N2O (video game)

N2O, subtitled as Nitrous Oxide in North America, is a 1998 tube shooter for the PlayStation, featuring a soundtrack composed by the American electronic music duo The Crystal Method. The soundtrack was heavily used to promote the game, and the music is stored in Red Book format meaning the game disc can be played as a music CD on an ordinary CD player.

Plot
In the deep future, the Galaxy is at war. On planet Neptune, forces of evil in a tubular shaped circuit known as "The Torus" are creating gigantic mutated insects with the intent to invade and destroy Earth. Nitrous Oxide is a by-product of the insects incubation, and also serves as a high-octane fuel for the player's Tunnel Runner ship. The Tunnel Runner must eradicate the rapidly mutating insects before they become strong enough to invade Earth.

Gameplay
N2O is a tube shooter in which the player shoots insects while collecting "E" coins, mushroom shields, and other psychedelically-themed weapon power-ups. As more insects are shot, the game increases speed. Players can collect more points by killing enemies in certain ways (such as shooting centipedes in the head) and by shooting the coins which appear when an enemy is killed to increase its value. Coins can be used to purchase shields, firewall powerups, and points at the end of each level. Besides the single player mode, N2O features a cooperative multiplayer mode with a shared screen or a split screen.

Development
Producer Peter Dalton said that "We set out to create a game where the gameplay was simple on one level but completely absorbing and addictive on another."

The soundtrack was not added until the end of development, since publisher Fox Interactive wanted to sign a high profile techno band for the game's music.

Reception
The game received average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Next Generation said, "shooter fans who thrive on the ability to top their last high score time and time again won't be disappointed by this high energy blast-a-thon." The New York Times praised N2O for its aesthetics and smoothly seamless but fast-paced gameplay. They said that the game is similar in presentation to a Crystal Method concert and that the game is best played at high volume and in total darkness to maximize the audiovisual experience, and further remarked that the superior audio capacities of televisions (especially those attached to home theater systems) over typical computer systems is one of the advantages to restricting the game to the console market and not releasing it as a PC game. GamePro said, "In the end, N20 [sic] is definitely worth the price of admission, and is a great shooter for your library."

The game shipped more than 100,000 units worldwide.

Ports and re-releases
In October 2003, Zoo Digital Publishing purchased the rights to the game alongside other Gremlin Interactive titles from Atari and reissued the game in PAL regions under their "Zoo Classics" budget label at the end of the year. The company then released the title on the PlayStation Network in PAL regions on January 10, 2008, and by Sony Computer Entertainment America in North America on June 1, 2010; and Latin America on August 13, 2013.

Console Classics released the game under license of Urbanscan for Microsoft Windows via Steam on June 29, 2015, emulated through PCSXR. It was re-added to the platform via Pixel Games UK on 6 December 2022.