Achieved at : 2025-06-25
Rank : 1
(world record)
Lups : 100
Approved :
Yes
Voting completed : 2025-07-07
| General Rules: |
Play on any emulator as Oric-1 or Oric Atmos. Play with default settings unless otherwise specified. No use of trainers, cheats, saved game files, auto-fire (when not default present in-game), emulator save states, or other emulator advantages. No use of code modifications that give the player an advantage over other players. 1 player only. No continues. It is discouraged and may lead to voters not accepting your score to - excessively point farm - use glitches or other game exploits |
| Specific Rules: | Play the game in 1 player mode, selecting "Difficulte" 1 on the title screen. |
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TGP
3D Fongus is an aerial obstacle course / collection game. This version is for the Oric 1 and Oric Atmos 48K and was released in 1985 by Loriciels. The author was Luc-Edouard Thibaud.
In 3D Fongus, you fly an aircraft over a desert course made of flags. Fly between the flags for points, but there is no penalty for straying from the course, you just won't get any points while you do. Scattered about the landscape are rocks into which you can collide. Collide five times and your aircraft will crash. There are also cacti and pink hedgehogs which can be collected for more points. The course narrows over time, making it harder to score and eventually you will come across streams of rhinos that cross your path. Collision with one of these costs one of your five damage allowances. There is a constantly variable wind which will push your plane one way or another and you must take this into account while manoeuvring. A large crack in the ground might appear, which takes you into the caverns.
The caverns are a little unusual. Here you have to fly along avoiding rocks and stalactites and the deadly yellow fungus itself. This is corrosive and will damage your aircraft. There are mushrooms to collect for points and the hedgehogs are here too. The main draw of the caverns is that they contain spanners which will repair damage to your aircraft. After a while, you are returned to the surface.
If you get far enough, you make it to a land of crystals, which are worth the most points if collected. I have never got that far, in fact every time I emerge from the caves, it is Game Over. I can only assume I have touched the fungus at some point and my aircraft has corroded beyond it's ability to fly.
I enjoyed this game a lot. The controls are simple, just left and right to bank your aircraft in the corresponding direction. There is no way to control your speed, but the game handles at a decent pace anyway. The controls work well and I never felt I was out of control except when I myself had pushed the plane in a desperate attempt to avoid something nasty. The wind pushing you around and then changing strength or direction is a nice touch, adding to the gameplay and was never annoying, just challenging. Sound is pretty sparse, which is unusual on an Oric. The graphics however, were very impressive at the time. Maybe not so much by how they look, but for how they move, scrolling out of the background towards you. This was rarely seen on the Oric, games such as Probe 3 or Loki spring to mind for using similar approaches, but the type seen in 3D Fongus is one of the best seen at the time. The characters on screen get quite large when they approach and are well detailed - it's surprising to see an Oric doing so much at speed, considering the programme is 40 years old. Your aircraft is quite large as well, but flicker is reasonably well handled - the Oric has no hardware sprites to help here. The way the plane rolls over and dives into the caves is nicely done - reminds me of the films like Battle of Britain, where the Spitfires had to pull this manoeuvre when diving, to keep positive 'G' on the fuel system (and that is a Spitfire on the cover, though in game it looks more like a Jodel / Robin type).
This game is really a 2D/3D collection game, as you can't go up or down and there is no combat. Gameplay is a bit like F-Zero on the SNES, in fact that is the game I was most reminded of, but without other players to race against and nowhere near as nice looking! Looked at today, you would probably wonder what all the fuss was about, but to see graphical techniques like this on the Oric was very rare. To get a playable game out of it that is also enjoyable was even rarer!
This run was made on the 25th June 2025 using the Oricutron emulator on PC. There are five levels of difficulty (0 to 4) and level 1 was selected. The final score was 16,950.
Time stamps:
00:30 Title screen, points table and difficulty setting (Difficulte = 1 chosen).
00:47 Game start. Points are gained by flying between the flags and also by collecting the Cacti and pink hedgehogs. Avoid the rocks!
03:22 Stage 1 complete - a crescent moon appears at the bottom.
03:37 Rhinos crossing your path must also be avoided.
06:04 The entrance to the underground caves appears on the right, but I don't task it this time.
06:23 Stage 2 complete, and another crescent moon is added.
