of time, this comes flying at him.
Bonus Characters:
that were transformed when destroying the telephone.
Capturing these items will score you points.
Angel: the deburacho and gaburacho bros transform into angels.
By capturing them, you become invincible.
Panda: dom transforms into a panda
Cat: parjo and zombies transform into a cat.
Devil's Child: capturing this will cause you to lose your earned
power up.
Kairos, the great satan: only his head appears in stage 1 and a
multiple kairos in stage 2 can attack you in various ways.
You can easily destroy him by reading his movements in advance.
Bajo, Kairo's mother: manipulates zombies in stage 3 and parjoin
stage 4. She moves swiftly and fires flame shots from her cane.
The only way to down her is to anticipate where she will move,
wait in ambush and hit her when she leasts expects it.
Henchmen: lower ranked henchmen, who when making contact
with Mac absorb his energy. You can easily punch them.
The one in the blue suit requires one punch and the other in
the green suit requires two punches.
Parjo, Kairos' daughter: she has a basketful of apples which she
throws at Mac and goes away once pursued. If you corner her,
punch once and she'll fly away screaming.
Jidan, the castle's guardsman: hiding himself in the straw and
boxes, he attacks swiftly when Mac comes close to him.
Fireman: suddenly appears or ambushes mac on the bridge. He fires
flame shots while obstructing Mac, he can be sent flying by a
punch.
Armor: attacks by throwing his sword.
Barrel: rolls towards you, but by punching it, it can be turned
into one of your weapons.
Jar: if skillfully handled can become one of your weapons. Under
it you will find a question mark. Depending on your score when
capturing the mark, the enemy may change.
Clock: stops enemy movements momentarily.
Mine: step on it and you lose a life.
Doll: the on-screen enemies disappear when destroying the laser
emiting doll's head.
Deer's Head: the on-screen enemies disappear when you destroy it
by punching only whilst no flame is emitted.
Mask: just as with the doll, destroying this causes your
on-screen enemies to disappear.
Warp: mounting this will take you to a completely different place.
Energy: increase your energy by capturing this.
Money Bag: increase your score by capturing this.
Boomerang: can destroy your enemies on the curves.
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Desolator
Name: Desolator
Publisher: US Gold
Copyright Date: 1988
Minimum Machine: 48k Spectrum
Format: Cassette
Type: Arcade Maze
Review of Desolator from Issue 40 Link
The evil and congenitally nasty Kairos has kidnapped the entire population
and imprisoned them in his dark castle. Mac, hero of the coin-op, Halls of
Kairos, is called into immediate action: his quest takes place over five
multiloaded levels within the vertically scrolling fortress. This stronghold
comprises passages, chambers and walkways - all of which are viewed from above,
Gauntlet style.
Desolator: Loading Screen
A charm has imprisoned the children in the many mirrors hanging from the
castle walls. They are rescued and saved from a fate worse than death by
punching the mirror panels and collecting the toddlers as they are released
Progress is impeded by Kairos and his cronies: henchmen absorb energy on
contact, fire men fire flame shots and swordsmen unleash a continuous
volley of sharpened knives. Mac's dwindling energy is shown by a bar at
the top of the screen: should this level drain to zero, then - you've
guessed it - big Mac becomes a feast for the worms.
Desolator
1986 US GOLD
Initially, the hero has no armour and can only fight hand to hand; however,
by punching rolling barrels and collecting bomb icons, he can improve
his weapon power. Picking up nine infants temporarily transforms vulnerable
Mac into his incredibly hard and rugged alter ego: the invulnerable Machoman.
For a few brief moments he can march through the villain's castle without
fear of harm and with his underpants on the inside of his trousers - unlike
some superheroes we could mention.
Desolator: Halls of Kyros
Game Basic Moves:
Wandering through a castle, punching out the guards, knights, and samurai looking
dudes, picking up powerups (like a boomerang, etc.) and it's a strange game,
but it is rather fun.
Points are boosted by collecting a series of treasures scattered around the
levels; these occasionally materialise when certain icons are gained or
landscape features destroyed. Points possessed on capturing these determine
exactly how much Mac's score improves or the strength of enemy forces changes.
