Oh Shit!

Oh Shit! is a "Pac-Man" clone originally developed in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum by The ByteBusters (Aackosoft's in-house development team) and published by Dutch publisher Aackosoft under the "Classics" range of games; a range that consists of clones of arcade games, i.e "Scentipede" being a clone of Atari's "Centipede". "Oh Shit!'s" level and art design is identical to that of "Pac-Man".
"Oh Shit!" was later released in 1985 for the MSX to a wider market, and was republished with differing names and cover art several times; "Oh Shit!" was renamed to Oh No! for the game's UK release due to the name being considered 'too obscene', and the name was shortened to Shit! for its release by Premium III Software Distribution. The European re-release "Shit!" notably uses cover art from 1985 horror novel "", possibly without permission. "Oh Shit!" features digitized speech; when the player loses a life, the eponymous phrase "Oh Shit!" is said. For the renamed releases, "Oh No!" and "Shit!", the speech is changed accordingly.
Releases.
The original Spectrum release and 1985 MSX release were published by Aackosoft, but later releases of the MSX version were published by different publishers; the European version of "Oh Shit!" was later published by Eaglesoft (an alternate label of Aackosoft), and "Oh Shit!" was published by Compulogical in Spain. The UK release, "Oh No!", was also published by Eaglesoft. The European re-release, "Shit!", was developed by Eurosoft and published by Premium III Software Distribution, notably using cover art from 1985 horror novel "", possibly without permission. The original MSX version of "Oh Shit!" was made for compatibility with MSX 32K computers, and later re-releases offer MSX 64K compatibility. Unlike other Aackosoft titles in the "Classics" range, "Oh Shit!" is incompatible with MSX 16K computers.
Aackosoft went bankrupt in 1988, after which "Shit!", alongside other Aackosoft titles, were re-published by Premium III Software Distribution and developed by Eurosoft (a former label of Aackosoft) in the same year. Premium III Software Distribution released the "30 MSX Hits" compilation in 1988, including "Oh Shit!" as part of its lineup. According to Dutch gaming magazine "MSX-DOS Computer Magazine", after Aackosoft went bankrupt in 1988, their intellectual property was transferred to a company called Methodic Solutions, and all previous MSX Aackosoft titles were re-published by Premium III Software Distribution and developed by Eurosoft, both separately and in a compilation titled "30 MSX Hits".
The 1988 "30 MSX Hits" compilation release of "Oh Shit!" offers MSX2 compatibility. All MSX releases of "Oh Shit!", "Shit!" and "Oh No!" are cassette releases, except for the "30 MSX Hits" release, which had both cassette and floppy disk releases.
Version Differences.
"Oh Shit!" introduces the game's ghosts on the title screen using digitized speech stating "This is Joey, Paul, Willy and Frankie", however the UK version "Oh No!" says "This is Joey, this is Paul, this is Willy, this is Frankie". "This is" has the same enunciation all four times it is said. Unlike "Oh Shit!", where "Oh Shit!" is said every time the player dies, in "Oh No!", "Oh No!" is only said after the player has lost all their lives and gets a game over.
Gameplay.
"Oh Shit!'s" gameplay is identical to that of "Pac-Man", down to the level design. This was noted as a positive by reviewers who deemed it a faithful reproduction of the arcade original. The ghosts in "Oh Shit!" are named Joey, Paul, Willy, and Frankie.
Development.
"Oh Shit!" was coded by Steve Course. The speech generation code was written by Ronald van der Putten, and "Oh Shit!'s" speech was performed by Ronald van der Putten of The ByteBusters.
"MSX Computing" states in their review that they received two copies of the game for their review, both the UK "Oh No!" version and the European "Oh Shit!" version, stating that the European version's name was "deigned unsuitable for the UK". The MSX UK "Oh No!" version cost £2.99 in 1986. The MSX version of "Oh Shit!" originally cost ƒ29.50 Dutch Guilder in 1985, and was reduced to ƒ14.95 in 1987. In 1988, the cassette release of "30 MSX Hits" was ƒ49.90, and the floppy disk release was ƒ79.90.
Reception.
