Weekend Download

September 29, 2007

Platform: Download (Mac, Linux, Windows)

Tags: blog, download, macwinlinux, weekenddownload

By JohnB | add to favorites | add to your website | Comments (34)

Stuck at work on the weekend? Tired of spending your Saturday/Sunday doing homework? Or are you one of the lucky folk who have two days of (relatively) work-free bliss? In any case, we've got a boatload of distractions for you on this edition of Weekend Download. A couple of remakes dot the list that are sure to please us "veterans" of video games, while everyone else can enjoy building houses or collecting souls in the underworld. No matter if you're hopping the company firewall to grab a few games or just relaxing at home, consider this your excuse for not doing anything especially productive.

Build-a-lot (Windows, demo, 45MB) - A casual strategy/simulation game where you become a real estate mogul trying to conquer the housing market. Construct, upgrade, and sell houses for profit while you manage workers and materials, research new blueprints, and buy empty lots in each neighborhood. Build-a-lot manages to pare-down the often complex interface of similar strategy games into something everyone can enjoy.

XIQ (Windows, Mac, Linux, freeware, 10MB) - A strangely compelling retro-style shooter where you must trap vector foes to destroy them. Use the arrow keys to move, the [WASD] keys to fire in any direction, and try to box those little suckers in as quickly as you can. And the game's soundtrack? Excellent.

GoldenEye 2D (Windows, freeware, 2MB) - You've played the original, the classic, the genre-defining GoldenEye 64, right? Well... now try it in a refreshing 2D Game Boy flavor! The game stays mostly faithful to the original but feels more like a classic side-scrolling shooter rather than a game of espionage.

The Goonies (Windows, Mac, Linux, freeware, 12MB) - A gorgeous remake of The Goonies platformer game originally released for the MSX. The retro gameplay is almost perfectly preserved while the visuals have received a hefty face lift. I'm loving the water reflections. The Goonies hasn't aged as well as some other classic games, but it's still a slice of nostalgic heaven.

Kaipuu (Windows, freeware, 5MB) - A platforming game of exploration closely related to Knytt and Seiklus, Kaipuu has recently been translated to English so a wider audience can enjoy its touching storyline. The game doesn't have the smell of "instant classic" like others of its kind, but there's a little bit of magic that most players will enjoy.

34 Comments [leave a comment]

There was also an Apple II version of The Goonies. I remember playing it on my parents' IIe.

Posted by: Peter Hosey | September 29, 2007 1:44 AM

The Goonies also runs on Linux. The source code is provided, and it compiles and runs just fine.

Posted by: Cale Gibbard

| September 29, 2007 2:08 AM

The Mac version of The Goonies (version 1.0.1) has a ReadMe that claims that you can't run it from the disk image. This wasn't true, in my experience—it ran just fine from the disk image. YMMV, especially if you use one of the betas.

Posted by: Peter Hosey | September 29, 2007 2:15 AM

Kaipuu is so sad... just reading the words in it makes me sad...

Posted by: Zace

| September 29, 2007 4:37 AM

Goldeneye 2D is a very fun game. The gun upgrade system is interesting and makes it more replayable, as you want to try and the get the better guns earlier and earlier (but I wish hits didn't bring down your points by so much). Also the first/only boss battle is really annoying.

Posted by: Wulfo

| September 29, 2007 5:14 AM

John,
I don't know who you are, but I love you! I haven't played the Goonies game in ages and I love that movie!
Hey you guuuys!
*squee*

Posted by: Pinky | September 29, 2007 5:17 AM

A linux game? On the weekend download?
TWO of them?
hooray!

Posted by: Crab | September 29, 2007 5:29 AM

You finally posted Keipuu! I thought I'd got it off you guys before...

And I never expected a Goonies remake.
I could never figure out what to do in the orignal, but it could've been because I was 6.

Posted by: Luke | September 29, 2007 8:12 AM

I'm really loving GoldenEye, but i have absolutely no idea how to defeat the first boss; Oddjob (i think. If anyone has got any tips or ideas on how to do it, i would be very grateful :). Once again , great site and reviews

Posted by: kris | September 29, 2007 8:50 AM

I love GoldenEye 2D! Thank you!

Posted by: Nif | September 29, 2007 9:03 AM

hmm, keep getting an error with Xiq that it can't see libfmodex.so, even with runXiq... any ideas?

Posted by: Crab | September 29, 2007 2:19 PM

GoldenEye 2D looks fun, but what should I use to unpack .rar files?

Posted by: Neo | September 29, 2007 3:27 PM

Neo....Try 7-Zip available from here. It should take care of .rar archives as well as loads of other format.

Posted by: jbeaver | September 29, 2007 4:24 PM

I'm missing three souls in Kaipuu. Can anyone help me out?

-I have all the powers already, which means I've used teleport to get the unreachable ones -I smashed... at least four snails, and in any case there aren't any left with shells -I broke the two eggs in the nest -I got all of the souls from the clams -I got two(?) shooting star souls -I got the soul from the beehive -I got two souls from jumping on the mushroom-type things -I got all the souls from the hidden platforms (the ones you can only reach by looking at the map and jumping down from a higher area in the sky) -I'm pretty sure I got all the souls from the dark area (they're hard to miss and I double-checked to be sure) -I don't see any more in plain site, and I've double-checked every room in the game at this point What am I missing?

