ZX Spectrum game · play free
Apocalypso!
Steve has no weapon, just a jump. Cross 100 screens and ten different apocalypses, collect all 250 golden tins, then reach the bunker before the world ends.
In short
- Apocalypso! is an original flip-screen platformer for the ZX Spectrum 48K and 128K, with 100 named screens in ten zones.
- Each zone is a different end of the world, from zombies in Deadtown to a solar flare on Blackout Boulevard.
- You win by collecting all 250 golden tins and reaching the hatch in The Bunker on screen 100.
- Steve can only walk and jump: there is no weapon, so timing is everything.
- On a 128K it plays a full AY soundtrack, with the in-game tune changing key and beat in every zone.
How to play Apocalypso!
Steve has heard the world is ending, several times over, and the only safe place is a bunker at the far end of town. Every screen is a single room you can see all at once. Walk off the edge and the next screen flips into view, just as it did in the platformers of the mid-1980s.
The controls are deliberately simple: left, right and jump. Jump only comes from the fire button or the jump key, never from pushing up on the joystick, so you won't leap into a hazard by accident. Falls are dangerous: drop more than a little over two Steve-heights and you lose a life. You start with five.
The ten apocalypses
Each zone of ten screens has its own enemies and its own rule, and you'll need that rule to reach some of the tins.
| Zone | What's ending the world | The twist |
|---|---|---|
| Deadtown | Zombies | Learning the jump |
| Glowville | Fallout | Glowing hazards |
| Soggy Bottoms | A flood | Rising water on a timer |
| Saucer Street | Aliens | Laser fences that switch on and off |
| Toaster Rebellion | Robots | Conveyor belts |
| Lava Lounge | A supervolcano | Heat columns you can float on |
| Brrrmingham | An ice age | Slippery ice |
| Mushroom Mayhem | Fungus | Mushroom caps that bounce you high |
| Rock 'n' Roll Falls | Meteors | Rubble that collapses under you |
| Blackout Boulevard | A solar flare | The lights go out every few seconds |
Tins, treasure boxes and power-ups
Golden tins are worth 10 points each, a new screen 100, and clearing a zone 1,000. Twenty treasure boxes are hidden through the town, two per zone. Each one asks a three-way multiple-choice question; answer correctly for 500 points and whatever is inside. Get it wrong and the box jams until you leave the screen and come back.
Power-ups include the Disco Shield, Moon Boots (much higher jumps for 20 seconds), Slow-Mo Groove, Ghost Mode, a Tin Magnet, X-Ray Specs, a Zone Map and an extra life. At the end you get 1,000 points for every life you have left.
Tips for reaching The Bunker
- Stand still and watch. Every enemy follows a pattern. A few seconds of watching saves a life.
- Mind the Moon Boots timer. A jump that's safe with boots can be a fatal fall the moment they run out.
- Don't loiter on rubble in Rock 'n' Roll Falls: it gives way after a short while.
- Count the dark on Blackout Boulevard. The tins, boxes and sprites stay visible when the lights go out; the platforms don't.
- The Bunker is locked until you have all 250 tins, so sweep each zone properly before moving on.
How Apocalypso! was made
The game is written in Z80 assembly language and fits a real 48K Spectrum. Every screen was checked by a model of the game's physics to make sure each tin, box and exit can be reached and that you can never get stuck somewhere with no way out. An autopilot then played all 100 screens through the real Sinclair ROM loaders on both the 48K and the 128K, collecting every tin and finishing in The Bunker.
On a 128K the game detects the AY sound chip and plays an original calypso-flavoured soundtrack: "Last Dance Before The End" in game, transposed and re-drummed for each zone. On a 48K it uses the beeper, exactly as the game was first written. You can read more about the hardware differences in our guide to the 48K and 128K Spectrum.
Want to play it on real hardware or a desktop emulator? Our guide to TAP, TZX and Z80 files explains how tapes work today, and playing ZX Spectrum games online covers the controls in the browser.
Questions and answers
How many golden tins are there in Apocalypso!?
There are 250 golden tins across 100 screens. You need every one of them to open the hatch in The Bunker on screen 100 and win.