"Oh Shit!" was generally positively received by reviewers, who considered it to be a faithful reproduction of "Pac-Man", and several reviewers praised the addition of digitized speech. "Oh Shit!" was predominantly reviewed in Dutch gaming magazines, as "Oh Shit!" was developed & originally published in the Netherlands.
Dutch gaming magazine "MSX Gids" gave the MSX version of "Oh Shit!" an overall score of 4.5 out of five, rating graphics, game quality, and price five stars, but giving sound three stars. "MSX Gids" criticises "Oh Shit!'s" sound effects, stating that "The speech, which gets boring quickly, has been added at the expense of the original wokka-wokka sounds. Too bad."
Dutch gaming magazine "MSX Computer Magazine" reviewed the MSX version of "Oh Shit!" alongside other Aackosoft titles based upon arcade titles, "Boom" ("Galaxian"), "Scentipede" ("Centipede"), and "Hopper" ("Frogger"). "MSX Computer Magazine" praises "Oh Shit!'s" gameplay, calling "Oh Shit!" a "perfect reproduction of the original arcade game", and praising the inclusion of the 'coffee break' cutscenes from the original "Pac-Man" that play as intermissions between levels. "MSX Computer Magazine" further notes "Oh Shit!'s" similarity to "Pac-Man", stating that the levels are "identical to the arcade original", but expresses that "Oh Shit!" differentiates itself through the addition of speech. "MSX Computer Magazine" criticises "Oh Shit!'s" incompatibility with MSX 16Ks.
"MSX Computer Magazine", now named "MSX-DOS Computer Magazine", reviewed the MSX version of "Shit!" alongside other arcade clones, particularly comparing it to another "Pac-Man" clone, "Maze Master", stating that they prefer the original "Pac-Man" or "Shit!" over "Maze Master". "MSX-DOS" expresses that they mourned Aackosoft's bankruptcy, stating that ""Shit!" used to be a favorite of mine, "Pac-Man" fan that I am, and with the loss of Aackosoft a good program was withdrawn from rotation", praising the game's re-publishing by Premium III Software. "MSX-DOS" criticises the shortening of the game's speech of "Oh Shit!" to just "Shit!", but still expresses that "Despite that, "Shit!" still always remains a sublime "Pac-Man", too bad about the change of voice acting."
"MSX-DOS Computer Magazine" reviewed the MSX version of "Oh Shit!" in 1988 as part of the compilation release "30 MSX Hits", expressing that ""Oh Shit!" is a good "Pac-Man"-clone with a great name". "MSX-DOS Computer Magazine" notes "30 MSX Hits' " MSX2 compatibility, further expressing that not all MSX games offer this compatibility, stating "So you thought that any MSX program could be used on any MSX computer? As long as you don't try MSX2 software on MSX1 hardware? Well, everyone thought that, in the past. Before the MSX standard was well defined, game programmers sometimes did not adhere to that standard. There has been a lot of trouble with non-running games in the past." "Oh Shit!'s" MSX2 compatibility was also noted by "MSX Club Magazine" in their review of "30 MSX Hits" in 1988.
British gaming magazine "MSX Computing" gave the UK MSX version, "Oh No!", an overall score of two out of three stars, noting its similarity to "Pac-Man", stating that ""Pac-man" fans will love this game as it is based very much along the same lines." "MSX Computing" praises "Oh No!'s" digitized speech, expressing that "The speech is a really novel and fun feature and does much to enhance the game" and further noting "Oh No!" as "far superior" to similar games due to its speech capability. "MSX Computing" praises "Oh No!'s" gameplay, calling it "addictive" and "an easy game to play", further recommending it due to its low price of £2.99 in 1986.
Dutch gaming magazine "MSX Club Magazine" reviewed the MSX version of "Oh Shit!" in 1986, giving it an overall score of 9/10, beginning their description of "Oh Shit!'s" gameplay by stating "You already know how to play it: it's Pac-Man." "MSX Club" called "Oh Shit!'s" graphics "not graphically amazing, but this doesn't hinder gameplay", and criticised "Oh Shit!'s" sound effects, stating that "Beyond the typical irritating "Pac-Man" sounds there's also speech present", and calls the death message of "Oh Shit!" "terrible shouting". "MSX Club" notes a difficulty curve in "Oh Shit!" as the game progresses, and praises the addition of cutscenes.