Game 27: Emmanuelle - Introduction

I had approximately .0047 seconds to get this screenshot. Fortunately I built my luck attribute up during Hero's Quest!

What better way to follow up Hero’s Quest, by far the best game I’ve played for the blog so far, than to continue on to a little known French game called Emmanuelle: A Game of Eroticism. I mean, how bad can that possibly be!? Apparently pretty bad! I’m going to do what I always do though, which is to give every game a fair chance to impress me, no matter how disastrous the general opinion is out there on the interwebz. Even if it does turn out to be utter shit, at least the research involved in bringing you this introduction post has been educational. To get to the origin of the game, I’ve had to go all the way back to 1959!

The Book: Emmanuelle's parents were a little concerned at the craft she brought home for the fridge

That was the year a book called Emmanuelle was published in France. It had no author listed, and was covertly distributed due to the very sexual nature of its contents. Despite this underground treatment, Emmanuelle was popular enough to gain further releases, and these editions did have an author splashed across the front. Emmanuelle Arsan! This turned out to be nothing more than a non-de-plume, and by the time the book was translated into English in 1971, it was revealed that a woman by the name of Marayat Rollet-Andriane was the kinky mind behind it all. Finally, as if all of that secrecy and misinformation wasn’t enough, it was later revealed that it was in fact Marayat’s husband Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane that wrote the whole thing!!!

The Film: "X was never like this": No...it was much bigger and quite readable before.

What made Emmanuelle so controversial that no-one dared put their name to it? Well, the story follows a sexually adventurous woman that has a series of erotic affairs with men and women. Like Fifty Shades of Grey, Emmanuelle clearly scratched an itch for many women of the day, so much so that it was turned into a film in 1974. The film starred Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel in the title role, and really pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable on screen at the time. The movie contains many “sex scenes, skinny dipping, masturbation, the Mile High Club, rape, and a scene in which a dancer lights a cigarette and puffs it with her vagina”. It remains one of the most successful French movies of all time, with around 300 million people having watched it!

Hmmmm...tell me you're not tempted to watch this now!

We now move forward fifteen years to another French woman named Muriel Tramis. After obtaining a scientific baccalaureate at the age of 16, Muriel decided to follow her passion for games and try her hand at making them. She followed a training course at Coktel Vision and immediately began designing her own games for the company, including Méwilo (an adventure game) and Freedom: Rebels in the Darkness (an action strategy hybrid). Eventually Muriel would be known as the French Roberta Williams, and her early adventure games would have very distinct themes and features, including the use of female protagonists and mildly erotic scenes (Geisha, Fascination and Emmanuelle). She would go on to design very successful adventure games that I’ll eventually get to on the playlist, including the first three Gobliiins games, Lost in Time and The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble.

Now here's a game that I'm actually looking forward to. Maybe Muriel's not all that bad!

But I’m getting ahead of myself there. It’s Emmanuelle that I’ll be playing over the next few days! It was originally released in 1989 for Amiga, Atari ST and DOS, with the latter supporting EGA, CGA and monochrome graphics. I’ve downloaded a copy and will be playing the EGA version, which apparently has no mouse support. I’ve also found a copy of the manual, although it’s a text only version (if anyone can find a PDF copy or any with images, I’ll pay CAPs for it). The manual does give some advice on how to play the game, but I’ll cover that off as I get going. In the meantime, I will leave you with the manual’s introduction, which should give you a feel for what we’re all in for!

“Rio, its beaches, its women, its carnival, its potent eroticism! Now I've landed here, I have to find Emmanuelle. I have to get on the plane with her when she flies back to Europe. I don't have much choice; to attract her to me, I must increase my "erotic potential" by applying the rules of the "three laws of eroticism" which Mario will dictate to me. When I've found out where he is, in this vast country of Brazil.... Here we go! This sweet languishing which is travelling up my spine will make my brain boil if I don't get myself organised right now. Let's get a few things settled before this ambient eroticism starts taking me over.”

Sadly, I'm certain this cover would have sold heaps of copies!

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've recently written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. As this is an introduction post, it's an opportunity for readers to bet 10 points (only if they already have them) that I won't be able to solve a puzzle unassisted (see below for an example). If you get it right I will reward you with 60 points in return (it's going to keep going up until someone beats me)! It's also your chance to predict what the final rating will be for the game.

From now on voters should pick whatever score they want, regardless of whether someone else has already chosen it. All correct (or nearest) votes will go into a draw, which I'm yet to figure out the form of (we'll cross that bridge when we get there).

Example Bet:

Nf n puvyq V ybfg zl zhz

Zl grrantr lrnef ner zhpu zber sha
Fbyivat zlfgrevrf, pncghevat pebbxf
Va nqiragher tnzrf naq fgnpxf bs obbxf

Jub nz V? 20 PNCf sbe gur svefg pbeerpg nafjre.

Extra Note: Once again, Lars-Erik will gift the next readily available game on the list to the reader that correctly predicts what score I will give this game. So, if you predict the right score (or are closest), you will get 10 CAPs and a copy of the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade from Steam! Good luck!