At the end of each level, Mac encounters a particularly daunting set of
enemies - these have to be killed before he can move on to the next.
In the spirit of ZzapBack, you can have your say about how the game reviewed
above, stands up in the cold light of today. Has it aged badly or is it still
worth a few plays? Read other peoples thoughts and post your own.
The hero of this game must a real 'ard man, because he starts his quest with
no weapons. The only means of defence at his disposal are his own bare hands,
with which he beats the hell out of all and sundry in his seemingly eternal
search for the Peters (Mary? Peters and Lee?). Graphically, Desolator is
pretty awful: chunky, garishly coloured blobs cripple around seemingly
like-minded backdrops. Sound consists of an ear-grating tune that plays
constantly: reaching for the volume button is highly recommended. The action
is boringly repetitive: punch a few baddies, collect the goodies lying around,
hit a few more nasties, etc. To make things worse, our heroic warrior can
very often walk through the meanies without sustaining any damage. Sorry,
US Gold, I can't say that you have got a winner with Desolator...
If a game featuring Blue Peters, telephones, dolls, pandas, castle sketches
and a person called Mac whose alter ego is Machoman, isn't odd, I'll eat my
Walkman. In spite of such strange elements, though, Desolator almost manages
to be a good game. Playability-wise, it's very competent, though at times
the player is under-equipped to coping with hordes of malevolent firemen and
cats. Not that you can really tell they're firemen and cats, mind you, because
the graphics do tend to leave a bit to the imagination. Once you work out what
sprite is what, it's apparent that there's a fair bit of variety to the action,
certainly enough to hold the player's interest for several hours. It's just
a pity that its superficial ugliness may discourage all but the most perseverant
and unless you're feeling particularly affluent, I would check out what else
you can get for a tenner this month.
Desolator
Short Release Statistics
1984 2 1985 3 1986 3
1987 7 1988 3 1989 3
1990 5 1991 2 ???? 7
Alphabetical
720°, 1987
Ace of Aces, 1986
Bounty Bob Strikes Back, 1985
California Games, 1987
Combat Leader, 19??
Crack Down, 1990(?)
Desert Fox, 1985
Desolator - Halls of Kyros, 1988
Dream Warrior, 1988(?)
Dropzone, 1984
Dynasty Wars, 1990
E-Motion, 1990
Forgotten Worlds, 19??
G-Loc R360, 19??
Gauntlet, 1986
Gauntlet II, 1986
Ghouls'n Ghosts, 19??
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, 1987
Human Killing Machine, 1989
Italy 1990, 1990(?)
Moonwalker, 1989
Out Run, 1987
Outrun Europe, 19??
Psycho Pigs UXB, 1988
Road Runner, 1987
Rolling Thunder, 19??
Shackled, 1987
Shadow Dancer, 1991
Solomon's Key, 1987
Strider, 1990
Super Monaco Grand Prix, 1991
Thunder Blade, 1989(?)
Thunder Hawk, 1988(?)
Time Tunnel, 1985
World Cup Carnival, 1984
Chronological
Combat Leader, 19??
Desolator - Halls of Kyros, 19??
Forgotten Worlds, 19??
G-Loc R360, 19??
Ghouls'n Ghosts, 19??
Outrun Europe, 19??
Rolling Thunder, 19??
Dropzone, 1984
World Cup Carnival, 1984
Bounty Bob Strikes Back, 1985
Desert Fox, 1985
Time Tunnel, 1985
Ace of Aces, 1986
Gauntlet, 1986
Gauntlet II, 1986
720°, 1987
California Games, 1987
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, 1987
Out Run, 1987
Road Runner, 1987
Shackled, 1987
Solomon's Key, 1987
Dream Warrior, 1988(?)
Psycho Pigs UXB, 1988
Thunder Hawk, 1988(?)
Human Killing Machine, 1989
Moonwalker, 1989
Thunder Blade, 1989(?)
Crack Down, 1990(?)
Dynasty Wars, 1990(?)
E-Motion, 1990
Italy 1990, 1990(?)
