X

About X

X (1992) is Argonaut and Nintendo's Japan-only 3D space combat game for the Game Boy, created by Dylan Cuthbert, who went on to program Star Fox.

X in Depth

The player commands the starship VIXIV, protecting the planet Tetamus II from a mysterious alien race by completing missions given by the Training Academy Coach. One of the few Game Boy games with 3D visuals, it offers full 360-degree movement through space in the style of Argonaut's Starglider 2, with much of the action taking place in long tunnels. Each of the ten stages, called objectives, must be completed against a time limit, with tasks ranging from protecting a base under attack and delivering cargo to shooting down enemy formations.

A radar at the bottom of the screen shows the ship's position, nearby enemies and objectives, and large openings in the ground let the VIXIV fast-travel to other parts of the map. Completing objectives earns up to ten stars, and missions require a certain number of stars, so falling short means restarting. All ten missions must be finished to complete the game. Dylan Cuthbert said it drew on the old 3D games he had played on the ZX Spectrum, "assembled rather haphazardly". Initial reviews were mixed, praising its technical achievement but criticising its high difficulty; in retrospect it has been acclaimed for its historical importance and gameplay, often compared to Star Luster.

Making X

Argonaut president Jez San, intrigued by the Game Boy at the 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, commissioned Dylan Cuthbert to build a 3D engine for it. Official kits were hard to obtain, so the team reverse-engineered the hardware, and Cuthbert handled most of the design, some graphics and all of the programming. A Nintendo employee urged them to send a ROM to Kyoto, where Gunpei Yokoi and his engineers invited the team to Japan; Nintendo bought the rights from original publisher Mindscape, made Argonaut a licensee and published it in 1992. Nintendo of America cancelled the planned Lunar Chase release, feeling the game was too complicated for its audience. Alongside Faceball 2000, it remains one of the few attempts at 3D on the Game Boy.