SpaceStation Silicon Valley
Space Station Silicon Valley is a platform video game developed by DMA Design and published by Take-Two Interactive. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in October 1998. An adaptation of the game for Game Boy Color was developed by Tarantula Studios and released in 1999. A PlayStation port, developed by Runecraft, was released in 2000, under the name Evo's Space Adventures. Players control Evo, a robot reduced to a crawling microchip after a ship crash, and are tasked with taking control of animals to solve puzzles and defeat enemies.
Development began in September 1995 as part of a publishing deal with BMG Interactive. When this deal fell through, the development team turned their focus to the Nintendo 64, which allowed for a more advanced environment and model processing. The hardware shaped the game's humour and style, with a soft focus look leading to a style akin to Plasticine models. The distinct British humour was also used to distinguish it from other games, and the music was created to resemble B movies.
Upon release, Space Station Silicon Valley was acclaimed by many reviewers, with praise particularly directed at the intuitive mechanics, innovative level design, and comical concepts. It won numerous awards, including Game of the Month and Most Innovative Game from IGN. Despite this, the game performed poorly commercially, and was unable to secure enough sales to warrant a sequel.
From Wikipedia's article Space Station Silicon Valley
Keyboard controls
| N64 | Player 1 |
|---|---|
| Stick | ↑↓←→ |
| A | X |
| B | C |
| Z | Z |
| L | A |
| R | S |
| C buttons | IKJL |
| D-pad | TGFH |
| Start | Enter |
Hotkeys
- 1 Quick save state
- 2 Quick load state
- 3 Change save slot
A gamepad with an analog stick plays much better than the keyboard.
Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).
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Keyboard controls
| N64 | Player 1 |
|---|---|
| Stick | ↑↓←→ |
| A | X |
| B | C |
| Z | Z |
| L | A |
| R | S |
| C buttons | IKJL |
| D-pad | TGFH |
| Start | Enter |
Hotkeys
- 1 Quick save state
- 2 Quick load state
- 3 Change save slot
A gamepad with an analog stick plays much better than the keyboard.
Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).
4.0 Great job!
Critics 81 · 10 reviews
Review scorecard
- Graphics 4.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Sound 4.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Control 4.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Fun Factor 4.0 out of 5 Overall fallback
Overall fallback: Critics 81 · 10 reviews. Overall source The same 81/100 overall rating fills missing categories using the face scale; these are not separate category scores.
What the reviews talk about
Key wordsinnovativesatisfyingentertaininggenericintuitivemonotonous
What the critics said
GameRevolution noted that the game "keeps the emphasis on gameplay", particularly appreciating the attention to detail.
— GameRevolution, 1998
GameRevolution wrote that the game has "some of the best sound yet" for a Nintendo 64 game, praising the variety of the musical tracks.
— GameRevolution, 1998
IGN's Casamassina found the music "very well executed" and "very entertaining", likening it to "'futuristic space pop' and elevator-like tunes", and named the sound effects "equally satisfying".
— IGN, 1998
Next Generation felt that the game "doesn't push Nintendo 64's hardware to the limits", and noted some occasional frame rate slowdown, but appreciated the "cute" and simplistic design.
— Next Generation, 1999
In a retrospective feature, Craig Owens of Nintendo Gamer wrote that the game's "chunky, angular" art style conveys the "experimental, unpredictable tone".
— Gamer, 2012
From the Reception section of Wikipedia's Space Station Silicon Valley article.
Scores
- 100 Next Generation 5/5
- 95 EP Daily1999 9.5/10
- 91 N64 Magazine 91%
- 88 Hyper 88%
- 85 GameRevolution1998 B+
- 84 Electronic Gaming Monthly 33.5/40
- 80 Edge 8/10
- 71 GameSpot1998 7.1/10
- 65 Game Informer 6.5/10
- 50 IGN1998 (N64) 9.5/10 ; (GBC) 5/10
From the review table in Wikipedia's Space Station Silicon Valley article.
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