Category: 5 out of 5

5 out of 5 Adventure RPG

The Bard’s Tale

Publisher: Electronic Arts/Interplay Productions

Designer: Micheal Cranford

Type: Roleplaying Game

Platform: Various

Release Date: 1985

Rating:

I still remember when this game first appeared – it was literally a revolution in the style of the Computer Roleplaying Game. Sure, it is pretty basic, but that is what is to be expected for a game that appeared in the 80s. Also, it isn’t as big as some of the other games, fitting on just a single C64 disk, with one side being for the city, and the boot, and the other side being for the dungeons. From what I remember there are only four (or five) dungeons to explore, so yeah, the game isn’t actually that big, though of course, these dungeons are of a decent size.

I’m not quite sure of the story, but you start in the city of Skara Brae (which is named after a small prehistoric city that is located on an island in Scotland – if it wasn’t for Bards Tale, this rather small town, consisting of only 8 houses, would have gone by the wayside), which has been taken over by some evil mage named Mangar. So, your quest is to basically kill Mangar – something that I managed to accomplish back in my teenage years.

Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend playing this game on a C64 emulator because, honestly, it is really, really, really slow, and there is no what to speed up the combat either, and the combat can get pretty long. Sure, there are somewhat faster PC versions, and the graphics are slightly better as well. However, if you really want to play this game they have recently released an enhanced version, which is available on Steam. Yeah, this is something that I am really tempted to check out sometime, though not right away.

While it certainly doesn’t come close to any of the games that I have played recently, this game still has a charm and a legacy, about it that will keep it in the annals of classic computer games.

Anyway, you can find out more about this game on Wikipedia, or you can even check out a wiki page dedicated to it, and the service. Oh, and if you want some hints then a page has been set up for that as well.

Tags Adventure, Fantasy Roleplaying, Retro Game, Roleplaying Game

5 out of 5 RPG SNES

The Legend of Zelda

A Link to the Past

Publisher: Nintendo

Designer/Director: Takashi Tezuka

Type: Roleplaying Game

Platform: Super Nintendo

Release: 1991

Rating:

I played this game years ago, right through to the end. It surprised me somewhat because I never expected to find a full-blown roleplaying game on a console machine, namely because from my experience (at least back when I was playing it) there was no way to save the game, especially after you turned the machine off. Well, it turned out that you can, and it also turns out that this game is pretty massive.

As I mentioned, it has been ages since I played this game, and played it right through to the end, but I can say that I thought it was amazing. The game uses a top-down perspective, and it is also pretty cool the number of things you can do in the game with that simple SNES controller. In fact, one of the fun things to do was to pick up the bushes and throw them (though that generally just annoyed people).

You start off in a hut, and your hut mate (brother, uncle, I don’t know) runs off in a hurry and tells you not to leave. Well, being the obedient person that you happen to be, you just hang around the hut and leave it at that. No, not quite, you ignore the command and run out to see what is going on, especially since you have this person screaming for help, through some psychic connection or something like this (yes, it is a fantasy Roleplaying Game as well).

I thoroughly enjoyed this game when I played it, though I should point out that it is pretty huge, and it will no doubt keep you occupied for hours. However, as a game, it is pretty awesome.

Not surprising, for such a popular and well known game, there is a Wikipedia article on it. Actually, there is a wiki page completely dedicated to the Zelda legacy (whom I discovered is the name of the princess). Oh, and if you happen to get stuck, like with a lot of these types of games, there are plenty of walkthroughs.

Tags Retro Game, Roleplaying Game, RPG, SNES, Zelda

5 out of 5 C64 Puzzle

Boulderdash

Publisher: First Star Software

Designer: Peter Liepa

Type: Puzzle

Platform: C64

Release: 1984

Rating:

I remember that this was a favourite game of my family back in the days, and honestly, it certainly has a unique quality about it. I would basically describe it as a puzzle game, namely because you are given a level and your job is to collect the correct number of diamonds (or more) without getting killed. Getting killed comes about through a number of ways, the major one being a boulder falling on top of you. However, you also have butterflies (which explode into diamonds when killed) or fireflies (which just explode), and while they initially seem to be something to avoid, it becomes pretty obvious, pretty quickly, that you need to use these things to complete the level.

Yeah, this game turned out to be pretty challenging, and of course the levels get progressively harder as you move through them. Not only that but you also have a time limit, which means you simply can’t really dawdle through these levels. Oh, and I should also mention that it can be pretty easy to ‘snooker’ yourself in this game, and one minor mistake can result in you not being able to complete the game.

Initially there were two games released, but then I remember another version appearing that was basically 16 games, which meant hundred of levels that would no doubt keep the most avid fan occupied for years. Of course, I’m not really one of those ‘most avid fans’ but in my mind the game is still pretty fun. Oh, I probably should also mention that this game was ripe for a construction set, which means that I shouldn’t have be all that surprised that so see so many levels appear afterwards in a collection that was no doubt put together by some keen programmer.

Oh, and I probably should also mention that it seems as if this game hasn’t died out over the years either, if the Wikipedia page, or the official website, is anything to go by. Then again, nothing beats the simplicity of the original. Oh, and if you are interested, there is a lot more information about the game on the C64-Wiki page as well.

Tags Arcade Classic, C64, Puzzle, Retro Game