Classic style arcade gameplay recreated in Flash, SwfRoads is an absolutely brilliant fast action driving game with simple controls, great minimalist visuals and an energizing soundtrack. Take to the sky in your spacecraft and navigate the geometric terrain of each of the game's 18 selectable roads.
Use the [up] and [down] arrow keys to change speed; press [left] and [right] to navigate. Press [space] to jump. To quit a game in progress and return to the road select menu at any time, press [esc].
You must stay on the road and make it to the end of each one to advance automatically to the next, though you may play any road you wish. While driving you will notice that some colored terrain have special properties, such as changing your speed or destroying you if landed upon. Also, the gravitational force changes between roads and so will the tactic required to make it safely to the end.
You are given unlimited lives, and there is no score tallied and no levels to unlock. This is pure arcade goodness without all the overhead. You will notice, however, that a brute force method will not get you very far; you will need to plan your moves and your speed wisely for each road. Great arcade fun in a fantastic Flash implementation.
The game was coded by Zooli and is actually a remake of SkyRoads, a now classic game released by Bluemoon Interactive back in 1993 as shareware for the PC (DOS). SwfRoads looks and plays a lot similar, though it does not include the oxygen and fuel gauges, nor the time limits that SkyRoads has. Bluemoon has since made the demo and full versions of SkyRoads freely available as downloads from their site.
Jeez... talk about a difficulty ramp-up.. After the first one I'm just not doing very well at all..
That could be from the fact that I generally prefer the brute force method, however. Jay's right, that won't get you very far, unless unconciously you're incredibly skilled, or you're incredibly incredibly lucky.
Very much fun, though. I love the lack of scores or gagues or limits. As you said, "pure arcade goodness".
No way! Thankyou so much for finding this, I used to love this game when I had it on an old shareware disc, but I lost it and couldn't remember the name of it hehe.
Yay!
This is a pretty good game overall, but it's dissapointing that there are no extras or power-ups or things like that. I did try to jump ahead and beat the final level, but it was a little tricky. Anyways, great find, Jay!
Nice find! I loved SkyRoads! Runs wells, sounds great. Truely this is something that needed to be done :)
Fun game, but it needs a shadow for when you jump - it's hard to tell exactly what spot you're above when you jump.
Oh Jay you are my hero. I've been craving this game since i played it on shareware years ago.
Now I have something to do at work today.
Skyroads! Brilliant. totally the Awesome. a good remake of Scorpion for the Acorn RISC-Based systems and I'll be back at school again. well, that, and chuckie-egg. :D
Holy crap, I loved skyroads!
tips for those having trouble:
you don't have to hold down the up arrow to keep up speed, it will not slow down unless you press down.
love this game! :) currently stuck on level 3.3
Just a note about Bluemoon Interactive: after the games they made Skype, sold it to eBay and are all now very rich men.
I know that game from DOS.. well.. it's some time ago and I already missed it.
Now you're showing it in flash.. amazing :)
But it became difficult again.
Great find! I used to love this game!
I remember a clone of the game on the amega where you played a ball instead. To my recollect the levels are exactly the same, the level of 3D used to amaze me when I was a kid!
NO! @$%&! I used to love playing this game on my 486, but Linux only goes up to Flashplayer 7! So I can't play it! Argh!
</rant>
Honestly, I am not impressed. I am a huge skyroads fan (I even have mp3s of the amazing soundtrack), and this is a weak port, especially when the original is easily downloaded. While it run's in dos, dosbox is easy to get and use, and that is how I play it on my mac. I think a lot of the challenge is lost without the gauges and original music. Also the controls and graphics are simplified and the lack of a speed counter changes greatly one's ability to control the speed in detail. This was a good attempt, but pales in comparison to the original masterpeice of innovative game design.
Oh Emm Gee Jay!
I used to play this game so much, but I sucked at it (I was 4 or 5 I think)... Thank you so much for finding this. Wow. And the music is so amazing.
Once again, WOW.
So many memories came flooding back as soon as I saw this.. I'm gonna go show this to my older brother, I'm sure he'll remember this :)
whoaaaaa sweet find jay!