Strider, 1990
Shadow Dancer, 1991
Super Monaco Grand Prix, 1991
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Full title Desolator
Year of release 1988
Publisher US Gold Ltd (UK)
Producer/Author(s) Source Software Ltd (Ross Harris)
Tie-in licence Sega Enterprises Ltd (USA) (arcade coin-op)
Machine type ZX Spectrum 128K
Number of players 1
Controls Kempston, Interface II, Cursor, Redefineable keys
Type Arcade: Maze
Message language English
Original price £8.99 (£12.99 for disk/microdrive version)
Availability Available as both Perfect TZX and non-TZX
Protection scheme Alkatraz Protection System
Additional info Appeared on tape 1, side A of the compilation Go Crazy
(US Gold Ltd)
Remarks The original coin-op from Sega was called "Halls of Kyros".
Score 6.00 (6 votes)
Desolator
"Save the Children" - Map
Kyros Alpha Denshi 1987 Videogame
Klov
Kyros © 05/1987 Alpha Denshi.
Licensed to World Games for manufacture and distribution.
This game is known in Japan as "Kyros no Yakata".
Beat-'Em-Up. Release Data. Kyros, Alpha Denshi, 1987
This arcade game is a port from an original computer game
called 'Desolator' released in 1986 on the Atari ST.
Programmers : Akira Kobayasi, Hiroyuki Ryu, Hideo Samoda
Sound : Satoshi Magitani
Designers : Pop House, Keniti Sakanishi
Producer : Hatsue Honba
Ochya Kumi : Tomoharu
Lunch : Wakana
Title: Kyros
Manufacturer: Alpha Denshi
Year: 1986
Hardware:
Main Processor: MC68000 (16-bit; 6 MHz)
Sound Hardware: Z80 (8-bit; 3.579545 MHz); YM2203 x 3 (3 MHz); DAC
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Kyros Video Game Play Description
A multiscrolling overhead view beat 'em up where the player has to fight
various punks & monsters. The player has to free prisoners, and after freeing
the one in the red (or other non-white clothes) the player's character becomes
strong and muscle bound (pants turn purple). There are other special items
like a clock that if punched will freeze enemies for a short period. There
are also items that turn enemies into treasure/money or turn them into chickens
or angels. When the player touches the angel, he will be invincible for a short
period, and every enemy he touches will die. There are also bags of money
lying around, and weapons that can be obtained by walking over the icon that
represents them. Some include boomerangs and magical fire. There are also energy
refill icons marked by an "E". The player can sometimes kill every enemy in
a region by punching & destroying the heads that shoot fire. He can also kill
multiple enemies that are lined up by punching a pot that's in front of them
& wiping them out in a chain reaction, or also by punching a closed door when
they are next to it. The enemies can also hurt the player with the door, so
caution must be used. There are warp tiles in certain areas so that the player
can get around the levels. Some enemies like the wolves like to gang up on the
player & take a lot of energy away while doing this. The muscleman can pin the
player down & start beating him so that the player has to press the attack &
jump buttons quickly to get back up.
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Several Screen Shots: Link
Emulation Status
Emulator: MAME
Playable: Yes
Sound: Yes
Note: The version emulated by MAME is a clone with
a 1987 copyright; the original by Alpha Denshi
has to be dumped
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Kyros
Manufacturer: Alpha Denshi
Year: 1987
Class: Wide Release
Genre: Scrolling Fighter
Type: Videogame
Details (according to MAME)
Chips
cpu: 68000 , 6.00MHz
cpu: Z80 , 3.58MHz - for audio
audio: YM2203 , 3.00MHz
audio: YM2203 , 3.00MHz
audio: YM2203 , 3.00MHz
audio: DAC
Video
Screen: raster
Orientation: vertical
Resolution: 224 x 256
Frequency: 60.00Hz
Audio
Channels: 1
Input
Players: 2
Control: joy8way
Buttons: 2
Coin Slots: 2
Controls/Input Device: Control(joy8way), Buttons(2)
Number of Players: 2
System/ConversionClass:
SoundMix: Mono
Developer:
Manufacturer: World Games Inc
Publisher:
License from/Copyright:
Creator:
Coder/Software:
Graphics/Artwork:
Music:
SoundFX:
Kyros
World Games Inc, 1987.
