The Game
Byte Bitten was a game for the
ZX Spectrum, written by
Tony Barber, and released by
Firebird in 1984. It was perhaps the first time the
game-in-a-game concept appeared.
Main Game
The
main game consists of performing
errands around the house. This involves guessing a
clue (for example, "Whaa! Whaa! Baby's
Hungry"), finding an appropriate object (The
baby bottle) and returning it to the start room.
Of course, there are
baddies to be avoided, who can walk through walls, although their
intelligence is not high.
Contact with a baddie will lose one of your four lives and remove the baddie, but your
progress is not hindered.
In presentation, the house is a simple
maze. Each room has a few
internal walls, with one screen per room, and
exits off the edges of the screen which lead to the next room. The
map of the house doesn't change, but the location of objects can.
You are timed on each of your tasks, but there is a
directional hint indicator which occasionally flashes to aid you.
Sea King
On completion of your errand, you are then allowed to '
Play on your computer'.
The
computer game is a
horizontally scrolling shoot-em-up. You control a
Sea King helicopter, and the aim is to shoot down enemy helicopters. You have a simple
radar at the top of the screen to aid you.
If you take-off immediately, you're in for a
shock - you have no
fuel. You must refuel at the start, and during play by standing on the
aircraft carrier.
When the Sea King game is over, you are
returned to the main game.
Cheats:
The following
POKEs can be entered on the Spectrum version:
- Infinite lives:
53429,0
- Lives = x:
43358,x (where x=1-255)
- Infinite time:
52790,0
A rather repetitious game, the first source quoted below has, at the time of writing, a
java version available for play in your
browser.
Sources:
http://www.80snostalgia.com/computers/spectrum/bytebitten.html
http://www.csturgeon.demon.co.uk/HA3/B/BYTEBITN.HTM