Posted by: TM | September 29, 2007 4:24 PM

Nevermind, found them.

Somehow I missed three of the bats.

Posted by: TM | September 29, 2007 4:46 PM

I'm rather confused on how the envy powerup works, the one that talks about looking at the map. I've gotten all but five souls in Kaipuu and it's driving me nuts that I can't find them. Could someone help?

Posted by: KojieroSaske

| September 29, 2007 5:57 PM

winrar, or winzip should take care of the compressed files in the /rar extension

Posted by: Anonymous | September 29, 2007 8:54 PM

Kaipuu is absolutely beautiful. There's a glitch, though. Underwater, if you go to the left screen you can get stuck in the wall. I had to start over after like 20 minutes of work. Not fun.

If they ironed out the glitches and made your guy move like twice as fast, this game would be on the same level as Knytt. As it is now, they really got the love/hate thing going for it.

Posted by: Brandon | September 30, 2007 12:31 AM

Kaipuu is lovely~ I adore these sorts of games. <3
Though, I'm stuck on collecting some of the souls because I can't get the wall-jump to work. ...maybe I should read it more carefully next time.

Posted by: Jynx | September 30, 2007 1:04 AM

You know, to be fair to GoldenEye, the original game didn't really have any espionage, either...

Posted by: PandaKnight | September 30, 2007 5:03 AM

I found Kaipuu to be less kai and more puu. Annoying at best.

Posted by: Corona

| September 30, 2007 10:12 AM

PandaKnight: I'd say espionage was a bad choice of words; Goldeneye for the N64 did *technically* have stealth (though mostly only in the sense that a constant stream of badguys would be sent your way if you weren't stealthy rather than the autofail sense possible in MGS or the "you and your AI-controlled friends are incredibly likely to die from it" sense in Rainbow Six). It wasn't *great* stealth, but it was stealth to a certain extent (stealth *elements*, if you will). From the sounds of it this game doesn't have stealth at all.

Posted by: Ben | September 30, 2007 3:08 PM

Gah, I got the teleportation move in Kaipuu but missed what it said. Can anybody tell me how to teleport?

Posted by: Anonymous | September 30, 2007 3:37 PM

Anonymous:

Just hit 'T'

Kaipuu was fun for a short distraction. I liked the touching story and how your different emotions worked as powers in the Underworld. The controls, though, need some work.

Posted by: Nemo07

| September 30, 2007 5:39 PM

Ok, here's my thoughts on Goldeneye 2D:

1. Why can't I aim up or down? I get the 'retro'/'Gameboy' feel, but come on, even just a diagonal up or down like the enemies get would be fine; I was able to aim in all directions in the original! I mean, sure it makes things more 'challenging', but it doesn't make sense.

2. Even so, it is fun and worth a few plays. It's really too bad that there's only one 'mission', though.

3. Boss fights are pretty good, even though Jaws, while not nearly as game-ending as Oddjob, is somewhat annoying to try and dodge while moving around (in fact, getting hit this way is one of the few remaining reasons I can't perfect the game yet).

Now for some tips:

General: Strangely enough, the small platforms you'll notice in the beginning of the (currently only) mission are high enough that the moving enemies can't shoot you when standing on them, but just short enough that you can shoot them from the ground just below them (and this also works in reverse; i.e. when you are standing on the platform and the enemy is standing on the ground below). Use this to your advantage.

Gunner in bunker:

AFAIK, it's impossible to kill him, and it's seemingly impossible to avoid him getting off a volley before you can jump over the bunker. It is, however, quite possible to avoid getting hit by said volley, but it does take a bit of practice. Best tip I can give is that you should jump high and try to only go for small nudges if it looks like you're going to land on one of his bullets. After he gets off a volley you should have plenty of time to get over the bunker and on to the rest of the game.

Oddjob:

He always shows up behind one of the three warehouse doors. His hat will insta-kill you, so jump over it when he throws it at you. Since that's his only attack, the only real threats are that he'll pop up close to you (in which case jumping over him, while a natural response, is likely to kill you as he simply turns around and throws his hat into your back), jumping too soon/late to dodge, or his rather rare speedy throw (which theoretically can be dodged if you jump ASAP, but as I said it's rather rare). If you have at least the KF7 Soviet and fairly good reflexes this fight shouldn't be a big problem, though it is somewhat easier with a shotgun.

Helicopter:

Shows up when you reach the second tower after the fight with Oddjob/checkpoint where you get your health refilled. You don't have to destroy it, but it's helpful for traveling and gives a noticeable boost to gun power and points. You won't be able to avoid taking damage, however, unless you stand underneath the second tower. Fighting strategy is simple; after killing all the normal enemies in and around the tower, simply stand by the elevator, jump and shoot at the incoming helicopter until it's close enough to bomb you, then drop down to the first floor to avoid the explosion. Rinse and repeat as necessary. The rocket launcher is ideal for this but isn't strictly necessary; even a KF7 Soviet should work fine.

