Wireframe Gaming Magazine Coding Ideas – Source Code Edition

This past weekend I decided to go through my Wireframe Gaming Magazine back issues looking for coding ideas.

I put together the below table of all the source code articles across all the issues in case someone out there is also looking for some inspiration.

Issue	Game	Article Description
1	Defender	How particle physics turned Defender into a coin-op classic
2	Galaxian	The simple yet effective AI behind Galaxian’s angry aliens
3	Moon Patrol	How parallax scrolling gives 2D games the illusion of depth
4	Asteroids	How to recreate the thrust motion in Atari’s coin-op classic, Asteroids
5	Game Feature	How to create your own arcade-style high-score table
6	R-Type	How to recreate the whipping alien tail from R-Type
7	Super Mario Bros.	Recreate the jumping physics from Super Mario Bros.
8	Missile Command	The code behind Missile Command’s unforgettable vapour trails
9	Space Invaders	Recreating the disintegrating shields from Space Invaders
10	Pang	Recreating Pang’s evil bouncing balloons in Python
11	Breakout	Recreate the block-smashing action of Breakout
12	Bomberman	Recreate Bomberman’s four-way explosions
13	Gyruss	Recreate Gyruss’s zooming starfield effect
14	Donkey Kong	Make a Donkey Kong-style animated walk cycle
15	Ant Attack	Ant Attack-style isometric graphics explained
16	Gradius	Code your own Gradius-style Option sprites
17	Lemmings	Recreate the path-following critters from Lemmings
18	3D Monster Maze	Code 3D Monster Maze’s nightmare setting
19	Game Feature	Make your own arcade-style continue screen
20	Duck Hunt	Make your own mini shooting gallery in Python
21	Super Sprint	Code your very own top-down racing game
22	Scramble	Recreate Scramble’s scrolling landscape
23	Daley Thompson’s Decathlon	Code your own Daley Thompson’s Decathlon-style minigame
24	Donkey Kong	Recreate Donkey Kong’s deadly rolling barrels
25	Columns	Code your own Columns-style match-three puzzler
26	Phoenix	Recreate Phoenix’s pioneering mothership boss battle
27	Frogger	Recreate Konami’s Frogger in just a few lines of code
28	Pokemon, Final Fantasy and Undertale	Create your own turn-based combat system
29	Flappy Bird	Code your own addictive Flappy Bird homage
30	Boulder Dash	Code your own Boulder Dash homage
31	Spy Hunter	Code your own top-down rolling road
32	Kung-Fu Master	Code your own brawler in the Kung-Fu Master mode
33	Zaxxon	Make a Zaxxon-style isometric scrolling map
34	Marble Madness	Code your own version of Marble Madness
35	Hyper Sports	Remake Hyper Sports’ skeet shooting minigame
36	Side Pocket	Make your own Side Pocket-style pool game
37	Lunar Lander	Code a modern take on Atari’s Lunar Lander coin-op
38	Robotron: 2084	Code Robotron: 2084’s twin-stick shooting action
39	Gauntlet	Code Gauntlet’s four-player mode in Python
40	Jetpac	Recreate rocket-building action of the classic jetpac
41	Time Pilot	Fly through the clouds in an homage to Konami’s Time Pilot
42	Q*bert	Recreate Q*bert’s bouncy arcade antics in Pygame Zero
43	Rally-X	Create a mini-map straight out of Konami’s Rally-X coin-op
44	Artillery	Before Worms, there was Artillery. Here’s how to recreate it
45	Tiger-Heli	Code the tank-busting bomb from Toaplan’s Tiger-Heli
46	Pipe Mania	Make your own Python take on a Pipe Mania puzzler
47	TRON	Make a Pyhton homage to TRON’s Light Cycle minigame
48	Pitfall	Get into the swing with our Python homage to 1982’s Pitfall!
49	Manic Miner	Make some crumbly platforms straight out of Manic Miner
50	Galaxian	Recreate Galaxian’s iconic swooping alien invaders
51	Exerion	Remake the eye-popping 3D landscape from Exerion
52	Gradius	Recreate the blazing space volcanoes from 1985’s Gradius
53	Pinball	How to recreate Nintendo’s 1984 take on Pinball
54	Crazy Golf	Code a crazy golf game inspired by the ZX Spectrum
55	Tranz Am	Make your own top-down racer in Python and Pygame Zero
56	Bubble Bobble	Make a homage to Bubble Bobble in just a few lines of code
57	Lords of Midnight	Program a new take on Lords of Midnight’s landscape engine
58	Skate or Die	Code a Skate or Die style half-pipe minigame in Python
59	Bomb Jack	Code a homage to the arcade classic, Bomb Jack
60	Braid	Make a time-rewinding homage to the indie darling, Braid
61	Legend of Zelda	Make a top-down homage to The Legend of Zelda
62	Guitar Hero	Make your own Guitar Hero-style rhythm action game
63	Fire (Game & Watch)	Make your own homage to Nintendo’s Game & Watch

