score features renditions of the two main themes arranged by Wally Beben. Game Boy Advance A port was planned by Thalamus Interactive in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance, with updated graphics and new features, like two-player mode and end-of-level bosses. A prototype without a split screen was developed, but the game was perceived too financially risky and ultimately canceled. Development Sanxion was the first Thalamus game to use the Cyberload loader by John Twiddy, famous for containing the string "hackers screw off and die". Computer Gaming World noted the presence of the fastloader (although not the string present) and was very thankful for its inclusion. Music The SID music by Rob Hubbard called "Thalamusik" was played in the Commodore 64 tape loading screen, during several minutes of slow tape load. The piece was inspired by Zoolook by Jean Michel Jarre, a piece that Hubbard also reproduced in SID form for some public domain demos. It was very popular and later spawned several fan-made remixes. The menu plays a SID version of Sergei Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" piece from the ballet Romeo and Juliet. Reception The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #130 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. Commodore User''''s Mike Pattenden considered the game to be a clone of Uridium which was well executed but not really worth purchasing as an alternative to the cheaper rival Warhawk. It was voted Best Soundtrack of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. In a retrospective review Kristan Reed of Eurogamer gave the game a 7/10 rating: "Although Sanxion doesn't stand up nearly as well as Uridium does these days, it was still a real highlight of the C64's growing love-affair with shooters. If you're a twitch shooter junkie, this is a game you have to play at some stage". ReviewsZzap! (Nov, 1986)Computer Gamer (Dec, 1986)Crash! (May, 1989)ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) (Dec, 1986)Happy Computer (1987)The Games Machine (Jun, 1989)Your Sinclair (Jun, 1989)Popular Computing Weekly (Oct 09, 1986)Computer Gaming World'' (Mar, 1988) References External links Sanxion at Gamebase 64 Zzap!64review (1986) Thalamus history at c64hq.com An interview with Rob Hubbard, Sanxion's musician 1986 video games Commodore 64 games Europe-exclusive video games Golden Joystick Award winners Horizontally scrolling shooters Thalamus Ltd games Video games developed in Finland Video games scored by Rob Hubbard ZX Spectrum