Apidya - War at Meadow's Edge

Apidya is one of my favourite games of all time.

It was a shoot-em-up, produced by a company called Kaiko and released in 1992. Made only for the Amiga, it apparently sold very poorly in Britain. But it's a great game.

The people behind it

Graphics - Frank Matzke
Sound - Chris Hülsbeck
Programming - Peter Thierolf

The gameplay

It's a horizontally-scrolling shoot-em-up, in the R-Type/Gradius vein. You control a magical honeybee, which can spit lethal energy at enemies.

What's so great about it, then?

It's a very original concept, brilliantly executed. The graphics are beautiful, as you can see for yourself in the level screenshots below. And because the levels (well, except maybe Level 4) are based in nature, it's possible to identify many of their elements from real life.

And there's the music, and I think it's fair to say that Apidya wouldn't be half the game it is without it. Chris Hülsbeck's soundtrack is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard, and fits the gameplay perfectly. The sound effects are very neat and distinctive too.

The gameplay? Well, it's a shoot-em-up. You fly along and shoot things. Apidya's pretty much the same as any horizontal scroller in that respect, but the levels are lovely to look at, and there's a whole host of weapons available.

Basically, it has a wonderful atmosphere. Now stop listening to me blithering about it and go and play it.

The story

A slideshow of the introduction.

The weapons

Your guide to insectoid warfare.

The music

Music download (in MP3 and TFMX formats), and a guide to getting the TFMX modules playing.

Levels

Screenshots and commented flythroughs of every level.

Links to other Apidya-related pages

Kaiko History
T.R.Schmidt's site about Kaiko, the team that produced Apidya. Contains interviews with Chris Hülsbeck and Frank Matzke, as well as an Apidya fanpage.

Project: Apidya
Stefan Becker was creating a PC remake of Apidya, but it looks like he gave up. A demo of his reproduction of Level 1-1 is downloadable from his site.

Apidya Lost Bonus Level Uncovered After 16 Years
On 17th February 2008, John Girvin discovered a bonus stage which had been hidden for over a decade. This page describes his discovery. See also the Bonus stages page for more details.