Setting up Mission Python – Monterey Edition

When Sean McManus’s – Mission Python: Code a Space Adventure Game was first released I wrote a blog post on how to setup macOS to use the book.

Below are the updated steps for macOS 12.0 (Monterey) and the latest version on Python and Pygame Zero.

macOS 12.0 (Monterey) ships with Python3 but I would still recommend installing a second version as not to “upset” the OS native shipped version.

The book recommends Python 3.6.6 (at time of writing), I have based this post on Python 3.10.0 (which is the latest version at the time of me writing this).

Install Python 3.10.0

Download Python 3.10.0 from https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/

Double click the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.

Once installed Open Terminal (Cmd+Spacebar, type Terminal, press Enter).

- Type which python3, at the prompt

You should get the below result-

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.10/bin/python

Install pip3

pip3 is installed with python, I would recommend updating it to the latest version (21.3.1) at the time of this writing, in Terminal>

- Type pip3 install --upgrade pip

- Type pip3 --version

You should get the below result-

pip 21.3.1 from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pip (python 3.10)

Install Pygame Zero

In Terminal>

- Type pip3 install pgzero

- Type pip3 show pgzero

You should see the below in the results-

Name: pgzero

Version: 1.2

Once the above has been completed, you are ready to test Mission Python on your Mac.

Download the Mission Code file from https://www.sean.co.uk/books/mission-python/index.shtm

Once the file has downloaded and unzipped from within Terminal move to the escape folder (I unzipped the into my Downloads folder to test).

- Open Terminal (Cmd+Spacebar, type Terminal, press Enter).

- Type cd Downloads

- Type cd escape

- Type pgzrun escape.py

Once you have done the above the game should start. You are now ready to begin your adventure with Mission Python.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – Game Character and Game Listing

A couple of weeks ago “Pro Gamer” Dude was gifted with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for his Nintendo Switch Lite.

We both agree that it is one of the best games on the switch. From my side I love the roster of fighters, a question we always ask is in which game did the fighter originally appear in?

That is why I put together the below chart to keep as a reference to answer that question.

