Adrian and a friend in need

According to the story, Crystian is (once again) in need of help, so his best friend, Adrian, sets out to find the crystals scattered across the worlds. He must fight his way through six different worlds, facing countless enemies, traps, and obstacles along the way, ultimately helping his friend complete his quest.

Part of the reason Adrian rushes to Crystian's aid is so they can finally play GTA VI together, because if Crystian continued the search on his own, even an eternity would not be enough.

Adrian, however, is not the same kind of hero as Crystian. He is faster, more agile, and more athletic, making the gameplay much more dynamic.

At first glance, this is also a classic 2D platform game built around the Commodore 64's familiar 8x8-pixel character graphics mode, yet there is something quite special about it.

The graphics almost manage to hide the fact that the game is based on the Commodore 64's 40x25-character, 8x8-pixel tile-based display.

From a technical perspective, this is an impressive achievement.

Smoother animations, fast scrolling, exceptionally detailed character-based graphics, excellent music and sound effects, and an entirely new enemy system keep the game feeling fresh and enjoyable throughout.

Compared to the previous game:

- Adrian is much more agile - grid-based movement has been completely removed from the game
- 6 highly detailed levels that are now more than twice as large in terms of area - more than 17,000 tiles per level instead of 8,000
- Non-linear level design - Adrian can explore the levels at his own pace, with no predetermined way to complete them
- Around one hundred enemies on each level + new enemy types (fish, lava rocks) and more dynamic environments (randomly falling rocks and spikes)
- Different enemy types with different damage values
- A simple puzzle system for opening gates using magical cubes
- Classic coin collecting (100 coins = +1 life), along with energy and extra-life pickups

If you enjoyed Crystian and the Lost Crystals, there is a good chance you will like Adrian and a Friend in Need even more. It is not simply a sequel, but a bigger, faster, and more polished game in every respect.

Creators and technology

+ Programming, graphics, and sound effects: Marcel Sasik
+ Music: Johan Samuelson (Stinsen)
+ Additional environmental sound effects: Nordischsound and Hans Svala
+ Development tools: VS Code, KickAssembler, CharPad C64 Pro, SpritePad C64 Pro, CorelDRAW, GoatTracker 2.77, SFX Anywhere, SFX Editor, Exomizer, and PHP
+ The developer also used a large amount of PHP to process the levels and enemies.
+ Compatibility: original Commodore 64 hardware, PAL and NTSC systems, and the VICE emulator.