![]() He begins playing fiercely and hard to beat, but as play progresses, he sips his champagne, making him inebriated and less focused on the game, thus easier to beat. The General (also known as Eneg Doowtrop - " Gene Portwood" spelled backwards): A pig-like alien who pretends to be a military general, although he really is just a militaristic gung-ho enthusiast.When defeated, he hiccups and passes out. Nerual Ttoille (" Lauren Elliott" spelled backwards): A non-corporeal alien.Recently divorced, he is addicted to shufflepuck, which he plays with fierceness and devotion. Mimics the player's own shot power and angle. Princess Bejin: A woman with supernatural powers.He occasionally opens his robe to expose a one-eyed alien at chest level, who either smirks or snarls at the player depending on whether he has just won or lost a point. When it is her turn to serve the puck, she uses telekinesis to float it out to the center of the table and drift it to one side before sending it toward the player. One of two different sound effects accompanies each serve, indicating whether the puck will move in the same or opposite direction. ![]() When defeated, she reveals a little bit of her cleavage. A tough, street-hardened biker dude who plays a mean game. He has no weaknesses and only the best players will be able to beat him. A highly recommended pick-up-and-play time waster.DC3 serves as a training partner, who can be customised to be as easy or as difficult as the player wishes. That's more than I can say for other such games where 'difficulty' is confused with 'speed'. It is ultimately a simple game, but the patterns of your opponent can be uncovered if you're observant enough. ![]() Shufflepuck Cafe holds many fond memories of my youth, and I'm pleased to say that they hold up rather well now. While I do slightly prefer the Amiga version, which I've included along with the DOS port, there is something to be said for the IBM PC release and how it utilised speech without a soundcard. Since then it has been surpassed with the detailed colour graphics of the 16-bit microcomputers (and VGA DOS of course). The game began life in black and white on the Macintosh computers in 1988. Looks like we're staying here a little longer (unless you use the menu options to enlarge the size of your paddle). You'll need major reflexes to score one point let alone the fifteen needed to win. This man holds nothing back and pummels you without mercy. Perhaps that is key to beating him.īy far the hardest opponent is not the pig-faced General called Eneg Doowtrop or the pug-faced Vietnam veteran named Vinnie the Dweeb but the owner of the establishment Biff Raunch. He seems to instantly know where your puck is going and returns it with the same amount of force without any attempt at changing the angle. Even if you do catch it, good luck scoring against her! The grim-reaper get-up of Nerual Ttoille, on the other hand, is equally tricky. ![]() Pay attention to the sound she makes to figure out where she's sending the puck. Princess Bejin serves not with her paddle but with her mind. Other opponents have an unfair advantage. Lexan Smythe-Worthington, the lush lizard with a constant martini in his hand tries his best to hold steady but gets progressively worse the more alcohol he consumes. Visine Orb, the gremlin with eyes like a bush baby is even more skittish, but his serves will more often than not send the puck bouncing wildly on the sides of the table making them harder to hit than expected. Some are incredibly easy, such as the Skip Feenet the bespectacled weeney who holds his paddle with a weak trembling grip. All 9 opponents have their own personality and playstyles that you'll need to crack in order to win. Stranded in an intergalactic dive bar, you play against all of the miscreants in order to gain their trust and make your way back home. This game of air-hockey with a heavy sci-fi theme sparked my imagination as I battled fantastical 16-bit foes with nowt but a mouse and quick reflexes. One of the few games that got constant play on my trusty Atari ST was Shufflepuck Cafe (1989 Broderbund).
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