No.	Fighter Name	First Game Appearance
1	Mario	Donkey Kong
2	Donkey Kong	Donkey Kong Country
3	Link	The Legend of Zelda
4	Samus	Metroid
4e	Dark Samus	Metroid Prime (Echo Fighter)
5	Yoshi	Super Mario World
6	Kirby	Kirby’s Dream Land
7	Fox	Star Fox
8	Pikachu	Pokémon Red and Blue
9	Luigi	Mario Bros.
10	Ness	EarthBound
11	Captain Falcon	F-Zero
12	Jigglypuff	Pokémon Red and Blue
13	Princess Peach	Super Mario Bros.
13e	Princess Daisy	Super Mario Land (Echo Fighter)
14	Bowser	Mario Bros.
15	Ice Climbers	Ice Climber
16	Sheik	The Lengend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
17	Princess Zelda	The Lengend of Zelda
18	Dr. Mario	Dr. Mario
19	Pichu	Pokémon Gold and Silver
20	Falco	Star Fox
21	Martha	Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Blade of Light
21e	Lucina	Fire Emblem Fates (Echo Fighter)
22	Young Link	The Legend of Zelda
23	Ganondorf	The Legend of Zelda
24	Mewtwo	Pokémon Red and Blue
25	Roy	Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
25e	Chrom	Fire Emblem Fates (Echo Fighter)
26	Mr. Game & Watch	Ball
27	Meta Knight	Kirby’s Adventure
28	Pit	Kid Icarus
28e	Dark Pit	Kid Icarus: Uprising (Echo Fighter)
29	Zero Suit Samus	Metroid: Zero Mission
30	Wario	Super Mario Land 2
31	Solid Snake	Metal Gear
32	Ike	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
33 – 35	Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard)	Pokémon Red and Blue
36	Diddy Kong	Donkey Kong Country
37	Lucas	Mother 3
38	Sonic	Sonic the Hedgehog
39	King Dedede	Kirby’s Dream Land
40	Olimar	Pikmin
41	Lucario	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team
42	R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy)	Stack-Up
43	Toon Link	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker
44	Wolf	Star Fox 64
45	Villager	Animal Crossing
46	Mega Man	Mega Man
47	Wii Fit Trainer	Wii Fit
48	Rosalina & Luma	Super Mario Galaxy
49	Little Mac	Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
50	Greninja	Pokémon X and Y
51 – 53	Mii Fighter (Brawler, Swordfighter and Gunner)	Mii Channel / Wii Sports
54	Palutena	Kid Icarus
55	Pac-Man	Pac-Man
56	Robin	Fire Emblem: Awakening
57	Shulk	Xenoblade Chronicles
58	Bowser Jr.	Super Mario Sunshine
59	Duck Hunt Duo	Duck Hunt
60	Ryu	Street Fighter
60e	Ken	Street Fighter (Echo Fighter)
61	Cloud	Final Fantasy VII
62	Corrin	Fire Emblem Fates
63	Bayonetta	Bayonetta
64	Inkling	Splatoon
65	Ridley	Metroid
66	Simon Belmont	Castlevania
66e	Richter Belmont	Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (Echo Fighter)
67	King K. Rool	Donkey Kong Country
68	Isabelle	Animal Crossing: New Leaf
69	Incineroar	Pokémon Sun and Moon
70	Piranha Plant (DLC)	Super Mario Bros.
71	Joker (DLC)	Persona 5
72	Hero (DLC)	Dragon Quest
73	Banjo & Kazooie (DLC)	Banjo-Kazooie
74	Terry (DLC)	Fatal Fury
75	Byleth (DLC)	Fire Emblem Heros / Fire Emblem: Three Houses
76	Min Min (DLC)	ARMS
77	Steve / Alex (DLC)	Minecraft
78	Sephiroth (DLC)	Final Fantasy VII
79	Pyra (DLC)	Xenoblade Chronicles 2
80	Mythra (DLC)	Xenoblade Chronicles 2
81	Kazuya (DLC)	Tekken
82	Sora (DLC)	Kingdom Hearts

References – Nintendo’s Official Smash Bros. Site, Prima Games Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Guide, Business Insider’s – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros Ultimate Manual, SmashWiki

Setting up Mission Python – Catalina Edition

A couple of years ago I picked up a copy of Sean McManus’s – Mission Python: Code a Space Adventure Game from No Starch Press.

In my opinion, it’s still a great book to get into coding a game in Python using Pygame Zero.

The book explains how to set up your adventure on a Windows PC and Raspberry Pi, but been a macOS user, I decided to post the steps below on to set up your adventure on a Mac.

Note – If you are using macOS 12.0 (Monterey), see my updated post here.

macOS 10.15 (Catalina) now ships with Python3 but I would recommend installing a second version as not to “upset” the OS native shipped version.

The book recommends Python 3.6.6 (at time of writing), I have based this post on Python 3.7.7 (I recommend not going to a higher version as Pygame Zero still has some install issues on the latest Python version 3.8.2).

Install Python 3.7.7

Download Python 3.7.7 from https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/

Double click the installer and follow the on-screen instructions.

Once installed Open Terminal (Cmd+Spacebar, type Terminal, press Enter).

- Type which python3, at the prompt

You should get the below result-

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python

Install pip3

pip3 (19.2.3) is automatically installed with Python3 (3.7.7), I would recommend updating it to the latest, in Terminal>

- Type pip3 install --upgrade pip

- Type pip3 --version

You should get the below result-

pip 20.0.2 from /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pip (python 3.7)

Install Pygame Zero

In Terminal>

- Type pip3 install pgzero

- Type pip3 show pgzero

You should see the below in the results-

Name: pgzero

Version: 1.2

Once the above has been completed, you are ready to test Mission Python on your Mac.

Download the Mission Code file from https://www.sean.co.uk/books/mission-python/index.shtm

Once the file has downloaded and unzipped from within Terminal move to the escape folder (I unzipped the into my Downloads folder to test).

- Open Terminal (Cmd+Spacebar, type Terminal, press Enter).

- Type cd Downloads

- Type cd escape

- Type pgzrun escape.py

Once you have done the above the game should start. You are now ready to begin your adventure with Mission Python.