PixelJunk SideScroller is finally out in the world! This retro-styled side-scrolling shooter plays like a love note to the arcade games I grew up with in my youth, and serves as a quasi-epilogue to the PixelJunk Shooter series. Before you pick it up on the PlayStation Store, get a closer look with this handy new Q&A. Q-Games President and Executive Producer Dylan Cuthbert took to Twitter to answer your most burning questions. Read closely and you might learn a few helpful secrets!

From @wildbillhickock
How many levels?
A: There are thirteen levels (called “Sectors”) total. This includes four absolutely amazing boss battles (Note: Expect an “old friend” from the Shooter-verse to make an appearance, but you’ll be seeing loads of new faces as well). One thing that’s so great about SideScroller is that it has four difficulty modes, and the experience will change depending on what difficulty mode you select. New enemies crop up in Hard difficulty mode, and expect certain encounters to get a whole lot more harrowing because of them. Bullets fly at you faster, the overall look of the game changes, and for those of you brave enough to venture onto Brutal difficulty mode, expect to get “revenge” bullets flung at your ship every time you kill an enemy. Needless to say, SideScroller is a game you can enjoy on many different levels by giving it a replay or two (or three, or four)! Also, the only way to unlock the “true” ending is to complete the game on Brutal. Good luck!

From @VofEscaflowne
Is there still an emphasis on exploring, or is it more “on-rails” than the PixelJunk Shooter series?
A: SideScroller is a complete departure from the Shooter series. Instead of exploring and puzzle solving – staples of the Shooter-verse -, you’ll be using upgradeable weapons to spray bullets in every direction possible! Yes, SideScroller is more of an “on rails” experience, because we’ll push the player onward into really tense situations at a brisk pace. It definitely ups the tension. There are also scenes in the game where the scrolling stops and you have to defeat mini-bosses and any other enemies we throw at you. Mark my words: just because the scrolling stops doesn’t mean the game becomes any less intense!

AuburnRDM
Any unlockables and cool things to work for?
A: There are hidden items scattered through the entire game. For any collectors out there, searching for these items and finding them will certainly be a rewarding experience. They also net you a hefty amount of bonus points, which will be a big help to you competitive players out there who absolutely NEED the #1 high score on the Online Leaderboards! Also, don’t forget to keep an eye on your combo count. The skilled players out there will be able to string together combos from the start of every Sector until the end, so play strategically. If you’re good enough, you might even get a Platinum Medal for your efforts!

From @bergasche
Will my eyes begin to bleed because of so much awesome?
A: A resounding YES! Okay, okay, your eyes may not actually bleed, explode, or otherwise become unusable, but SideScroller has a whole lot of awesome contained within its digital casing. It’s on the PSN now, so what are you waiting for? Go and buy it!

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PixelJunk SideScroller is not far from your hands! Yes, it has kind of crept up upon us, but the release date is 2nd of November in Europe. I really can’t emphasize enough how really, really good old school fun SideScroller has turned out to be. I’m sure some of you have played the “bonus” stage in PixelJunk Shooter 2 called “The Road to Dawn”, well that is what gave us the urge to make an entire side scrolling shoot-em-up game! Back in the day I used to love games such as R-Type and Darius, and going even further back there were games such as Scramble and Defender that inspired me as a child. So… we decided to dip our toes in and see what PixelJunk could bring to the side-scroller world.

We used the same engine as for the two Shooter titles, but the game itself is entirely different. To begin with this is a single-stick controlled game rather than the dual-stick control we had in Shooter, which makes it even more addictive and easy to control. And of course, you can only face to the right as you fly your craft! The only similarity really is that a handful of enemies from Shooter have been “re-imagined” for SideScroller, but to add to them we created a whole slew of new enemies and bosses for you to try to destroy also.

The back-story of the game is that SideScroller is the game the pilot of PixelJunk Shooter is playing on his old computer console in his ship on the way home to Earth after the ending of Shooter 2. This explains the cool “retro” look we have designed with the curved CRT (cathode ray tube) screen and the monochrome look of the interface. However, during its orbit of Apoxus Prime perhaps the computer has been infected.. a little?

Some people reckon PixelJunk games are a little tough, and well.. yes, they are a little because I think games should be a challenge. However, what we’ve done this time is scattered loads of checkpoints so even if you do die you’ll restart really close, and we also give you the option to downgrade your difficulty setting if you get a Game Over too. We’ve created 4 difficulty levels so everyone is catered for (I hope!).

Oh and did I mention, the bosses are AWESOME! Maybe I should mention that again…

I’ve got to head off and start finishing off PixelJunk 4am, so I’m going to leave you with this really cool trailer for SideScroller we created. Definitely check it out, because you might be able to spot one of the AWESOME bosses in there!

Remember everyone – Oct 26th!

