| Every Day Is Halloween | |
|
| |
| Developer | C. Malcolm |
| Publishers | Binary Star Software Freeware |
| Release dates | August, 2018 April, 2020 (re-release) |
| Genre | Shooter |
| Mode | Single player |
| Media | Cartridge ROM file |
Story[]
A witch cast a curse on the player, turning their head into a pumpkin starting on October first. The player must destroy a certain amount of Halloween-themed creatures for every day until October 31st in order to defeat the curse and the game.
Gameplay[]
The player controls a pumpkin at the bottom of the screen that can shoot at overhead enemies. Being hit by an enemy or its projectile will cause the player to lose a pumpkin and the game will end when there are no pumpkins left in reserve. The player will also start the current day over when they lose a pumpkin. An extra pumpkin is awarded at 1,000 points and every 2,000 points afterwards, however.
Every game begins on October first; the player must destroy all targets in order to advance to the next day. If the player can destroy the final Pumpkin Witch boss on October 31st then the game will end.
Enemies[]
- Bats–these are the most common targets the player will face. They dart about the screen, changing direction often and will shoot at the player.
- Spiders–starting on the second day, this is the only enemy that will not fire at the player, but will rapidly move vertically up and down a web string.
- Ghosts–initially these will appear for several seconds and not fire at the player, but if they are not shot quickly enough, they will reappear elsewhere on the screen and start firing at the player starting with their second appearance.
- Witches–these appear at the top of the screen and move horizontally; once they reach a screen edge they will drop a level closer while firing huge projectiles at the player.
- Bosses–combines the movement of a witch (moving horizontally), although these are the fastest and toughest enemies the player will face, as they take several hits before they can be destroyed (which is denoted by a damage meter at the top left of the screen). Shooting a boss will also temporarily slow it down. All bosses are accompanied by bats and begin appearing every four days. These bosses include larger versions of witches, bats, ghosts and spiders, with the final boss being a large Pumpkin Witch. Once a boss is destroyed, all bats will disappear with it and the next day will begin.
End[]
If the player is able to destroy the Pumpkin Witch boss on October 31st, their head will revert from a pumpkin back to normal, as it states onscreen that "the curse is lifted", as "the witch is dead".
Scoring[]
- Bat–25 points
- Ghost-100 points
- Spider-20 points
- Witch–50 points
- Boss–varies
- Extra life at 1000 and every 2000 points afterwards
Point values can also double or triple when an enemy is shot at close range.
Controls[]
- Start game–button 4
- Move (left/right only)–joystick or D-pad on modern day digital controller, buttons 1 and 2
- Fire magic stalk–button 4
- Reset high scores–hold buttons 1-4 as cartridge boots, confirm with button 4 when prompted or any other button to cancel
- Choose initial (high score save screen)–left/right on joystick or D-pad, buttons 1 and 2
- Enter initial–button 4
Trivia[]
- Like with Repulse, the player can only fire one shot at a time, although the shot can be canceled out by pressing button 4, causing the first shot to be replaced with a new one.
- The largest amount of pumpkins in reserve the player can have is nine.
- On the copyright screen where it states the company name (such as GCE) and year of release, on this game it reads “GCE 666".
- As of 2021, this is one of only a few games to have cutscenes (like Sectis), along with an onscreen intro and ending.
- Ten limited edition copies were sold in a translucent orange case with a light-up PCB.
- The cartridge version of the game has a permanent high score save of the top three scores (unless they are erased). The downloaded version's high score table gets reset each time the Vectrex is turned on if played on a flash cart. Also, when first played, the high scores "initials" spell out "Halloween" (being "Hal", "lo" and "een").
- On October 31, 2017, a video of the alpha version of the game was put up on creator Binary Star's YouTube channel, showing many differences once the game was later released, which included a different scoring system, bats moved more from side to side rather than often switching directions, two spiders appeared onscreen at once during their debut on day two (which did not happen until later in the game upon official release), a default high score was 666, the witch didn’t start shooting until after she passed down three rows, some of the days were shorter and no boss appeared on the fourth day.
- The game was re-released as a ROM download in April, 2020 due to the widespread, very contagious COVID-19 virus that kept many people around the world at home in quarantine.
- With the 2020 Vector War contest, Every Day Is Halloween was one of the games in the contest (known as the "LED Overkill Edition"). A special version had to be downloaded and played for the contest, which was the exact same as the original release except that players did not earn any extra pumpkins.