

Minotaur Arcade Volume 1
Llamasoft Ltd. · 2018 · Action, VR, Retro, Arcade, Shoot 'Em Up
PC
Very Positive98% · 54
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About Minotaur Arcade Volume 1
Minotaur Arcade Vol. 1 brings you two arcade-style games in a classic yet modern style. You can even play in VR to get that Tron-esque feeling of being inside an arcade game.
Vol. 1 comprises two classic Llamasoft titles: Gridrunner, an exhilarating shooter; and Goatup, a fun platformer.

Gridrunner is a classic Llamasoft title that was created in the days of the Vic 20 and which has evolved across many platforms over the intervening years. This implementation strips away complexity and is an attempt to imagine what an arcade game of Gridrunner might have looked like had it been implemented on arcade hardware of the time. (Well, we do allow ourselves some modern comforts, like being able to model every pixel of the display as voxels, and that whole thing of being able to play in VR).


The result is pure score-chasing fun. Shoot all the baddies, collect powerups to boost your own firepower to at times overwhelming superiority, blast through rack after rack dealing with increasingly tricky enemies and level geometries. Everything blows apart into scintillating smithereens the way Eugene Jarvis taught us it should.


Play in three different modes - Pure, where you begin from level 1 and try to get the highest score you can; or Endurance, where you start at the beginning and never receive any extra lives throughout the game. Alternatively use the Restart Best feature in Casual mode to allow you to begin on any level you have previously reached with your best-ever lives and score at that point.

Goatup is a light-hearted platformer that'll have you baaing with joy. You are a little nanny goat whose mission in life is to climb up as high as you can and to raise as many kids as you can along the way.

Kiss any billy goats you see, and keep eating grass (and any other items that may pop out of the ground on the way) and eventually you'll be rewarded with a kid. Keep having kids and they will follow you in a long queue. The more kids you have, and the higher you climb, the more points you will score.


Climb up through a variety of themed zones. Discover powerups that can augment your powers for a while as you climb. Can you make it to the top? What happens if you do?


If you have VR, put on your headset and get closer to your growing family!
Vol. 1 comprises two classic Llamasoft titles: Gridrunner, an exhilarating shooter; and Goatup, a fun platformer.

Gridrunner is a classic Llamasoft title that was created in the days of the Vic 20 and which has evolved across many platforms over the intervening years. This implementation strips away complexity and is an attempt to imagine what an arcade game of Gridrunner might have looked like had it been implemented on arcade hardware of the time. (Well, we do allow ourselves some modern comforts, like being able to model every pixel of the display as voxels, and that whole thing of being able to play in VR).

Simple beginnings: shoot the baddies on the grid with your little green ship.

Celebrate Britain's newfound global chumpery by blowing up the Union Jack on level 2.
The result is pure score-chasing fun. Shoot all the baddies, collect powerups to boost your own firepower to at times overwhelming superiority, blast through rack after rack dealing with increasingly tricky enemies and level geometries. Everything blows apart into scintillating smithereens the way Eugene Jarvis taught us it should.

Strawberries stream down the sphere to be smashed into their very atoms.

Collect powerups to augment your firepower to ridiculous levels.
Play in three different modes - Pure, where you begin from level 1 and try to get the highest score you can; or Endurance, where you start at the beginning and never receive any extra lives throughout the game. Alternatively use the Restart Best feature in Casual mode to allow you to begin on any level you have previously reached with your best-ever lives and score at that point.

Climb, explore and raise a family in Goatup.
Goatup is a light-hearted platformer that'll have you baaing with joy. You are a little nanny goat whose mission in life is to climb up as high as you can and to raise as many kids as you can along the way.

Kiss any billy goats you see, just like in real life.
Kiss any billy goats you see, and keep eating grass (and any other items that may pop out of the ground on the way) and eventually you'll be rewarded with a kid. Keep having kids and they will follow you in a long queue. The more kids you have, and the higher you climb, the more points you will score.

Eat grass and find objects to give birth.

If you are careful you may be able to bop musk oxen for more points.
Climb up through a variety of themed zones. Discover powerups that can augment your powers for a while as you climb. Can you make it to the top? What happens if you do?

Discover new zones as you climb.

Perhaps you will see some denizens you recognize.
If you have VR, put on your headset and get closer to your growing family!
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Goatup is great if you like Doodle Jump type games, Llamasoft type games or psychedelic type games. I like the references to cool retro games like Bounty Bob, Miner 2049'r, Manic Miner, City Connection, etc. I want to go farther to see what other crap they reference. At one point there are also bridges that explode and poison mushrooms and platforms that seem to slide me quickly in one direction or another. I don't think I even know all the references. I looked to see if Tywyn Wharf station really had ham sandwiches at the restaurant and it seems they do not, unless it comes in a vending machine or something. But what do I know, I have never been to Wales.2 found this helpful
This is a fascinating pair of games from a legendary British designer - Jeff Minter. Goat Up first appeared as an iOS game, and gains a new perspective here. A clever mix of platforming and object gathering, drawing some classic influences from retro games. Gridrunner is Llamasoft's longest running series, having had multiple iterations from its original inspiration by Centipede. Where else can you get levels named after British politicians and their mistakes, and strange looking fruit attacking you? Shoot 'em up fans will love Gridrunner and Goat Up is an incredibly quirky and challenging platform game that more people should play.2 found this helpful
Never been able to get this to start correctly on any of my computers. Tried different screen modes, but every time after the inital loading (star field with rotating 3D cube, it goes to hell. Flat shaded polys everywhere and slow as hell with sf/x going off in the background. Shame as I liked these games on iOS. If you can get them to work on your computer, then they are great, fun, retro style games. For me, it's a no go thou.1 found this helpful
i have now become a Certified Ox Bopper thanks to this game
This game is like comfort food for me. The colours. The sounds. I will often fire it up when I need a pick me up. If you like arcade shooters, this is the one.
Sure it would be amazing but I can't make it work on my setup. Any known problems to try fixing?
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