Day 79: A Lifelong Dream is Complete: I Beat Tyrian

Tyrian is a scrolling space shooter game that came out for Windows 95. At the time, the graphics were amazing, the gameplay felt like you were at the arcade, and the difficulty was perfect to keep you hooked. The game has four episodes, but the demo only contained one. I played that demo repeatedly as a kid. For years, I tried to find the game again, but to no avail. I happened to think about the game again this New Year’s Eve, so I searched for it. First, I had to remember the name. I always pronounced it: Try-an. To my surprise, it was very easy to find. You can download it for free here or there are several websites in which you can play it online for free.

Tyrian was one of the first games that I encountered that allowed you to upgrade your ship. In games like Tyrian, the ships were usually upgraded inside of the levels, and if you died then you went back to the stock ship. Not this one. In Tyrian, you can upgrade or degrade your ship (almost) however you want. There are new ships, front guns, back guns, side guns, shields, and generators. Your ship has a shield that protects you and recharges. The guns use different amounts of energy, so the better the generator you have the faster you can fire and not have to wait. The points you get for destroying enemies is your currency, along with other currency you can find in the game. The great thing about Tyrian's custom system is that you can buy and swap out guns at no additional cost. The only time you pay more is for more expensive equipment. But your money does not go away. You are reimbursed any time you swap something out for something cheaper. Although that doesn't happen often, it is good to know that no purchases are in vain.

All the levels and enemies are unique with very little repetition throughout the entire four episodes. The artwork and design are beautiful. And it even has a storyline of sorts. Through the game, you can pick up Data Cubes which add to the story. Without them, you won’t have much of anything. I think that is a fantastic idea: you only get to read the story if you do well in the game.

The creators of the game were brilliant, I think. They included so many hidden elements in the game. There are Secret Levels, Bonus Levels, Hidden Upgrades in-game, and additional levels and features after you beat the game. For example, once you beat the game in the Demo/Episode One, you are offered a Carrot ship to buy! When I first played the game as a kid I unlocked the coolest feature of the game by accident. I unlocked guns that shot bananas in all directions. And those were some powerful bananas! They were the best weapon in the game. I still don’t know how I did it, but I kind of did the same thing today. I unlocked the same feature but this time it was hotdogs. Those bananas and hotdogs saved my life. There was no way I could beat the game without them.

It was frustrating as a kid wanting to play more of the game, but not knowing where to find the additional episodes. Purchasing games on the Internet was not a thing. As I grew older, I forgot about the game. Occasionally, I thought about the great times I had and what a great game it was. Today, I was able to fulfill my childhood dream of playing Tyrian again and beating it. I gotta say...today was a good day.