WIZBALL 128K ENHANCED EDITION v1.2

Use Spectrum 128K mode.

Z80: load the snapshot directly in your emulator.
TAP: standard-speed tape; use the 128K Tape Loader or LOAD "".
Turbo TZX: faster data with a matching reader; use the 128K Tape Loader or LOAD ""

Wizball is a surreal arcade shooter in which you guide a bouncing green ball through a world robbed of colour by the evil Zark. Blast bizarre enemies, collect power-ups and enlist your feline companion, Catellite, to gather coloured droplets and transform Wizworld’s grey landscapes back into a vibrant, colourful realm.

This is a decompiled, bugfixed version with original cut content added back in, tweaks to gameplay and some QoL features for good measure. the package is then rebundled and presented as a .z80, .tap and .tzx download for the 128k ZX Spectrum either via emulation or flashcarts like the DIVMMC etc. I dare say you could record a cassette and load it in an original tape deck if you really wanted to :)

Small note; As of v1.3, I used AI tools (Codex) to assist with converting the C64 music to the spectrum AY chip.  I'm terrible at music and the level of detail required to get the AY chip to sound remotely like the C64 took rewriting the music player, 2 layers of compression and translating the opensource files from Martin Galway's original music code. everyone is credited, I'm not trying to claim credit for anything i didn't do, the assistance of the original artist has been throughout a godsend. In addition, memory was getting real tight and i needed help with shuffling massive chunks of gameplay around the memory banks.

v1.3 Changelog; 

  - Reorganised menu memory to make room for additional music, removing duplicated menu artwork and moving the title picture into protected bank storage.
  - Removed the Enhancements option and pages to reclaim memory.
  - Added the C64 and Atari ST title themes, alongside the original Spectrum theme.
  - Added the C64 Game Over music, initially as a selectable Music Player track.
  - Removed three unused audio selections and their private data: Unused Spawn, Unused Jingle and Unused Effect. Shared sounds needed by gameplay were retained.
  - Added lossless compression for the additional music and its player, allowing more tracks to fit without altering their recorded AY sound output.
  - Added the C64 Name Entry music to the game’s available tracks.
  - Fixed temporarily double-speed Spectrum menu music after high-score entry, along with the related incorrect audio state when returning to converted music.
  - Replaced pearl-pickup and successful powerup-selection beeps with C64-derived effects, adapted for the Spectrum’s AY sound chip.
  - Fixed the old beeps playing underneath those replacement effects, and corrected the replacement playback channel.
  - Changed Music Player into Music Options, grouping tracks by their purpose and platform.
  - Added Spectrum, C64 and Mixed music preferences. Automatic music selection uses the chosen platform where a suitable track exists, with Spectrum fallback.
  - Added ABC/ACB stereo selection, applying the selected channel arrangement to both music and sound effects.
  - Added directional gameplay sound placement. Enemy sounds are placed left or right relative to Wizball; player-related sounds use the centre channel.
  - Made C64 the default music preference on a fresh load.
  - Expanded the composer credits to include Peter Clarke, Martin Galway and Peter Johnson.
  - Improved menu input handling during background screen preparation, preventing short key presses from being delayed or missed while credits were being generated.
  - Fixed the continuous tone after the death jingle, silencing the completed cue before rebuilding the respawn scene.
  - Fixed C64 high-score music slowing during initials entry, reducing playback overhead and allowing music updates to continue during name redraws.
  - Removed unwanted white noise from the wave-start warning jingle, retaining its tone sequence.
  - Fixed held notes during pipe transitions, silencing outgoing effects before the animation and the completed arrival cue before the closing wipe.
  - Added dash and period to high-score initials, alongside letters and spaces.
  - Replaced the default high-score initials with the team names.
  - Added the C64 Get Ready cue, integrated with the music preference setting and available for individual playback in Music Options.
  - Fixed +2A/+3 memory paging, addressing the loading freeze and correcting affected paging paths throughout menus, music, transitions and reset handling.
  - Replaced the delivered standard TAP’s custom reader with genuine ROM loading calls, making it suitable for DivIDE/DivMMC virtual-tape loading. The turbo TZX retains its custom turbo reader and black-and-blue bars.
  - Buffered instruction and menu redraws, keeping the previous complete picture visible until the next page is ready, instead of showing the screen being progressively cleared and drawn.
  - Optimised the shared text-drawing routines, reducing the work needed to generate pages without changing their appearance.
  - Accelerated music-bank backup and restoration, reducing the delay after choosing Start Game or Music Options.
  - Added immediate yellow acknowledgement of an accepted menu choice, subsequently expanded from the number to the whole selected line.
  - Made the C64 Get Ready cue repeat until Fire is pressed, while retaining the Spectrum cue’s existing repeat behaviour.
  - Fixed the yellow menu highlight carrying onto the Fire row on Choose Keys.
  - Multiplied all ten default high-score table scores by ten, giving 100,000 down to 10,000, without changing points awarded during gameplay.

