Nix: The Paradox Relic
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android
Some secrets should be lost to the veil of time...
A group of dangerous space pirates have hidden in the abandoned Neoterica Research Facility, built into the side of a huge asteroid. The facility is very dangerous, the home of many fearsome monsters and failed experiments. Valuable relics and technology exist in the facility but most adventurers are too scared to even try and enter it.
You are Nix, the only bounty hunter tenacious enough to enter the facility and take down the pirates. Use your special abilities as a Caniden to make your way deep into the facility, capture the pirates, and discover the secrets of The Paradox Relic!
Features
- A cast of colorful anthropomorphic animal characters to meet, and deadly space pirates to track down and defeat.
- Explore the abandoned Neoterica Research Facility, with many unique environments, dangers, valuable artifacts, and secrets. Access new areas as your abilities grow.
- Piece together the mystery of what happened to the facility as you speak to friendly characters, read computer terminals, and discover lost technological artifacts.
- An array of unlockable abilities that increase your combat skills and allow you to access new areas.
- A roster of deadly monsters to fight.
- 7 intense and hand-crafted boss battles!
- Flash based saving! (For the cartridge version) No worries about losing your save due to a dead save battery. (Saving compatible with emulators that support it, or skip the save points and use emulator save states.)
- An alternate ending for determined explorers!
- General-audience friendly. Designed with the same standards a real NES game would have faced in the approval process.
- Alternate rom versions:
- Everdrive: Increased hardware and emulator compatibility traded for in-game saving disabled. (Emulator save states still work).
-No Flash: Modified version of the rom that is safer to play if you may experience seizures from flashing/pulsing lights. Replaces possible triggers with static images.
Requirements
This game is provided as a ROM file in the .nes format. It will not run as an independent EXE. To play the game, you will need a mapper 30 compatible NES emulator. I personally recommend MESEN, FCEUX, or Retroarch as they emulate the game most accurately.
Available Files
Free:
- Nix: The Paradox Relic DEMO ROM file.
$10.00 or more:
- Nix: The Paradox Relic ROM file Playable with any NES emulator that supports mapper 30
(Tested with MESEN, FCEUX, and Retroarch)
- NES style PDF manual with additional watercolor and copic illustrations
- Concept art pack - A folder with various pieces of art created during the games development.
- Original Game Soundtrack (14 chiptune tracks)
Credits
- Dustin Huddleston - Game Design, Programming, Character design, Pixel art, Soundtrack, Story.
- Jamie Huddleston - Concept Art and Debugging.
- Joe Granato - NESMaker Game engine
- NESMaker Community:
Special thanks to all my friends in the Nesmaker community for their guidance and support during the games development.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Comments
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Hello, Have you ever made physical copies of the game? Do you have plans to make cartridge and boxed versions? I would be interested in buying a copy.
How shoud I understand this ???
Hello, creator of the game, my game is not working, it is not responding, rom file nes Well, the Chinese console I wanted to play and nothing worked.
A furry Metroid, oh boi!
I believe this was an entry in top 20 unknown metroidvania type games to try. Definitely worth a shot. Cheers.
Had fun with the demo, which I remembered that I'd downloaded as I was transferring rom files to my recently softmodded Wii U. Playing it on a TV with a Nintendo controller felt right.
Will definitely buy the full game as soon as I know my finances are secure for the rest of the year (and I've knocked another couple of games off the ol' backlog).
Update: bought it.
In the process of getting it onto my 3DS and Wii U right now.
EDIT: Couldn't get the regular version running at an acceptable speed on the 3DS, but the Everdrive version runs perfectly in the default Virtual Console emulator. I'm fine with just using the restore point system instead of normal saves.
I totally enjoyed playing this game. While it was quite short and some of the bosses were a bit too easy (the underwater shark battle), it was very well crafted and made, the controls responded well, music was good, and it is one of the best NESMaker games I have played. I can't wait until a cartridge version is released (have they been released yet?)! :)
I'm wondering how do I save. I get a message when using a computer in game in Retroarch, but clicking continue just restarts the game from the beginning. Also, do you think you could try your hand at a 3DSEN Profile for this game? Edit: I think the save issue might have something to do with the first save location you encounter, but I'm not sure.