Jaws:

Hope you saved up some health for this fight. Not really hard, though; mostly just has a tendency to suck at your health. He basically works in two modes; when on the extreme right side of the screen he will hang from the ceiling and fire off a rocket launcher. Similar to the helicopter fight, you can only really dodge his shots well if you stand on top of the computer towers on the left side of the room (it's possible to dodge without doing this, but IMO it's not as easy to control the shot pattern by just jumping unless you have excellent reflexes/timing). His other mode is when he is just running around without shooting, in which case you want to avoid getting run into (this won't hurt nearly as much as Oddjob's hat does, but it will hurt your gun power considerably, and it's a bit harder to avoid it than it would seem on first glance). The rocket launcher is again the recommended weapon due to the power of explosions in the confined space you fight in, though a shotgun would likely work fairly well also. If you still only have a KF7 Soviet, you've probably taken all the damage you can possibly take before dying anyway.

Challenge: Beat 1705 points, my high score. It shouldn't be too hard if you can avoid getting hit all game. :) My only problem was Jaws.

Posted by: Ben | September 30, 2007 6:10 PM

Yo.

Kaipuu runs like molasses on my system. If anybody knows why (Knytt Stories runs like an egg sunny side up on my system) could they tell me how to fix this?

As for Goldeneye 2D, the reason why you can't shoot up or down or diagonals like is because you don't get the right to have more functionality than Megaman, because that would make you better than him, and nobody's better than a sentient android.

Help on certain things:

Completing Objectives:

The alarm panels (tiny dark squares) in towers can be shot. Shoot them all.
As for the modem, you can attach it to that satellite dish you find when progressing through the stage. Press up when you are standing next to it.
The signal can be interrupted in the room that you fight Jaws in. You have to take him down first.
The bungee jump should be the last thing you do, as it occurs when you exit the level.

Bunker:

When you see a man in a bunker, immediately run back to the left to get it offscreen. Then inch back until it's in view, and when the first bullet fires, run to the left again, but this time when he's out of view, rush back to the right and leap the bullet, then jump right over the bunker before he can fire again.

Odd Job:

True to the series, that hat is a one hit killa (from Manila), and he'll keep throwing it until he dies. It won't boomerang back, so just focus on dodging it (you can jump pretty high if you hold the button down) the first time and firing. I think he throws faster depending on how much damage he's taken.

Helicopter:

After crushing all the alarms, this thing appears. You should have a rocket launcher by now, but anything will work. Just get to the top of a tower to fire at it as it appears and jump down when it gets close to hide under the top floor of the tower, avoiding all the missiles. It'll go down with enough hits.
Note: All missiles have splash damage. Please stand clear of the explosions.

Jaws:

He's got a rocket launcher. Rockets asplode. When dodging rockets, remember not to stand too close to the surface that they will eventually hit. That's pretty much it.

Posted by: weirdguy

| September 30, 2007 6:38 PM

Oops. Apparently it *is* possible to (in regards to the gunner in the bunker),

given that you run at full speed and don't stop, jump over the bunker without having to dodge any volleys.

My mistake. :/

Posted by: Ben | September 30, 2007 6:41 PM

Kaipuu: Brandon, if you got stuck in the wall, you could've pressed the spacebar to be teleported back to the gravestone. Says so in the readme file (and I pressed space often enough to learn).

Kaipuu is the sort of game I really like, but I was frustrated for a few reasons: when transitioning between screens, the keyboard buffer is cleared and your vector is flattened, so no diagonal jumps. I had to spam the left or right key during a scene change to make sure I could reach the next ledge up. Also, the instructions for new powers vanishes quickly, and I have no reminder -- I missed how to use the block-breaking skill, and the only way to find out how to use it is to start the game over.

Posted by: Moses Moore | September 30, 2007 10:37 PM

i havent seen the goonies in ages!, let alone play the game.

Posted by: benbo | October 1, 2007 7:36 AM

Kaipuu's power instructions seem to only disappear once you press a key after it shows up, at least for me.

It's very nice, but looks to be an even shorter affair than Knytt itself was, which is IMO a shame.

Posted by: Ben | October 1, 2007 8:00 PM

kaipuu is a neat game! had to make a map of where all the stuff is (currents, snails, vines.. ect) i just won it and wondering are there two endings? at the very end

"Death" gives you the choice of exchanging your life for your love's or returning the world and leaving her behind. i took the choice of giveing my life for her, and she told death to leave her so we could be together forever in the underworld.. what happens if you just return to life?

Posted by: Ruka K. | October 2, 2007 9:24 AM

ok, i went and did the second ending

if you choose to go back to life, you say you need to learn to leave the past behind and are sure you'll find love in the future.

Posted by: Ruka K. | October 2, 2007 11:19 AM

ok, i went and did the second ending

if you choose to go back to life, you say you need to learn to leave the past behind and are sure you'll find love in the future.

Posted by: Ruka K. | October 2, 2007 11:20 AM

can anyone post a video anywhere to show me the endings of kaipuu?

Posted by: ... | November 14, 2007 9:33 PM

Update