Qix 2000

Qix 2000 offers both a perfectly-translated version of the original and the insanely fun arrangement version, which updates the graphics (giving the Qix itself a Tempest X3-style psychedelic flair) and adds a few power-ups to the mix. The speed-up power-up makes even slow draw fast, and fast draw faster, but the speed-down power-up negates that effect – and heaven help you if you hit the latter while already operating at normal speed.

As with just about every Qix variation since the bizarre Super Qix, claiming space on the playing field also gradually reveals an animè-style picture of a girl; I’ll never truly understand why the original Qix underwent this transformation from a game of pure geometrics to a game of revealing pictures, but hey, it really doesn’t affect the game.

Letting Qix 2000 sit on its startup screen for a bit will eventually show you the original arcade attract mode in both graphics sets (with a few Kanji subtitles here and there – Qix is a rarity in that it originated from Taito’s U.S. operation, and therefore it’s always only had on-screen instructions in English).

The most important new features of the Playstation version are the vibration function and the new arrangement mode.