Update (april 28, 2023): the results are in! Read the post to see the winners.
The results
The results are in! These are the winners for this year’s Byte-Off competition.
- Best pixel art: Space Hero: Revival of the Fittest
honorable mentions: 99 Crystals, Soul Stone, Reign of Death, Love Recovery - Best soundtrack: Get It Together!
honorable mentions: TAP: D.Muscles
- Best packaging: The Myth of Zayla
honorable mentions: Tryptic, Mauri Mursu’s Hangover
- Audience Choice: Le Manoir Des Zombies
- The Wombat: Oratorio
- Best narrative: Get It Together!
honorable mentions: Space Hero: Revival of the Fittest, Reign of Death - The New 8-bit Hero: Jordan Davis (a.k.a. Raftronaut)
- Best Game: Tryptic
runner-up: Mauri Mursu’s Hangover
honorable mentions: Mogura Mines, Soul Stone, Space Hero: Revival of the Fittest
also mentioned: 99 Crystals, Atmoss9, Chibi Monster Br4wl, Cyberblade, Elemental, Get It Together!, Humbled, Necronancy, Love Revovery, Zombiehunter Bob
Congratulations to all winners and participants! Here’s the full award show for your viewing pleasure:
Since September 16th, 2022, The new and vastly improved Retroverse is home to Byte-Off III submissions! There are over thirty awesome and really diverse entries as of now, with probably more to come as the submission window closes tonight at midnight EST. I throw in my two cents for every submission here.
Before I blast off, visit the Byte-Off III page on the Retroverse to give all the entries a little test spin for yourself!
99 Crystals (Oldschool Interactive)
I like the story, but especially those graphics are out of this world! I also like the momentum of the capsule, which makes you feel like actually being on water.
Allison Of Astra: Dodgeball RPG (Peter Paltridge)
A game which doesn’t take itself too serious in the slightest, and yet secretly is a really fun RPG to play through. Featuring Allison, the established protagonist from the series.
Alone In The Dark (Lemmarx163)
While being a proof of concept rather than a game, I think you did a great job implementing the “flashlight in a dark room” which makes way for hopefully a cool full game in the near future.
AngstMan Rebooted (Alan Caudel)
The game’s quite unfinished, but I love the quality comic graphics in this one! I can see AngstMan being a renowned character in the modern NES(maker) era.
A Place Of Memories (Mihoshi Productions)
This game has quite a dark story. I like the idea of a point-and-click / turn-based RPG crossover. Might need some work implementation-wise, but the concept is there.
ATMOSS 9 (FFFFLAB)
“Everyone is dead” – great graphics, which really support the alienated, dark atmosphere of the game. I’m gonna explore some more.
Art Is Dead: Necromancer’s Theatre (Jorotroid)
This game has a unique concept which I love to see fleshed out to become a full game.
Baddie Blaster vs. The Unliving Dead (TolerantX)
Space invaders meets missile command. This looks, feels, sounds and plays like the early NES library games, which I like. Hope to see more after level 3.
Brother (Moonless World Games)
A nice top-down mansion exploration game in progress, starring the funniest green monsters since Slimer.
Cemetery (ChalionX)
This game is way cuter than it seemed at first glance. Maybe somewhat on the short side, but still a fun game to play through.
Chibi Monster Br4wl (Dale Coop)
What an awesome cartoon brawler. If anyone was able to pull off 4P support, it had to be you! I’ll be coming back to this game more often for sure.
City Of The Undead (Mikey H)
Though it’s really short, it’s actually quite diverse in terms of content. Run and shoot your way through the laboratory.
Coffin Pauper (Kale Menges)
The graphics on this game are so good that I don’t even mind the soundtrack by John Cage too much. The arcade style game itself is really fun to play as well!
Cyberblade (LCM Games)
I love the deceptively tricky gameplay in this overhead puzzle game! Seems easy at first glance but gets progressively more complex. Really nice game altogether.
Elemental (James)
This game hits the sweet spot of being both technically impressive and fun to play. Great entry!
