Pyrebirds for ColecoVision

01/14/2026: We're creeping into beta territory with this build, titled "Pyrebeta.rom." We have an intro now! And a ColecoVision take on the song Romance L'Amor... it didn't sound great in the arcade game, but it's beautiful in its native guitar.

Anyway! There are still no enemy bullets, still no swooping crows, and still no attacking keets. I suspect it'll be the toughest part of this game, but it isn't really much of a game if you can't lose, huh? So my nose goes right back to the grindstone.

01/12/2026: Preliminary sound added! Hey, it had to happen eventually. By the way, I dropped in an extra sound effect for clipping the wings of a crow with a bullet.

Here's an early work in progress build of Pyrebirds, a clone of the arcade hit Phoenix on ColecoVision-class hardware. It's not a perfect arcade translation, partially because that's beyond the scope of the TMS 9918 graphics chip, but also because I'll have to improvise with the enemy logic. 

That's why I'm calling it Pyrebirds... well, that and to put a little legal distance between it and its inspiration. Taito's corporate parent Square-Enix is known to be litigious, after all.

Anyway, here's what's included in this, uh, 50% complete build.

* Title screen
* All five stages from the first loop!
* Scoring based on the arcade game!
* Basic logic for keets (stage one and two soldiers)
* Basic logic for crows (stage three and four generals)
* Behavior and movement for alien queen boss
* Shooting; limited to one bullet
* Shield; behavior roughly approximates that of Phoenix
* Collision detection between shot and enemies
* Stage advancement

Here's what's not:

* Advanced keet logic (falling out of formation, zigzagging, retreating)
* Vertical movement for crows
* Explosions for player's ship and alien queen
* Enemy shots (movement, variables, collision detection)
* Game over screen
* Introduction screen
* All sound and music

Same scheme as usual, folks. It's free until it's fully baked as a game, in which case the price will be five bucks.

Stay tuned for future updates!