I remember playing this when I was 5 or 6 years old!
Brings back childhood memories, this sure does.
I think it would have been more helpful to (new) players if they had a page that told them what kind of platforms did what, I'm sure it seems weird for non-Skyroad players to instantly restart at the beginning just because they jumped onto the bright-red platform of death, or suddenly have their speed changed on them by going onto the bright-green platform of speed boost or the dark-green platform of speed reduce.
This port was nice, though because of no oxygen or fuel (or time!) to worry about it was a little easy. Infinite thumbs up!
Great game. I wish you could go even faster though, it would be awesome. Kept me entertained for quite a while.
OMG I played that when I was like 3... I still have it... man it's so hard...
In RE: Steven,
Although I also prefer the original and think this one still needs a lot of work, there is a speed counter. I guess you missed it. It's at the bottom, just a simple text display rather than a nice gauge like Skyroads had.
I agree with Steven. This version has nothing to offer the original doesn't. Even the levels are the same, aren't they?
If I was the developer, I'd atleast offer some new exciting levels.
> "This version has nothing to offer the original doesn't."
I quite disagree. SwfRoads, as the name implies, is a recreation in Flash, and therefore plays in the convenience of a browser, and that's reason enough for me to play. =p
To all you purists out there: lighten up, it's just a game! Enjoy it for what it is. =)
I wouldn't consider myself a purist, jay, but this definately needs a -little- bit more work. A help screen would definately aid players who are new to SkyRoads, and the removal of O2 and Fuel Gauge make some roads too simple. There are also some detection issues, especially when gliding corners.
I think that there should at least have been an explosion graphic for when you crash.
This game is GREAT. I would like to see more levels. The freedom of no score, no lives, etc is comforting. I don't see "GAME OVER" 200 times! An idea for getting more levels is if the designer created a level designer. Then people could submit their levels. He could either play them before he posts them, or post them immediately and let people play them.
Look,stop complaining about what it isn't. No one said it was going to be anything like the original anyway. It's just meant to be a short game and skyroads sounds awfully long. SO SHUT UP!
OW ow ow! This game Rocks!
now they've added a level editor to this game!!
This game is a lot like a came called PlainJump for the TI83. I've been looking forever for an online game like PlainJump and now I've found it! Yay!
Oh, wow. Skyroads... It's been so long since I played that. That reminds me of the era when like EVERYONE in the world used AOL and you could download all of he most awesomest games there.
Hello All!......It's a pretty good remake of skyroads but it doesn't have the same feeling as the original did.
I Really love to see this game makes his tribute to the oldtimes but I'd rather play the original one.
I think it has to do with the controls and the grafics of the spaceship. The controls feel a little slow and i find the grafics of the ship somehow not fitting in this pixel-originated game.
I'm not pulling down this remake, it's fun to play and the maker did a very good job....But all i'm saing is that this game need some more tweaking to be a real tribute to the oldies :D
GREETZ Coiler
Walkthrough:
Road 1-1
Recommended speed: 150, no more than 200
This level is pretty straightforward. Keep it somewhat slow, as there is one turn you could fall off in the middle of the course.
Road 1-2
Recommended speed: 200
After the floor changes from gray to reddish-pink (Something like that .-.) you'll want to jump to the far right path instead of jumping on the bright red (pink?) platform. These platforms will kill you. Slow down to about 150 if you're not used to the game yet.
Road 1-3
Recommended speed: Varies
Let it be known that I hate this level. Start off at about 200 mph. Jump on the white blocks on the left side until you hit the gray area. Slow down to 100. Turn right at the second turn and jump off of it to the block in the middle. As soon as you hit that block, floor it. Keep the up and right arrow keys held down until you reach the path on the right, then let go of the right arrow keys. You wouldn't believe how long it took me to do this level T.T
Road 2-1
Recommend speed: Whatever you want (For maximum fun, 300)
Mmmm. Easy levels. I like to keep a speed of 250 whilst jumping through this level. When you hit the tunnels, slow down to 50-90, as you will be making a sharp turn to the goal.
