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Game nostalgia: Oxyd

When I was just a little child, (luckily) my family was eager in buying personal computers in its early years. Many saturdays mornings was spent sitting in front of the computer in the living room, still wearing pajamas and poking around in MS-DOS and later on Windows 3.1. Yes, I was a geek already at the age 6, and I loved exploring the seemingly unlimited possibilities with new technology. Because I have a stern and harsh (German) father who wouldn’t have his kids waste their time playing silly computer games, there were only a few games available (because he could never find them! ) Our old computer had Snake and Space Invaders, both in only 16 colors, playing on MS-DOS. So it was no surprise I was in awe when a friend of mine showed me Oxyd for the very first time. It was monochrome (black and white) but I was still amazed by the detailed graphics. My friend had the shareware-version of Oxyd on a floppy disc, and I remember I begged and begged and nagged to borrow it so I could install it on my family’s computer.

The gameplay of Oxyd is simple. You control a marble with your mouse, and to solve a level you need to “open” boxes (touch them) and match all pairs of matching patterns. It’s like Memory. When you touch a specific type of box with your marble, the eventually previously opened box are closed if the pattern doesn’t match. If you successfully make a matching pair, they stay there until you have matched all pairs on the level. When you advance in level, there are different obstacles (some of them you can move around), larger landscapes, enemies, different kind of floors and puzzles you need to solve. Since the entire game is based on using only your mouse, you’ll need a steady hand and a good mouse!

Because I had the shareware-version, only the first 10 levels were playable. At level 11 and further you would get a annoying box in a crucial place so you couldn’t complete the level and advance in the game. I seriously don’t remember what I did, but it was not paying for the game and a code to unlock it. Sometimes the box was just gone! Hundred of levels were free to me to explore, and I keenly solved each puzzle getting more fascinated by every passing minute.

Unfortunately at some time when I got older and between computers I lost the game data and eventually forgot about it. During my teenages I explored the internet looking for the game again. I discovered that Oxyd was such a successfull game that several sequels and clones of it was made. The original was made by Dongleware in 1990, but they no longer maintain the Oxyd series. A more detailed overview over the different clones of the Oxyd games are found here (further down the page). On that site you can also download the original DOS Oxyd, among others clones. “Oxyd extra v2.0″ is an official freeware clone of Oxyd made by MadData with permission from Dongleware, and is downloadable at www.oxyd-game.com.

I found a page which holds a complete overview over all versions of Oxyd, but because of bandwith reasons you have to request the downloads by e-mail. At the same site another page describes how to solve the 10 first levels, and loads of good tips for playing Oxyd.

Not until recently I discovered Enigma, a fairly new game based on Oxyd. Playing it really brings back the joy I experienced when I first played the original Oxyd. It’s free and downloadable at Enigma’s page. It can even be played under Windows Vista and Windows 7 (the other clones requires Windows XP which I don’t run anymore) and contains lots of levels free for exploration and pondering.

1 Comment to Game nostalgia: Oxyd

1. 

   Thank you so much for the Enigma link! I have been looking for Oxyd all day (I forgot the name, I’m 20 and I played it as a very small child, my parents also bought a Mac very early on) anyway, I also have windows vista and I was devastated when I found out the other one wouldn’t run, because I really wanted to play it again! It was such a fun game! (I was obsessed with that and prince of persia.)
Kim on July 29th, 2009

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