v1.2 Changelog;

  - Fixed the green skull enemy corruption, caused by attempting to activate an upgrade when nothing was highlighted
  - Fixed enemy bullets hitting background stars. Stars no longer stop shots; solid scenery still does
  - Expanded the background to four star layers (so smooth!)
  - Extended enemy explosions from three frames to five, using two extra original frames that were never used
  - diamond enemies alternate yellow and cyan (like the c64)
  - changed the white enemies to red to spruce up the colour a bit in the early game
  - Added a cut enemy, a green flying bug with its own new flight pattern
  - tweaked the pearl pickup sound and added feedback when you select a powerup.
  - Added pause 'P' and quit 'Q' (to facilitate rage quitting!)
  - Revised the Get Ready hints, including updated advice
  - More revisions to the collision detection
  - Fixed a bug where you can select an already upgraded powerup
  - Fixed a bug where you could collect paint with a non-present cat (he was just invisible all this time!)
  - Fixed another collision bug; Shots can be wasted on an already-killed enemy, the first kills it, but the remaining shots are deleted too
  - Added cut sprite work on invincibility powerup.  Mark wouldn't shut up about it ;-)
  - Added a .tap version
  - Added a .tzx version (with turbo loader, 50% quicker!)

v1.1 Changelog;

  - New double-buffered renderer that removes sprite flickering and tearing.
  - New dual parallax starfield
  - Colour-cycling enemy bullets (from the C64 version)
  - Purple Blazor powerup shots (from the C64 version)
  - Unused original Wizball font (from the C64 version)
  - 'Jazzed up' Menus with a splash of colour.
  - An attract sequence rotating through the main menu,
  - credits, high scores and title screen
  - Oh, …A High-Score table! (from the C64 version (ish..))
  - More reliable menu input
  - Two instruction pages adapted for the Spectrum version (from the C64 version)
  - Gameplay hints on the Get Ready screen, changing every 30 seconds
  - Dedicated credits page acknowledging the original team
  - A Music menu with that ability to play all the music from the game
  - A clearer SCORE label replacing PL1
  - Explicit LIVES and ZONE readouts
  - Remaining-enemy count for the current wave (from the C64 version)
  - Cat’s remaining health displayed while he is active
  - Better alignment of the score, high score and lower status display
  - The score display updates as soon as points are awarded
  - The high score updates during play as your score exceeds it.
  - High Scores had a rounding issue, they are now recorded accurately
  - Starting high score of 10,000 (100,000 was a bit harsh!)
  - New top ten high-score table, retained between games during the current session
  - Optimised sprite drawing, scenery, projectile checks and display updates to reduce unnecessary work
  - More efficient use of the 128K memory, with redundant storage reduced and room recovered for additional features
  - Round collision detection for Wizball when touching enemies or their bullets.
  - Smaller, more forgiving enemy collision boxes, Fewer cheap deaths!
  - Enemies and upgrade pearls no longer disappear simply because a scene becomes busy
  - Easier Cat control: his automatic pull towards Wizball is halved while being controlled
  - More forgiving timing for the left-right power-up activation gesture, which can begin in either direction

visit https://gravious.itch.io/wizball-enhanced-edition to get any further updates!

Original game: Sensible Software / Ocean, 1987.
Programming: Steve Watson and Paul Owens.
Graphics: Mark R Jones. Music: Peter Clarke.
Bugfixing and Enhancements: Leigh Ashton.
Original game and supplied artwork rights remain with their owners.
SkoolKit 10.1 by Richard Dymond is GPL version 3 or later. Its tooling license
does not relicense the game or supplied artwork. See the included notices.