Max Pirate Extra Boom

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Overview

Max Pirate Extra Boom is an updated version of Lemmy Hawkins' original Max Pirate: a simple top-down action game for the original Game Boy, made with GBDK and built to run on real hardware.

You are a pirate captain who has just arrived at a small port town, but the locals are not as lively as you expected. Armed with your trusty anchor and your cannon Bessie, you try to eliminate as many of them as you can.

The re-release adds a new mode with gameplay tweaks that make it easier: enemies drop health items and move slower, there are four instead of three enemies on screen to compensate, waves per room are shorter, and healing rooms restore you completely. If you prefer, you can still play with the original balancing.

Both modes gain ammo refill rooms, rooms that no longer repeat straight after one another, twice as many room layouts (from 6 to 12) and various bug fixes. Graphics are based on the GB Oracles assets by GibbonGL, with music and sound effects by beatscribe.

Made by: Lemmy Hawkins
Released: 2025

Controls guide

Title menu

Button and key	Action
Up/Down	Switch between New Mode and Original
A`X`/Start`Enter`	Start a game in the highlighted mode

Playing

Button and key	Action
D-pad`Arrows`	Walk in eight directions; you attack the way you last faced
A`X`	Swing the anchor (melee attack)
B`Z`	Fire a cannonball from Bessie (uses one shot)
Start`Enter`	Pause or resume

Score screen

Button and key	Action
Start`Enter`	Return to the title menu

Cheatsheet

Modes compared

Enemies on screen: New Mode 4, Original 3
Enemies per room: New Mode 6 to 9, Original 8 to 11
Special room: New Mode every 12 rooms, Original every 6
Heart in healing room: New Mode full health, Original +1
Ammo room: New Mode full cannon, Original +1 shot
Heart drops: New Mode 15% per kill, Original none
Bonus cannonball: New Mode 10% per kill, Original on kill 10, 110, 210...

Numbers

Starting health: 8 (maximum 9)
Cannon shots: 5 at the start, 5 maximum
Enemy health: 2
Anchor damage: 1
Cannonball damage: 2 (kills in one hit)
Enemy touch or spikes: -1 health
Score: One point per enemy defeated

Tips

A cannonball does 2 damage and every enemy has 2 health, so a shot always kills; the anchor needs two hits. Save Bessie for crowds or tight spots and finish the rest with the anchor.
The doors stay shut until every enemy in the room is beaten, then you leave by walking off any open edge. Each new room is picked at random and never repeats the one you just left.
After an anchor hit the enemy is briefly stunned and knocked back while it cannot be hurt again, so step back and time the second swing as it recovers.
Enemies only change course on a timer, and then head along a single axis towards where you stood, so keep moving and they will often walk straight past you.
In New Mode a defeated enemy can leave a heart behind (+1 health); grab it before you exit, because it disappears when the next room loads.
The heart or cannon pickup in a special room can only be collected once per visit, and in Original mode it gives just one point of health or one shot, so walk in with the room's reward in mind.