''Impossible Mission II'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

developed by

Novotrade Appaloosa Interactive (formerly Novotrade International) was a corporation, founded in 1982 in Hungary, that produced video games, computer programs and television commercials during the 1980s and 1990s. History Novotrade International was founded ...

and published by

Epyx Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher active in the late 1970s and 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before r ...

in 1988. It was released for the Commodore 64,

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

Enterprise 128 The Enterprise is a Zilog Z80-based home computer announced in 1983, but through a series of delays, not commercially available until 1985. The specification as released was powerful and one of the higher end in its class (though not by the ...

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

, Atari ST,

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mold ...

with at least 128K,

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari S ...

, and

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

. ''Impossible Mission II'' is a direct sequel to Epyx's 1984 game ''

Impossible Mission ''Impossible Mission'' is a video game originally written for the Commodore 64 by Dennis Caswell and published by Epyx in 1984. The game features a variety of gameplay mechanics from platform and adventure games, and includes digitized speec ...

''. The game follows directly from the same plot, with Elvin Atombender seeking revenge and the player having to stop him. The overall game structure and basic gameplay is mostly similar, but there are a few differences and new features.

Gameplay

The game takes place in Elvin's

fortress A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, which consists of nine

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

s. Each of the eight outer towers has a specific theme, such as computers,

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

and so on. Each tower consists of several rooms connected by two vertical corridors with

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They ar ...

s and two horizontal corridors leading to other towers. The corridors leading between different towers are locked, and they can only be unlocked by figuring out a numerical puzzle. Each tower contains the numbers zero through nine in three different colors. The computer interface allows the player to try various number combinations to see if they are correct. The elevator to the central tower is unlocked by finding a

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

, which is encoded in a piece of

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

. Each of the eight outer towers has a musical piece locked inside a safe. The final password consists of six distinct musical pieces. Two of the pieces in the towers are duplicates. The player must rewind the tape so that the next musical piece records over the duplicate, erasing it. The main addition over the previous game is the addition of new types of enemy

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

s and devices for the player to use. Whereas the original game only included security bots and a special flying ball robot, ''Impossible Mission II'' has the following types of robots: * Security bot, like in the previous game. * Shovel bot, tries to push the player character over the edge of a platform. * Suicide bot, like a shovel bot, but also jumps off the edge itself. * Mine bot, lays deadly

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automatic ...

s on the floor. * Pest bot, is harmless to the touch, but rides around on the lifts, foiling the player's designs. * Squat bot, springs up from the floor, sending the player character onto a higher floor or crushing him against the ceiling. The "ball" type robot is no longer present. As well as snoozes that temporarily freeze the robots and lift resets, the player can now collect

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

s and mines that can be used to blow up holes in the floor or to open

safe A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure Lock (security device), lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form ...

s. Bombs explode after a specific time, whereas mines explode if the player or an enemy robot touches them.

Development

Unlike most computer game sequels of the time, ''Impossible Mission II'' did not use any code from the original game. The graphics were remade from scratch using a

bitmap In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits. It is also called a bit array or bitmap index. As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a particular bitmapping application: th ...

animation tool called Film Director. The lead platform was the Atari ST, with work on the Commodore 64 and

ports being started once the Atari ST version was nearly complete. All the rooms in ''Impossible Mission II'' were redesigned for the ZX Spectrum version. According to Novotrade programmer László Szenttornyai, who coded the Spectrum version, the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

version of the game "almost wasn't released because of the strict situation between

and Nintendo."

Reception

The game received mixed reviews from critics. Common criticisms were the game's overt similarity to and lack of improvement from the original ''Impossible Mission'' and the extremely limited sound. However, the challenging puzzles, impressive player character animations, and the tension of playing against the clock were all praised by multiple critics. It was voted best platform game ("Geschicklichkeitsspiel") of 1988 by German magazine PowerPlay.

Legacy

In 2004, ''Impossible Mission'' was one of the games included on the

C64 Direct-to-TV The C64 Direct-to-TV, called C64DTV for short, is a single- chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer, contained in a joystick (modeled after the mid-1980s Competition Pro joystick), with 30 built-in games. The design is similar to the At ...

. Both Impossible Mission and its sequel were also included in the C64 Mini. ''Impossible Mission'' and ''Impossible Mission II'' were followed by '' Impossible Mission 2025'', an Amiga exclusive. ''Impossible Mission 2025'' abandoned the corridor layout of different rooms and instead includes one big room. The player also has the choice of three different characters: the normal secret agent, a female

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

, and an

android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

References

External links

* *{{WoS game, id=0002464
Images of Impossible Mission II manual
1988 video games Platform games Amiga games Appaloosa Interactive games Apple II games Apple IIGS games Commodore 64 games DOS games ZX Spectrum games Amstrad CPC games Atari ST games Unauthorized video games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in Hungary Video game sequels Epyx games Virtual Console games Spy video games Single-player video games