The save function only works on the FCEUX emulator from what I was told, on other emulators you'd have to use save states.
The save files seem to work later on in the game, it's just that it didn't work too well in that one spot. Not sure if it's that spot or if it was just too early in the game for there to be much progress.
I see.
Which core are you using in Retroarch? I recommend Mesen or FCEUX, as those seem the most reliable from my testing. Any core that supports saving -should- work, but people have trouble sometimes with other emulators.
If any save location is going to give problems though it is that one. There is a lot of behind the scenes progress flags getting evaluated in that room, since it is a central area. I would save twice at that terminal to make sure it goes through.
I have considered doing a 3DSEN profile, but just haven't had the time to dig into learning to use it yet. May be a possibility in the future.
The Steam shortcut I have says MESEN. It seems like it's only a problem when you're just starting the game. After you beat the first boss, I think it works fine. If it helps, here: https://itch.io/t/934473/4-useful-and-reusable-scripts and https://itch.io/t/944388/jjs-jank-script-examples
Anyway, it's not a bad game. A bit shorter to others in the same genre that I've played, but it does a good job of capturing the game play of the Metroidvania genre. One other thing I'd suggest doing is looking at Steamgrid and creating some assets for those wanting to add the game as a Steam or GOG shortcut in those launchers.
Copypasta from my review:
5/5
Good metroidvania.
Nix's movement speed was satifyingly fast.
Difficulty felt fair most of the time.
Good dungeon layout.
I found some bugs, but most were either harmless or even helpful for the gameplay.
Pretty much my only complaint is that the game is not very responsive for ducking and looking up. (which might be a bit of a problem in some bosses)
Would it be possible to get a cart of this game?
I am actually working on that now! Sorry that it is taking a while, but when a cartridge is available I will add a link to the games page.
Hello any news of a physical release on NES please ? thks
Interested in this as well.
From what i played of the demo, i REALLY enjoyed this game. And the fact that its an nes game is AWESOME!
Thank you :D
Np UwU
Thank you CutterCross for the help with this one!
Version 1.9 of Nix is updated with more efficient sprite handling, so sprite flickering should be greatly reduced across the entire game.
Grab the new version above!
Uploaded new files:
NixParadoxRelic_V1_8 + Everdrive version.
This fixes a pretty bad bug found by a few players that could get you stuck just after the final boss battle. Thanks to Dale_Coop for help fixing this one!
Uploaded new files:
NixParadoxRelic_V1_75 + Everdrive version
This is a very small update, fixing the collision on one tile in a boss room that wasn't properly marked as solid.
Uploaded new files:
NixParadoxRelic_V1_7 + Everdrive version
Fixed some stability issues near the end of the game.
I uploaded a new file:
NixParadoxRelic_V1_6_Everdrive.zip
This version is to resolve compatibility for those who want to play the game on an Everdrive or any other device not compatible with mapper 30 games.
Please note: It is likely in-game save points will not function in this version. Use save states.
Based on feedback, I made a few changes.
There were a few areas that you could glitch out of bounds if you jumped just right. Not easy to pull off, but possible to softlock yourself in a wall or out of bounds.
I added some warps to the game, so that if you DO manage to get yourself into a soft-lock situation it should automatically teleport you to a safe place.
This version is 1.6
Version 1.5 is available now. With this version of the game I am switching out of early access and into public release, as i feel it has been thoroughly stress tested.
If you DO happen to run across a bug, please let me know.
Fixed a rare bug that could teleport you out of bounds if you let the timer run out on a certain screen. New version is 1.4
Hey guys! Thanks for the feedback!
Looks like I forgot to enable animation on a few background tiles in version 1.2. This didn't affect gameplay in any way, but I went ahead and fixed it. You can download version 1.3 now.