The Next Scuba Dive

A premium remake of the classic ZX Spectrum game Scuba Dive, rebuilt from the ground up for the ZX Spectrum Next. Grab your tanks, jump off the boat and dive into a full-screen, full-colour underwater world. You collect pearls from snapping oysters and dodge sharks, jellyfish and octopuses. Then race back to your boat to bank your haul before your air runs out. The gameplay is the classic you remember, with smooth scrolling, rich colour, animated sea life and a full TurboSound soundtrack. Features Full-screen 320×256 graphics. Smooth-scrolling seabeds, sun rays, drifting particles and sprites that swim right into the border.Six stages plus two bonus rounds, each with its own look, hazards and music.Night dives. After each daytime round you dive again by moonlight. You get stars, a glowing moon, glowing reefs and creatures, and anglerfish that only wake at night.Sunken treasure. Find golden crowns, rubies, gold rings, amphorae, skeletons and messages in bottles for big bonus points.Original TurboSound soundtrack. All three sound chips are used: music, an echo channel and separate sound effects. Every stage has its own tune and a moody night version.Animated title screen. It has a barnacle-covered logo, swaying kelp, swimming fish, turtles, jellyfish, an octopus and a day/night switch.Tape-style loading effect for proper 8-bit nostalgia. The Stages The Coral Reef: sunny shallows, the perfect place to learn the ropes.The Kelp Caverns: winding caves and tangled kelp forests.The Volcanic Vents: watch for rumbling geysers that erupt in deadly columns of steam. Warm water currents push you towards the surface.BONUS – The Sunken Galleon: loot gold coins from the wreck before your air runs out. Collect them all for an extra life.The Submerged Ruins: a flooded temple of tight stone passages guarded by aggressive octopuses and sea mines.The Abyss: the deepest, darkest dive, with the highest pearl quota.BONUS – Pearl Clam Rush: 30 seconds and no sharks. The oysters snap at double speed, and every pearl you bank is worth double. Bank 8 or more for a +5000 bonus. After the daytime round, the night cycle begins, and every round after that gets tougher. How to Play Swim down and touch an open oyster to take its pearl. If you get the timing wrong, it snaps shut on you.Bring your pearls back to the dive boat to bank them. Bank the quota to clear the stage.Keep an eye on your O2 bar. Running out of air costs a life.Use your sonar to stun nearby sea creatures. You only get a few per dive, so use them wisely.Collect treasure for bonus points. Controls ActionKeysSwim up / downQ / ASwim left / rightO / PSonar / StartSPACEPauseHNight dive on/off (title screen)N Kempston and Sinclair joysticks are also supported. Requirements ZX Spectrum Next, or a compatible FPGA core such as MiSTer, running core 3.0 or later.Runs on a 1MB machine.Load TheNextScubaDive.nex from the browser or with .nexload. A loving tribute to the original Scuba Dive (Durell Software, 1983).