Impossible Mission II (C64)

Impossible Mission II

Platform: Commodore 64 Year: 1988 Developer: Novotrade Software Studios

Impossible Mission II is an action and puzzle platformer. The psychotic Professor Elvin Atombender has again locked himself in order to destroy himself and the world, this time into a tower, surrounded by 8 other towers. You start at one of them at random and have to search the furniture for the correct 3-digit code (to enter the next tower) and 6 unique musical sequences (to enter the central control room). You will very often get zapped by robots or crushed against a wall or ceiling, losing 6 minutes out of the 8 hours you got, but you can (and must) activate several power-ups on terminals.

The sequel features new power-ups and robots. Robots can now be destroyed and rooms are more puzzling and themed. Also furniture can be destroyed, power-ups have become finite, and each tower can be entered only once, making the game prone to unwinnability and more of a strategic rather than an arcade platformer. Unfairly, some areas can only be left by dying, and the very last puzzle is based on guessing. The game was acclaimed in magazines; however, gamers disagree on which installment is more fun, and which is harder.

Screenshots

Another visitor. Stay awhile. Staaaayyy foreverrr! Today's start: The automobile tower. What a dump. You'd better exercise! Who is mismanaging here, the developer or I? Uh, password...

Music

The sound design follows the original C64 game and was received well by reviewers and gamers, although some said at the same time that it should have been updated even more. To the title screen, the original start speech and an all-new song (arranged in Soundmonitor with an optimized driver) play once. The footsteps, zap and scream are identical, the elevator noise is deeper, and the robot power noise is dull. All other speech, the robot u-turn and shot noises are gone.

The penultimate goal is to collect 6 unique musical sequences. On the way, you may find two duplicates and have to erase them. The 6 sequences have the same melody, but different instruments. Although the SID chip could do better, some of the instruments are so similar that the duplicates may be hard to find for some ears. This, and the inferior chips of other platforms, may be why other versions (which were reviewed later) use only one instrument and 6 different melodies (where the 4th one is the single C64 melody).

Recording

The game is very inconsistent in terms of SID model and rate. The game was developed in Europe (where PAL was the norm) and the theme is tuned to PAL C64s (although this may be due to the European off-the-shelf driver), but contracted and published in the USA (where NTSC was the norm) and the sequences (in a custom driver) are tuned to NTSC. In the wrong region, all sound is off by 65 cents and either 5 or 29 BPM. The game detects the gamers' region, but adjusts only the actual game's speed, not the sound.

Furthermore, on the original 6581, the theme sounds choppy and stealthy, whereas on the 8580 revision, the theme sounds fuller and dramatic, and the speech is quieter. Sequence 3's octave differs, too, but either sounds fine.

For historical reasons, all settings are recorded, but what the respective arrangers used is unknown. People who worked at Novotrade could be asked for confirmation. Sadly, Gábor Pongyor passed away.

1. VICE 3.2 with the model C64C NTSC.
2. VICE 3.2 with the model C64 NTSC, whenever different from 1.
3. A real C64C PAL with an 8580 R5 4091.
4. VICE 3.2 with the model C64 PAL, whenever different from 3.

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
101	Title	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:52		Download
102	Sequence 1	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
103	Sequence 2	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
104	Sequence 3	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
105	Sequence 4	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
106	Sequence 5	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
107	Sequence 6	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
108	Sequence 1 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:21		Download
109	Sequence 2 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:21		Download
110	Sequences 3 and 4 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:21		Download
111	Sequence 5 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:21		Download
112	Sequence 6 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:21		Download

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
201	Title	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:52		Download
204	Sequence 3	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download
206	Sequence 5	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:06		Download

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
301	Title	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:54		Download
302	Sequence 1	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
303	Sequence 2	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
304	Sequence 3	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
305	Sequence 4	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
306	Sequence 5	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
307	Sequence 6	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
308	Sequence 1 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:25		Download
309	Sequence 2 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:25		Download
310	Sequences 3 and 4 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:25		Download
311	Sequence 5 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:25		Download
312	Sequence 6 (pre-release)	Scott Joplin	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:25		Download

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
401	Title	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:54		Download
404	Sequence 3	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download
406	Sequence 5	Chris Grigg	Tamás Révbíró, Gábor Pongyor	0:07		Download

Credits

• Ripper: HVSC
• Recorder: Professor Chaos
• Game Credits:
  • Original music composition and arrangements by: Chris Grigg
  • Music arrangements and programming by: Tamás Révbíró credited as Tamas Revbiro
  • Music arrangements and programming by: Gábor Pongyor credited as Gabor Pongyor
  • Not Credited Composer: Scott Joplin
  • Not Credited Programmer: Chris Hülsbeck

(Source: Manual, code comparison.)

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

Audio Devices

This game uses the computer's built-in SID chip.

Releases

A version, dated 1987, with a different musical sequence, no theme, no speech, and a comical sound effect instead of a scream, has been spread since early 1988. It is not known to be released officially. In fact, Antal Zolnai, a programmer at Novotrade, told C64.COM in 2011:

“

Our pre-releases and our development tools were always stolen. I still don't know how.

„

World Title: Impossible Mission II Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1988-0?-?? Publisher: Epyx, Inc.     USA Title: Impossible Mission II Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1988-0?-?? Publisher: Epyx, Inc.     USA Title: Impossible Mission II Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1988-0?-?? Publisher: Epyx, Inc.     UK Title: Impossible Mission II Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1988-0?-?? Publisher: Epyx, Inc.     Germany Title: Impossible Mission II Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1988-0?-?? Publisher: Epyx, Inc.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/c64/impossible-mission-ii - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.gamespot.com/c64/574048-impossible-mission-ii - GameFAQs.

View Impossible Mission
Impossible Mission II	•  •  •  •  •  •  •
Notable Songs	Impossible Mission II Theme
Notable Personnel	Chris Grigg
Notable Companies	Epyx • Appaloosa Interactive