Game Review: Super Nudge 2000 (Amstrad, Mastertronic / PAL Developments)

The Amstrad CPC was one of the few 8-bit systems supported by Mastertronic that didn’t receive a conversion of Vegas Jackpot (the other being the MSX). Considering the fact that it was one of Mastertronic’s all-time best selling titles, it was a strange move, even more so considering that their first Amstrad title came out long before the last of it’s ports. However, all wasn’t lost as the CPC finally got a slots game of it’s own by way of the PAL Developments range with this conversion of Super Nudge 2000 from the Commodore 64…

Super Nudge 2000 – A Game With An Identity Crisis?

When first written for the Commodore 64 by Ash & Dave, it was submitted to Mastertronic with the original name Fruitbank. Changed to Super Nudge 2000 for some unknown reason, it remains referred to as Fruitbank in game and on-screen and even utilises this name during gameplay to trigger the bonus games. In fact, the only reference to the new name is on the loading screen where Super Nudge 2000 has been drawn over the top of the Fruitbank logo!

A Measly Pound…?

Growing up as kids, a lot of you will probably remember that there were some slot machines we were able to play legally in the UK. While most slot machines were restricted to players aged 18 and over, anything that cost no more than 10p to play and didn’t have a maximum prize greater than £5 were legal for anyone to play!

Super Nudge 2000 keeps within this framework and gives the player a starting pot of just £1, with each play costing 10p. The maximum prize you can win is £2 so even virtually you’re not going to get rich playing this one and it’s probably the lowest starting amount and top prize I’ve seen on any home slots game!

Taking Control

Now this is where things get strange. I’ve played a LOT of computerised slot machines in my life, starting right from some of my earliest pre-Mastertronic games on the Vic 20 right through to the 16-bit era and beyond, but there’s one thing they’ve all had in common… they’ve all used the keyboard to control them. Hold functions were simply a case of pressing the corresponding number to select/deselect each reel, space or enter to start and various other keys for collect, gamble depending on the game/platform but it’s been a natural and intuitive way of playing.

But not Super Nudge 2000. The game is controlled completely with the joystick and it’s quite a strange experience to start off with. You move left and right to highlight the button on screen that you want to use then press fire to select it so when you get the chance to hold reels for example, just move on to the buttons under each reel and press fire on the ones you want to hold. While it’s quite straightforward to use, I still prefer the more tactile approach of using a keyboard to play.

Let’s Play Slots!

Super Nudge 2000 is your typical three-reel slot machine. The game starts off with your opening fund of £1 pre-loaded into the bank and pressing start uses up 10p of that. The core game focuses on the slot reels themselves and once they start to spin you hope that they settle into on of the game’s numerous winning combinations available. If they do, play moves to the right hand side, giving you the opportunity to increase your prize.

Three amounts start to flash rapidly in this column – pressing start collects the centre prize while pressing gamble takes the selects the flashing prize that is either above or below it. If you get the higher number you get the chance to gamble again, to try to work towards the maximum £2 prize. Fail and select the lower amount and you have one last chance to get the higher value. If you do then you can keep climbing the prize tower but if you fail a second time you win the lower prize and it’s back to spin the reels again.

I Am The Count…

On some of the reels you’ll see numbers next to the symbols. If these land on the winning line, the corresponding number of letters light up on the word FRUITBANK at the top. If all nine letters are filled it will give you the opportunity to access one of the four bonus modes. The list of these is displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and once triggered they will begin to flash rapidly – press fire and one will be selected at random.

Cash Plus will give you a cash bonus to your pot. This is the amount you can see on the left hand side of the screen and this builds up slowly during play. Nudges is self explanatory. Here the FRUITBANK logo will flash rapidly and upon pressing fire to stop this it will determine how many nudges you are awarded. Then just move the cursor to the reel you want to nudge and push up or down on the joystick until you run out of nudges or make a winning match.

Spin-A-Win (referred to as Spin-A-Wheel in the manual) is an automated bonus game where the first reel will randomly spin and land and lock in a symbol. The other two reels will then spin until they lock and match the same symbol. If the second reel locks first then the mode ends and you win the prize value for two matches. If the third reel locks first then it waits until all three have matched and you get the prize for three matches. And finally we have Stop-A-Reel. Here all three reels start to spin slowly and in turn you can press fire to stop each of the reels on your chosen symbol. The trick is to position the cursor on the first reel and find the highest value symbol, move to the third and do the same, then finish on the second.

Graphics and Sound

Sound can be described as minimalistic at best. There’s no title music or any other music in the game at all, and apart from the odd effect as reels lock into place, and blips as the FRUITBANK meter builds up, there’s very little to speak of. I’m not expecting much from any fruit machine game but even the occasional audio feedback when you activate holds or have to gamble your winnings would have been an improvement.

Visually Super Nudge 2000 certainly looks the part. The overall presentation on screen looks bold, colourful and well defined and everything is clear and easy to make out. As for the reels themselves, all of the symbols are extremely detailed, colourful and make good use of the CPC’s abilities and when moving, the reels scroll extremely smoothly. But the graphics aren’t without issues, and this is where lies the game’s biggest drawback…

Who Left The Handbrake On?

Unfortunately, even though Super Nudge 2000 shows a great deal of promise and it could be a great slots game, it’s painfully slow to play. Even as the game loads you get the feeling that it’s one you’re going to struggle with as it takes over 7 minutes to load. And for a game like this, that’s far too long. But getting into the game itself, it seems to struggle with the most basis element of any slots game – the reels themselves.

Each time you press the start button, the reels begin to spin but frankly I’ve never seen a slots game play so slowly in my life. It can take anything up to ten seconds for the reels to spin and lock into place and that’s before you get to the next step with each spin and find out whether you have to collect/gamble any winnings or not or play any of the bonus games. Any if you do win anything, this is equally painful watching it add to your bank slowly, 10p at a time…

Playability

As I said, Super Nudge 2000 really did show a lot of potential throughout. Plenty of variety in the bonus modes, including two original ones that I don’t recall seeing in any other home slots game before (Spin-A-Wheel and Stop-A-Reel) and it genuinely looks the part. But without the thrill of winning money for real. you at least need to recreate the feeling that you’re in the arcades and playing a reel slot machine. And frankly it doesn’t.

The idea of going to play any slot machine with just £1 in your “pocket” doesn’t bode well from the start (even when I went on holiday with my parents growing up I remember having more than that for the slot machines and coin pushers to play with!) and with it running so slowly there’s never any excitement – you spend more time waiting than playing and sadly it becomes a combination of boredom and frustration more than anything else.

Overall

While I did have concerns about the control method used for Super Nudge 2000, that was something I soon managed to adjust to, but unfortunately the game is just far too slow to be enjoyable. The speed turns what could have been an entertaining and original slots machine into something that is sluggish and borderline painful to play. There are better slot machine games out there for the Amstrad so don’t waste your money on this one.

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