Games Manufactured by Alpha Denshi:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name Manufacturer Year Type
Blue's Journey Alpha Denshi 1990 Videogame
Bull Fighter Alpha Denshi 1984 Videogame
Exciting Soccer Alpha Denshi 1983 Videogame
Exciting Soccer II Alpha Denshi 1984 Videogame
High Voltage Alpha Denshi 1985 Videogame
Kyros Alpha Denshi 1987 Videogame
Ninja Combat Alpha Denshi 1990 Videogame
Planet Alpha Denshi 1979 Videogame
Super Stingray Alpha Denshi 1986 Videogame
Thrash Rally Alpha Denshi 1991 Videogame
World Heroes Alpha Denshi 1992 Videogame
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KYROS
-----
COMP SIDE CKT SIDE
----------- ----------
1 +5V 1 +5V
2 +5V 2 +5V
3 PL1 UP 3 PL2 DOWN
4 PL1 DOWN 4 PL2 RIGHT
5 PL1 RIGHT 5 PL2 LEFT
6 PL1 LEFT 6 PL2 PUNCH
7 PL1 PUNCH 7
8 PL1 JUMP 8
9 9 COIN 1
10 1 START 10 COIN 2
11 PL2 UP 11 PL2 JUMP
12 VID GN 12
13 VID BL 13 2 START
14 VID RED 14
15 SYNC 15
16 GND 16 GND
17 GND 17 GND
18 GND 18 GND
1 +12V 1 +12V
2 2
3 +5V 3 +5V
4 SP+ 4
5 SP- 5 GND
6 GND 6 GND
Here are the Dip Switch Settings for KYROS made by Alpha Denshi in 1987
DIP SW 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
------ ON DEMO SOUND OFF
OFF DEMO SOUND ON
COIN/CREDIT
OFF OFF OFF 1/1 COIN 1
ON OFF OFF 1/2
OFF ON OFF 1/3
ON ON OFF 1/4
OFF OFF ON 1/5
ON OFF ON 1/6
OFF ON ON 2/3
ON ON ON 3/2
OFF OFF OFF 1/1 COIN 2
ON OFF OFF 2/1
OFF ON OFF 3/1
ON ON OFF 4/1
OFF OFF ON 5/1
ON OFF ON 6/1
OFF ON ON 7/1
ON ON ON 8/1
OFF OFF 3 # OF MEN
ON OFF 4
OFF ON 5
ON ON 6
OFF EASY
ON HARD
OFF TABLE
ON UPRIGHT
Kyros Video Game
MAME v0.37 Beta 2 Binary!
The binary for MAME v0.37 beta 2 has been released. Download it from the M.A.M.E.
MAME v0.37 Beta 2 Released!
MAME v0.37 beta 2 has been released! This release supports
the following new games:
Pipe Dreams [Bryan McPhail, Aaron Giles]
Tail to Nose [Nicola Salmoria]
Poly-Play [Martin Buchholz]
Kyros [Bryan McPhail]
Other Versions of Kyros:
Kyros No Yakata (Japan) Alpha Denshi Co. 1986 -
kyros_cover2.jpg
Monitor:
Orientation: Vertical
Type: Raster: Standard Resolution
CRT: Color
Conversion Class: JAMMA
Number of Simultaneous Players: 1
Maximum number of Players: 2
Gameplay: Alternating
Control Panel Layout: Single Player
Controls:
Joystick: 8-way
Buttons: 2
Sound: Amplified Mono (one channel)
Description:
A very impressive vertically scrolling beat-em-up with cool monsters like Dracula.
Kyros No Yakata (Alpha Denshi, 1986)
This is the original version of Kyros which was licensed by World Games Inc.
It's a walk-along beat'em-up type maze game where you collect bonus items
and have to reach the end before 1000's of baddies kill you. Fairly enjoyable
for about 1 minute ;-)
Kyros {Alpha Desnhi}
Kyros PC Board
Kyros Kit Alpha Denshi/World Game '87 2 Player
Action Based Game
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