Unknown version of Tyrian [Acer Special Edition]

cablecastshaws · Post by **cablecastshaws** » Sat Oct 09, 2021 3:48 pm

Looking for the version of Tyrian I played as a kid.

The original Tyrian shareware ie "tyrsw1.zip" is close, but there are some key differences. Tyrian 2.1 and Tyrian 2000 are definitely not it.

Key differences:
1. After beating Deliani, I was able to continue on to the following levels in this order: Torm, Gyges, Gem War (Gyges secret level) and Asteroid City, but it was called "Asteroid 2". (As a kid I was confused by the name, as it conflicted with "Asteroid 2" from episode 1.) From there it looped back to Tyrian in episode 1.
2. There was a flamethrower sidekick. Not the Zica Flamethrower, it looked like the flamethrowers in Deliani, but wavy.
3. The Phoenix Device didn't shoot anything, rather, it looked like three glowing dots hovering around the side of your ship.
4. I swear there was no Epic logo when the game launched. Instead, there was a different logo that I don't remember, and along with it, a short guitar riff.
5. There were only three episodes listed on the episode select screen. Either one or two were selectable.
6. I played this sometime between 1994-1999, but almost certainly it was 95 or 96.
7. The carrot ship was definitely in it. After beating Asteroid City and returning to episode 1, sometimes it would just automatically change your ship to the carrot.
8. I'm almost positive "DESTRUCT" didn't work, because I seem to remember trying it and being disappointed.
9. There was no Holes secret level. If you missed Bubbles, you went straight on to Asteroid 1/2.

It feels to me almost like a beta of the full game version of 1.0. Where can I find this?

Post by **MrFlibble** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 9:41 am

There was a limited edition OEM version of Tyrian that was bundled with some Acer hardware, IIRC it was based on a pre-1.0 build of the game. It contained the entire episode 1 and half of episode 2. This version is mentioned in this thread.

cablecastshaws · Post by **cablecastshaws** » Tue Oct 12, 2021 9:06 pm

Holy crap!! That was it! I remember the launcher screen said Acer and I thought I was misremembering (why/how did an OEM release a game?

)

Does that thread have mirrors? Sadly that link is broken...

Thank you!!

Post by **MrFlibble** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 7:57 am

cablecastshaws wrote: ↑ Does that thread have mirrors? Sadly that link is broken...

You can find it in a certain online collection of DOS software but since it also contains non-freeware copyrighted games I can't give you a direct link, sorry, against the rules here.

Google for "DOS collection" and "Tyrian Special Edition".

cablecastshaws · Post by **cablecastshaws** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:01 pm

Understood, thank you!