07:12 Collision with a rhino, one blip of damage is added to the aircraft.
07:16 Collision with a rock, adding another blip of damage.
08:41 Another rock collision.
09:47 Another rhino collision. I need to go underground to repair the damage (by picking up spanners).
10:00 Collision with a rhino, the aircraft can no longer fly. The spirit of the aircraft ascends to heaven. Game Over! Final score 16,950 (the final 50 points is added after the death animation completes).
In 3D Fongus, you fly an aircraft over a desert course made of flags. Fly between the flags for points, but there is no penalty for straying from the course, you just won't get any points while you do. Scattered about the landscape are rocks into which you can collide. Collide five times and your aircraft will crash. There are also cacti and pink hedgehogs which can be collected for more points. The course narrows over time, making it harder to score and eventually you will come across streams of rhinos that cross your path. Collision with one of these costs one of your five damage allowances. There is a constantly variable wind which will push your plane one way or another and you must take this into account while manoeuvring. A large crack in the ground might appear, which takes you into the caverns.
The caverns are a little unusual. Here you have to fly along avoiding rocks and stalactites and the deadly yellow fungus itself. This is corrosive and will damage your aircraft. There are mushrooms to collect for points and the hedgehogs are here too. The main draw of the caverns is that they contain spanners which will repair damage to your aircraft. After a while, you are returned to the surface.
If you get far enough, you make it to a land of crystals, which are worth the most points if collected. I have never got that far, in fact every time I emerge from the caves, it is Game Over. I can only assume I have touched the fungus at some point and my aircraft has corroded beyond it's ability to fly.
I enjoyed this game a lot. The controls are simple, just left and right to bank your aircraft in the corresponding direction. There is no way to control your speed, but the game handles at a decent pace anyway. The controls work well and I never felt I was out of control except when I myself had pushed the plane in a desperate attempt to avoid something nasty. The wind pushing you around and then changing strength or direction is a nice touch, adding to the gameplay and was never annoying, just challenging. Sound is pretty sparse, which is unusual on an Oric. The graphics however, were very impressive at the time. Maybe not so much by how they look, but for how they move, scrolling out of the background towards you. This was rarely seen on the Oric, games such as Probe 3 or Loki spring to mind for using similar approaches, but the type seen in 3D Fongus is one of the best seen at the time. The characters on screen get quite large when they approach and are well detailed - it's surprising to see an Oric doing so much at speed, considering the programme is 40 years old. Your aircraft is quite large as well, but flicker is reasonably well handled - the Oric has no hardware sprites to help here. The way the plane rolls over and dives into the caves is nicely done - reminds me of the films like Battle of Britain, where the Spitfires had to pull this manoeuvre when diving, to keep positive 'G' on the fuel system (and that is a Spitfire on the cover, though in game it looks more like a Jodel / Robin type).
This game is really a 2D/3D collection game, as you can't go up or down and there is no combat. Gameplay is a bit like F-Zero on the SNES, in fact that is the game I was most reminded of, but without other players to race against and nowhere near as nice looking! Looked at today, you would probably wonder what all the fuss was about, but to see graphical techniques like this on the Oric was very rare. To get a playable game out of it that is also enjoyable was even rarer!
This run was made on the 25th June 2025 using the Oricutron emulator on PC. There are five levels of difficulty (0 to 4) and level 1 was selected. The final score was 16,950.
Time stamps:
00:30 Title screen, points table and difficulty setting (Difficulte = 1 chosen).
00:47 Game start. Points are gained by flying between the flags and also by collecting the Cacti and pink hedgehogs. Avoid the rocks!
03:22 Stage 1 complete - a crescent moon appears at the bottom.
03:37 Rhinos crossing your path must also be avoided.
06:04 The entrance to the underground caves appears on the right, but I don't task it this time.
06:23 Stage 2 complete, and another crescent moon is added.
07:12 Collision with a rhino, one blip of damage is added to the aircraft.
07:16 Collision with a rock, adding another blip of damage.
08:41 Another rock collision.
09:47 Another rhino collision. I need to go underground to repair the damage (by picking up spanners).
10:00 Collision with a rhino, the aircraft can no longer fly. The spirit of the aircraft ascends to heaven. Game Over! Final score 16,950 (the final 50 points is added after the death animation completes).