Gods is a Platform Game designed by the Bitmap Brothers. Originally released for the Amiga and Atari ST in 1991, it was ported to the Acorn Archimedes, IBM Personal Computer, PC-98, Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. There is a lost city populated by evil, and by defeating this evil the titular gods will allow you to ascend to godhood yourself.
Unlike most other platformers, the focus lies not on dodging and jumping, but on complex puzzles involving pulling levers, or taking items to the right spot. You defend yourself from the plethora of enemies by throwing lots of weapons (e.g. three spears and two fireballs at the same time).
The game is mostly remembered for its awesome opening theme
which, following in Xenon 2's footsteps, is written by a well-known musician, this time synthpop group Nation XII (the game is one of three by The Bitmap Brothers to leverage on a partnership with Rhythm King records).
In 2018, a remaster of the game, Gods Remastered, was released for Windows, Mac, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switch. It features both new HD graphics and the original pixel art graphics, which can be swapped on the fly during gameplay, and also a new soundtrack. Unfortunately, it was delisted in 2022.
Includes tropes such as:
- Bat Out of Hell: Bats are found in the labyrinth.
- Carry a Big Stick: Maces have low damage, but can break down certain walls.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Like most Amiga games, the original version uses up to jump and another button to shoot and interact. The console versions as well as the remaster assigned it to a separate button.
- Defeat Means Explosion: Everything that is slain by the PC blows up. When bosses are defeated the explosions are more spectaculars.
- Dem Bones: The Final Boss is a giant skeleton head that spit out projectiles from its mouth. A snake-like creature also comes out of its head and goes after you.
- Disc-One Nuke: The lightning bolt in World One. You can only have one, but it deals 30 points of damage, the highest amount in the game. It makes fighting the First Guardian much easier, but unfortunately, it's automatically removed when you enter World Two.
- Every 10,000 Points: You gain an extra life for reaching certain amounts of points.
- Excuse Plot: An ancient warrior goes to a lost city in search of godhood. It's never mentioned who the gods actually are.
- Fauns and Satyrs: Satyrs populate the third World.
- Guide Dang It!: You'll get bonuses in random places for arbitrary reasons. Good luck figuring that out. Also, good luck figuring out how to get the best weapon for the finalboss.
- The Foreign Subtitle: The PC-98 port of the game swapped out Into The Wonderful for Kami to naru otoko no densetsu (神となる男の伝説,The Legend Of A Man Becoming God).
- Harping on About Harpies: The first airborne enemies you'll face are harpies.
- Invincibility Power-Up: The shield power-up makes you invincible for a few seconds. Shiny stars also circle around you.
- Mook Maker: The beehives in the Labyrinth. Bees constantly spawn from them until they are destroyed.
- Our Dragons Are Different: World Two boss is a dragon.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: World Three boss is a Minotaur. He's also the only boss that leaves a corpse behind when defeated.
- Power Up Let Down: The 'wide arc' powerup spreads your weapons in, well, a wide arc, which severely limits your forward firepower. Also, the mace weapon, which has inferior damage but is the only way to remove certain walls.
- Re-Release Soundtrack: Due to licensing issues, the opening theme from the original game "Into the Wonderful" did not make a return in Gods Remastered. Instead, it was replaced with a sound-alike titled "Heaven to Hades".
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Bees constantly swarm from their hives until you destroy them.
- Spread Shot: Once you acquire more weapon icons of the same type, you can fire as much as 3 shots. Some weapons of different types can be fired simultaneously, such as 3 spears + 3 fireballs + bouncing axes. The firing arc can be changed by touching/buying different arc icons.
- Starter Equipment: Your starting weapon is a puny knife. Getting up to three knives is your first priority.
- Stock Ninja Weaponry: Oddly enough for Ancient Greece, shurikens (named throwing stars in the game) are available as your next weapon after the knife.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Bombs can be found in the Labyrinth.
- A Winner Is You: As you win in the PC version, you get two lines of text and a handful of extra lives, and are sent back to level one (because you're immortal now and have nothing better to do with your time). The Genesis version does have a proper ending.
- World of Muscle Men: In all versions of the game, the titular hero is shown to have a nicely sculpted body with a well defined six pack in the intro. Taken to extremes with the PC-98 version which seems to enjoy showing dramatic shots of the hero’s well sculpted body.
