Phazer 64
A downloadable game
About the Game
One forbidden button. One blown-up satellite. Zero time before Mom gets home!
When a kid presses the forbidden button, Terra's main satellite gets blown-up by a powerful laser.
UH-OH! (Yes, it was you.)
Good thing you've got a homemade UFO in the garage. You have to repair the damage - before your parents come home and find out.
LET'S GO!
Embark on an adventure through space. Meet new alien friends and explore strange planets - both above and underground.
- Fly through open space and race tracks
- Land on planets, switch from flight to on-foot
- Explore surface and underground areas
- Collect Star Nuggets to fund upgrades
- Unlock weapon systems to blast asteroids
- Use your space map to find the satellite pieces
- Rebuild the satellite with a tractor beam
Will you convince Crankhorn, the galaxy's best mechanic, to install his new tractor beam?
Can you piece the satellite back together - or are you about to get grounded for life?
N64 Features
- Runs on real Nintendo 64 hardware (PAL, NTSC)
- Fully compatible with the Ares emulator
- Stable 60 FPS on original hardware, including PAL60
- EEPROM save, overscan settings, and stick calibration
- Immersive stereo sound
- I recommend a SummerCart64 to play on hardware
- Made using libdragon for the #N64BrewJam 6
Note: this game is unofficial homebrew and in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.
Why I made this game
This game is a love letter to Commander Keen and other games that inspired me as a kid to become a game developer. People have described it as "Commander Keen meets No Man's Sky" in spirit.
When playing the original Keen games, I remember being so frustrated that I couldn't enter the spaceship and fly to new planets. When Commander Keen 4 fully showed the ship for the first time, I probably spent hours trying to make it fly.
When I worked on Phazer 64, at first it was supposed to be only a UFO in space with a nice-looking starfield simulation. But when my son played the prototype, he echoed that same sense of wonder. "Why can't I land on this planet? Why can't I leave my UFO? Why can't I jump around?" My brain said: this is out of scope, this is too much, don't do it. Yet, my heart remembered how I felt when I was a kid, and my gut finally decided: it's a game jam, what could go wrong? Let's go!
So I built it. And now you can: travel, land, get out, explore, jump. The technology is there, and the game jam release feels like the beginning of something bigger.
The N64 is my favorite console. Its library of family-friendly games is colorful and full of wonder, while still taking players seriously. That feels like a great fit, and building on real hardware is magical.
If you want to play more Phazer 64 in the future or are interested in my personal projects, you can sign up for my newsletter on https://www.phazer64.com
The journey will continue.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- V 1.16 days ago
Comments
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So like, what's up with all the AI-generated images in the game? You couldn't hire an artist or even attempt to make that artwork yourself?
Exactly. This is a free game-jam game and was an enormous amount of work already. I bought assets from artists where possible (all credited), donated to free assets where it wasn't necessary and made a lot of the "gameplay" art myself. Hiring someone was out of the question. And for stuff like the intro and characters obviously nothing pre-made existed.
On the other hand, I made all the music myself for the very first time and that felt more important to me on this project. Personally, I like the quality of the AI assets and they are in line with what I envisioned for this project, but I also understand the many problems people have with AI generated content (and because of that, GenAI usage is also correctly disclosed on this page - EDIT: at least the boxes are ticked in the setup of this page, not sure where they show up?!). Without the intro, my son and I wouldnt have had the experience of recording his voice for it - which I'll never forget - so I'd never want to miss that and I am glad that I decided to go this route.
When I continue working on the game for a full proper release the AI art will be replaced, I am already in touch with various artists :)
i've seen a gameplay on youtube and i loved it!
i would like so much to play this on emulator but it wouldnt run! It showes a black screen on my emulators, can i do something or can you make an emulator version? somehow? i'm not an expert i dont know if this is possible. [i never owned n64 myself by i'm a passionate retrogamer and very passionate about Elite series, and starflight and nomansky and the infamuos star citizen lol ].
If you download ARES, the game should just work! Perhaps you have to set up your gamepad / controller so the buttons are correctly mapped. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm about my game :)
You packed a lot into this game jam game! I really like the way the ship handles and the way the acceleration modulates the music. There are lots of little convenience factors that have a big impact like the map and the ability to place waypoints. I also liked being able to land on planets and walk around. Really excellent little game
Thank you so much! Yeah, a lot of time went into ship handling and the camera for that mode. I was a bit sad I couldn't add enemies to it to make really more use of it, but that will be next :)
pure awesomeness :)
Thank you :)
sweet!
Thanks!