RRMA

## Background

   Retro Remakes Miniature Arcade, or **RRMA**, shows an onscreen arcade with eight coin-operated classics whose screens are only 32 by 32 pixels wide. Most games have sounds, as well as scoring and some gameplay mechanics differing from the originals.

Included games are Space Invaders, Centipede, Arkanoid, Asteroids, Frogger, PacMan, Pole Position and Scramble. The game was developed by Minion Software and released in 2004.

## Games/differences from original/controls

### Space Invaders

The player, controlling a laser base, faces an overhead horde of invaders that move from side to side while dropping bombs the entire time; the invader formation will come a notch closer towards the bottom of the screen when it reaches a screen edge. With the fewer invaders that remain as the player destroys them, the faster they will move. Once a screen of invaders are cleared, another batch of invaders will take their place. A high scoring bonus U. F. O. appears overhead during a level as well.

If the player’s laser base is hit by an invader’s bomb, that base will be lost and the game will end when there are no more remaining bases. The game will also end if the player gets “invaded” (i. e. if the invaders land at the bottom of the screen).

In this version, there are a lot fewer invaders, which also move faster from the onset (although the last invader left at the end of a level doesn’t move anywhere as fast as on the arcade original), invaders make a sound when they fire, the saucer comes out a lot more often, along with moving a lot faster and there is one less bunker than on the original.

#### Controls

* Move laser base–left/right arrow keys
* Fire–spacebar

### Centipede

The player controls a blaster confined to the bottom area of the screen. Once a game starts, a centipede comprised of many segments appears at the top of the screen, which, upon moving horizontally, once it comes into contact with either a mushroom or a screen edge, will drop down a notch. If the centipede or a segment reaches the bottom of the screen then it will start moving back upwards. Also, shooting any centipede segment will turn into a mushroom, which litters the playfield. Other dangers include a fast-moving spider that appears in the player’s area, along with fleas, which drop down from the top of the screen and leave behind mushrooms.

Colliding with any enemy will cost the player a life and the game will end if there are no more lives in reserve.

Unlike the arcade original, the pace is much easier and mixed, as with every other screen the centipede slows down. Individual segments also do not start appearing, the fleas appear intermittently and there are no scorpions. Additional centipede heads also do not start appearing if either the centipede or a segment reaches the bottom of the screen and then starts back up, plus there is no bonus for any partially-shot mushrooms when a player loses a life, as all mushrooms are accounted for on this version.

#### Controls

* Move blaster–arrow keys
* Fire–spacebar

### Arkanoid

Arkanoid is an updated version of Breakout, where the player uses a paddle to knock out every brick in a wall in a level. Missing a ball will cost the player a life and the game will end when all paddles are lost. There are also objects that appear in the playfield that can knock the ball around, although the player can catch several upgrades to their paddle to help out during a game.

Differences include there being no warp power-up, plus with the laser upgrade the shots fire faster. A noise announces when the denizens in the levels are unleashed, they also come out of side areas right above the player’s paddle, which they came out from the top of a level only on the original and they were not able to pass through bricks. Several more power-ups appear onscreen at a time as well.

#### Controls

* Move paddle–arrow keys (left/right)
* Launch balls/fire laser (if applicable)–spacebar

### Asteroids

The player shoots large asteroids, each of which breaks into two medium-sized ones, which, in turn, breaks into two small asteroids when shot. Getting hit by an asteroid will cause the player to lose a ship and the game will end when there are no more remaining ships. Thrust can also be used to move the player’s ship around the screen.

As compared with the arcade original, there is no hyperspace function, nor U. F. O.s in this version, along with there being no more than four large asteroids to start a new screen with and the difficulty curve is a lot lower.

#### Controls

* Turn ship-arrow keys (left/right)
* Thrust-up arrow key
* Fire-spacebar

### Frogger

The player controls a frog that must safely hop across several lanes of traffic; from there, they must guide their frog across a pond via jumping on various objects and creatures in order to fill up a row of home bays with their frog.

Running out of time before making it to the top, colliding with any vehicle in the first area, along with jumping into the water, hitting a screen edge or being touched or eaten by a creature in the second area will cost the player a frog and the game will end when there are no more frogs left in reserve.

Differences include the timer running a lot faster in this version and the auto traffic and pond traffic patterns are also different.

### PacMan

The player controls a yellow creature who must eat all of the dots in a maze in order to make it to the next level. Three monsters chase him; being caught by one will cost the player a life and the game will end when all lives are lost. However, PacMan can turn the tables on the monsters by eating an energizer, which he will then be able to eat the monsters for a few seconds. A tunnel at the center sides of the screen also aids PacMan, as it can be used to escape from the monsters (who will hesitate if they enter the tunnel, although this does not appear until the second level).

In this version, there is a different maze per level (rather than the one maze on the original), there are no prizes, no points are awarded for eating monsters, there is one less monster and only half the energizers as compared with the original, although an intermission plays after the player completes each maze, rather than there being one intermission after completing two levels. The escape tunnel also starts appearing on the second maze, rather than the first, and the game will crash if the player completes the second maze.

### Pole Position

This is a racing game where the player must race around a track while avoiding cars. Getting hit by a car will cause a delay in the player’s car to reappear on the track, wasting time.

This version was just stripped down to being a racing game, with no qualifying lap, nor several other laps to contend with afterwards, unlike with the arcade original. The hit box is way off, the player’s car can get hit often from behind, the track is different and there are several overpasses that constantly appear which were not in the original.

#### Controls

* Move car-arrow keys (left/right)
* Change gears-spacebar
* Gas-ctrl key

### Scramble

The player controls a jet facing enemies over several scrolling sectors (a mountains area, a cavern, etc.). The jet fires to the right at targets as well as drops bombs, the latter of which are needed to take out land targets and destroy tanks in order to replenish the player’s constantly dwindling fuel supply. Running out of fuel or colliding with any object will cost the player a jet and the game will end when they have no more jets left in reserve.

In this version, the first two areas are not only different, but they are also much longer than on the original’s. The player’s bomb trajectory is different and there is now a cavern ceiling on the first area, unlike on the original’s, plus the player will not get a warning sound when they are low on fuel, their jet will explode once they run out, rather than crashing and the player doesn’t accumulate points just by flying. A sound also announces when a rocket is taking off, which did not happen with the original, plus the rockets will pass through cavern ceilings if they are not destroyed.

#### Controls

* Move jet-arrow keys
* Fire-ctrl key
* Drop bombs-spacebar

## Trivia

Along with the miniaturized games included with RRMA, Minion Software also created several full remakes, being two Space Invaders games (Space Invaders (Minion Software) and Space Invaders (MK 2), along with a remake of a handheld Centipede game (being Centipede VFD). They also created remakes of Scramble, Pac-Man and Asteroids.