Road 2-2
Recommended speed: 200-250
Another simple level. Jump over the first blocks, then jump onto the teal-colored block on the left side. Ride that side until another jump comes. After a couple seconds, another teal-colored block will appear. Jump on either side you want until you hit the goal.
Road 2-3
Recommended speed: 125
Take this level slowly, and it will be easy. At the third set of tunnels, you'll want to take the left side to avoid the bright-red block. Keep it slow, and you'll be on to the next world.
Road 3-1
Recommended speed: 200
Take the middle path, and be prepared to quickly jump over to the left path when the middle path ends. From the left path, jump back to the middle, and voila!
Road 3-2
Recommended speed: 150
This level introduces black blocks. These blocks are slippery. When you start going one way on the blocks, it's difficult to change directions. To start, take the first few jumps slow. Watch out for the bright red blocks. When you come to tunnels in the blue blocks, go OVER the tunnels, not in them. Keep going until you come to the purple blocks. From them, go onto the middle blue blocks until you reach the end.
Road 3-3
Recommended speed: 300
When you start, move the ship to the far right, so that it just barely makes it onto the left platform if you were to go forward. Now accelerate until you hit 200mph. At this point, hold down that spacebar. After you make it through the first two small platforms, start slowing down to about 100. Don't stay on the green platform for too long: It will accelerate you to 300 mph. Take the tunnels at about 100, too, so you don't go crashing into the white blocks
Road 4-1
Recommended speed: 150
Take these platforms at the slow speed of 150. Take the left path. When you hit the green, don't stop jumping, or you'll be DOOMED! When you hit the red, start slowing down. Eventually hit zero when you can turn left. Line yourself up with the goal, and floor it.
Road 4-2
Recommended speed: 300
You jump higher than normal in this level. Take the first group of obstacles at 200. Once you pass them, speed up to 300. When you get to the second yellow platform, there are holes in the middle. As soon as you get to the end of the first hole, jump. The jump over the tunnels. Ride out the light-pink road until it turns, but instead of turning, jump to the right onto the dark red blocks. From here you can take a more reasonable speed or keep on being the little speed demon you are.
Road 4-3
Recommended speed: Slooow
Take the first part fast: 300 is nice for me. Once you get to the tunnel, slow down to 125. When you start to reach the end of the tunnel, slow down even more, 50 or below. When you can see your ship in the hole, come to a stop, line yourself up with the next tunnel, and take it at 125. Do the same with the next tunnel, which involves a little guesswork. Simply hold down left for a couple seconds when you think you're in the hole. Ride it out to the end.
Road 5-1
Recommended speed: 175
This level is annoying, and there's not much I can say to help you. Slow down. When jumping on the dark blue platforms, you might need to go a little slower (I was at 90 at one point). That's the worst part. Watch out for bright red blocks, and make your way to the end.
Road 5-2
Recommended speed: 200
The best tip for here is to keep to the sides and watch out for red blocks. This level is all simple jumping.
Road 5-3
Recommended speed: 150
Keep to the sides, and keep it slow. Take the left tunnel, and keep it slow as you near the green (not acceleration) blocks at the end
Road 6-1
Recommended speed: 200
More simple jumping. Just keep to the right path, and don't stop jumping on the green acceleration blocks, or you might mess up.
Road 6-2
Recommended speed: 200
Even more easy jumping. Take the left tunnel. When you reach the end of that long tunnel, slow down as you jump across the black blocks.
Road 6-3
Last level!
Recommended speed: Varies
Use the black blocks on the right as stepping stones. Take the end of the brown path at about 100mph, aim for the black blocks. While jumping from the second black block to the platform, you may need to accelerate in mid-air. Jump on top of the semi-red blocks, and once it ends, jump to the left. Try to resist the temptation to speed up and jump to the middle platform while slowing down to make it to the goal.
man, i am seriously bad at this game. i just have like, reaction time issues.
YAY i played this befor and forgot its name and the website also there is a level editor
great adaptation! not as great as the original, 'tho, which - btw - is abandonware...
can any one tell me how to win level 4-3
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