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So here we are creeping up onto yet another Tokyo Game Show and we have a big announcement to make, and an unusual one at that! We are announcing a name change – I’m sure many of you have seen information about PixelJunk Lifelike over the past year or so, including some live demo performances we did during E3, and a few of you might have noticed how much the core concept of Lifelike expanded and shifted since it was first announced as we explored more and more ideas. Well, after long deliberation we are changing the name to “PixelJunk 4am” to better match the atmosphere we are trying to create… and for more information about that I have asked some questions and translated Baiyon’s answers for you:

Why the name change?

Baiyon: PixelJunk lifelike was originally conceived as an extension of the PixelJunk Eden world. Our idea was to create a kind of living speaker for people to play their music through, using natural imagery and taking strong visual cues from Eden. There wasn’t even the concept of a “player”. We’ve since moved far beyond that simple idea to new and uncharted waters both visually and musically. The style has evolved now into something that is really quite different from anything we’ve ever made before. It was only natural we’d want to chase this new concept and capture it with a new title.

Why 4am?

Baiyon: 4am represents the exact mood and feeling we’ve captured. 4am is that deep night hour. In clubs, the music drifts to a new level entering a deepened state that often seems removed from reality. Whether you’re in a club or not, 4am always feels like the night has gone on forever, where there’s still a little time left before dawn. This late night feel better represents our current visual and musical style.

So what can we expect now?

Baiyon: PixelJunk 4am is something unique that has never been tried before, so we’re treading in new territory. We’re using the PlayStation Move in truly experimental ways to give people control of making their own style of music. Being able to stream your music live on PSN also gives people the chance to broadcast a new kind of online performance. We can’t wait to see people playing 4am deep into the early morning hours.

So there you have it, from the horse’s mouth so to speak, and to get an even better sense of this “4am” atmosphere Baiyon is talking about check out the brand new trailer we made below and see Baiyon himself creating an awesome track.

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So PixelJunk Shooter 2 has unleashed its FREE online battle demo upon PSN users. Go start the download now. Go on. It’ll be done by the time you finish reading this. Join in the assault on our Veteran players over the weekend. There’s new big bounties on the heads of higher ranked players (especially those in our Sun League) and PixelJunk Shooter 2 staff will be in the mix playing all weekend! So what’s in it for the Veterans?

The PixelJunk team would like present you with a new battleground. From July 15th, we will be uncovering a hidden stage for PixelJunk Shooter 2‘s online battles. This stage will be made available to all players for FREE as a salute to your battling prowess. We should advise you though that while dredging up this ancient stage, a few blocks might have come loose. You’ve been warned…

As an extra hat tip to our online battling brethren (both seasoned and fresh), we’re going to share some data with you on current popular item trends. From our statistics, we’ve calculated your expected “chance of winning” when equipping certain items:

• Magma Resistance – 64.5%
• Resurrection – 64.4%
• Fluid Converter – 59.6%
• Sticky Ship – 59.5%
• Mine – 58.8%

As you can see, the Magma Resistance item (which lets you fly through magma) appears to be giving many people a slight edge.

Our Top #10 online battle players have also shown us some more unique playstyles which are clearly working for them and deserve a mention. Some of the items in their arsenals were quite unexpected. Certain Top 10 players (we’ll let you figure out who) use the Camouflage or Fluid Converter every 1 in 3 matches, and there is even a master Thief using the Snatch n’ Grab every 2 out of 3 matches!

So is that free Shooter 2 Demo download done yet? Then go get onto PSN for a weekend of intense 1v1 PixelJunk Shooter 2 online battling action!

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Hey everyone!I am happy to announce a patch for PixelJunk Shooter 2. We’ve changed a few things. Read on for the full list:

1. There was a bug where some enemies would spawn right on top of you giving you that awesome “insta-death” you really don’t want in a game… well, we fixed it!
2. The online connectivity has been tuned to allow you to hook up with other players much more easily. Try it out!
3. If you get matched against a higher ranking player you get a nice large cash bonus (Q space bucks of course) if you win! This gives you a big incentive to challenge yourself more when you get matched up against someone who seems better than you. Hint: stay calm and use strategy, you can definitely take them!
4. We added an option to the pause screen that lets you take a break in the middle of a stage and come back later to finish it off. So when your mom calls you to the dinner table just choose that option, go eat your dinner *and* be nice to the environment by switching off your PS3!
5. Even if you kill a few survivors and get a game over screen you can “continue” – your score will be reset, but if you are just exploring and trying to get as far as you can this feature stops you from being thrown back to the start of a stage just because a few puny survivors happen to have gotten in the way of your missiles.
6. A message on the pause screen lets you know if there are any diamonds still hidden in the current screen. This is very handy when you are searching out that last diamond in order to unlock the awesomely cool secret last stage!
7. Acid walls aren’t as nasty anymore – we gave the giant alien whose insides you are exploring some antacid and he’s feeling a lot better now!

We have another PixelJunk announcement or two for over the next few weeks, so stay tuned…and enjoy the new-and-improved PixelJunk Shooter 2.

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