Fõonfboärder (Vufka)
A fun arcade-y snowboarding (or Fõonfboärding, I guess) game with fast paced horizontal slide-and-avoid action. Great job on the slopes!
Get It Together! (SciNEStist)
I absolutely love the concept and execution of this arcade platform puzzler. Every body part and combination has unique controls, which is a great mechanic. Love the cartoon style graphics and music as well!
Humbled (kevin81, JollyShadow)
(not reviewed for obvious reasons)
Le Manoir Des Zombies (SJ Games)
I love how this game uses various mechanics you need to solve (pretty hard) puzzles! Cute main character, nice music, overall a fun game to play.
Love Recovery (Moehr)
An interactive novel which plays like a Japanese dating sim. Love the story, the graphics and how unique it stands out between the other entries.
Mauri Mursu’s Hangover (Nervanti)
The best hungover walrus themed game on the NES A charming tale, nice cartoony graphics, great music and altogether a very nice game which plays like a Zelda sidequest.
Mogura Mines (8bitalo)
I love the Kirbyesque music and graphics on this puzzly, deceptively hard arcade platformer game.
My Friendly A.I. Assistant Robot (Nerdzmania)
While a bit buggy at times, I really like the humour in the intro, and the floating through the sky as a control mechanic. Playing right to left to hint at returning to life was pretty smart as well.
Ninja Teenz: The Revival (Tiktacto)
I absolutely love the incorporation of the theme. The story of this brawler game is really compelling and the game plays great, both during action scenes and in between. One of my favorites!
Oratorio (Orebody Inc)
A rhythmic rail shooter with a input-dependent soundtrack makes for an impressive and one of the most interesting games of this competition.
Rainbo (Voltopt)
I like the “roughness” of the graphics, the boomerang horn as a weapon, and especially the changing environment colors at the boss stage. A nice game in the making.
Reign of Death (FJ)
Everything in this scrolling skeleton platformer, from the gameplay to the music and graphics, is nothing short of a professional NES release worthy. Hope to see this developed into a full game.
Replanet (Logan Bywater)
I don’t really get this game, but I like the trailer and some of those outer space graphics look pretty cool as well.
Soul Stone (Harry Dwarf)
This game has it all: great graphics, a banger sound track, good platforming action and a really nice incorporation of the Revival theme, through the unique mechanic of becoming what kills you.
Space Hero: Revival Of The Fittest (Kenneth Nietfeld)
Oh my, did I save the best for last. What a terrific game this is in every single aspect. I don’t want this story to end yet.
Sparky’s Return (Mihoshi)
A simpler “avoid-and-collect” platformer game. I like the green dungeonesque environment.
The Adventures Of Panzer: Dmuscles (Pixel Craft)
This arcade-style game plays like whack-a-mole on steroids and oozes the quality you may expect from Dave Nemeth and Logan E. Schad.
The House In The Cemetery (Dalyen Retrogames)
I see a lot of potential in this game. The NES needs more Sierra-like adventure horror games like this one. I hope to see it fully developed in the near future.
The Myth Of Zayla (M8sibit Games)
A great adventure style game which plays like the platforming sections of Zelda II. Love the music, graphics and darkish humour in this one.
The Secret Of NecroNancy (Artix)
This is an absolutely amazing puzzle platformer game with compelling characters, great gameplay and lovely music. Love to see a full version of this.
Tryptic (CrazyTrioGroup)
This is by far the most technically impressive game of the entire competition. Amazing to have pulled this off in itself, let alone within the six-week span of the competition. Kudos!
Zombiehunter Bob (Board-B)
I really like this platformer game, with the typical recognizable “board-b” cartoony graphics, nice music and fun, challenging boss fights.
Personal Picks
To conclude this post, here are my personal favorite picks for each of the categories available. I have omitted Audience Choice in this list, as this is my personal list, so Best Game and Audience Choice would obviously be the same pick.
- The Wombat: Get It Together
- The New 8-bit Hero: JamesNES
- Best Pixel Art: Coffin Pauper
- Best Music and SFX: Ninja Teenz
- Best Promo: Tryptic
- Best Narrative: Love Recovery
- Best Game: Space Hero