This page runs the version labelled USA (NTSC). TechnoVisionās documented cartridge is the European PAL release, which you can also play on the site as Save Our Ship (Europe).
How to play Save Our Ship online
- Run around the ship: arrow keys
- Swing your cutlass: Space bar
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Start the game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
Gameplay
Pirates climb up four ladders placed around the hull. You dash between them and chop each pirate down before he reaches the deck. Every pirate you hit is worth 10 points, and reaching 500 points earns an extra life. You have three lives: each pirate who makes it on board costs one, and after the third the ship is lost and the game ends.
The pirates get faster as your score grows. After 100 points they speed up and more of them climb at once, after 200 it gets worse again, and by 500 points the manual admits it is nearly impossible to keep up.
Game variations
Press Select until the number you want appears at the top of the screen. There are four games: two one-player and two two-player games, at two speed levels that the manual calls āVery Difficultā and āToo Hardā. In the two-player games you compete for the higher score.
Tips
- Start with game 1. The āToo Hardā games are over in seconds.
- Stay near the middle. From the centre of the deck, no ladder is too far away.
- Go for the pirate closest to the top. A pirate lower down can wait; one about to step aboard cannot.
History
TechnoVision cartridges came from Hong Kong: the Save Our Ship manual carries a VTech logo and a 1983 copyright notice from VTL, and it ends with a list of other TechnoVision games described as being in development. The same game was also sold under the title Robin Hood by the German mail-order company Quelle, which is not related to the Xonox game of that name.
