Katakis

Throughout time, man has been a victim of his own intelligence and his insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Released: 1988
Platforms: Amiga Commodore 64 Commodore C64/128/MAX
Genres: Action Arcade Science Shooter
Developers: Manfred Trenz
Publishers: Rainbow Arts
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: Germany
Composers: Chris Hülsbeck

About

Katakis is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed for the Commodore 64 by Rainbow Arts in 1987, and converted to the Amiga by Factor 5 in 1988. It was re-released as Denaris in 1989. The name Katakis has a Greek origin and was found in a phone book in Gütersloh, Germany. The name Denaris was created by a random name generator, and by coincidence, matches a Greek name as well.

Keywords

spaceship

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Katakis has a very similar theme as the game R-Type, with multiple levels, power-ups and various end-bosses. Players must eliminate enemy opponents to reach various end-bosses. One major innovation is the fact that the two-player mode features the second player controlling the Force module. This creates an unusual play strategy of the attacker and the defender, since the main ship is vulnerable to enemy fire and hazards.

Story

The game takes place on the planet Katakis, a human colony in deep space. There, scientists developed machinery with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. However, the machines eventually evolved beyond the control of their human creators and overtook the planet. The humans attempted to retaliate through the use of nuclear ballistic missiles, but the machines survived.

The colonists' remaining plan is to use a series of DS-H75 Eagle Fighter space gliders to attack the machines and retake the planet.

Legacy

Factor 5 released the Amiga version of Katakis as freeware as follows:

Katakis, R-Type and BC KID are not provided for the public domain. You are entitled to download and use these games only for non-commercial purposes. All copyrights are retained by their owners. Any distribution of this data through any medium unless specifically permitted by the copyright owners is not allowed.