Missed Classic: Reality Ends – WON! and Final Rating

by Will Moczarski

Prologue: Second Session

My second session of Reality Ends was remarkably uneventful. I tried some new things with all of my items but putting in an hour got me nowhere. Another obstacle was the savegame feature. My TRS-80 emulator sometimes did not recognize my file names (or rather tape names) but didn’t tell me about it until I tried to restore my saved states. I decided to rough it in order to get the original feeling but that was really time-consuming as every wrong move (and there are many of them) led me back to the beginning. In the end, I didn’t even need my notes to get the food, feed the dog, get the umbrella, get the diamonds after using the umbrella, get the horse, jump across the ravine, get the mail, get the rope, throw the rope, climb the rope, get the plants, pay for the polish with the plants, buy guns and finally pay for them with the diamonds. In the end, I only achieved a couple new things: I was able to pick up the gold and recruit the marksmen in the town of Rayor. When I tried to attack the town of Margon now, I was still crushed. The VOCAB command soon became my best friend. I spent a lot of time dabbling with the “place” command (especially “place marksmen” which seemed like a martial thing to do) before figuring out that it’s just a synonym for “drop”. Dropping the marksmen caused them to disappear into thin air, however, although I was able to recruit them indefinitely as long as I had the gold. Using items, even for payment, doesn’t make you drop them or lose them which seems a bit counterintuitive – it makes things a lot easier, though. Oh, and I rolled the log, revealing a metal box. Its top is welded shut, though, so that just turned into another puzzle.

Without a clue what to do next I checked out my trusty 1981 Med Systems catalog once again. The description of Reality Ends came with three sort-of clues and one major disappointment: Apparently, it was marketed as a game for beginners. Also, the “clues” were not clues per se but rather bits and pieces hinting at the plot. They only confirmed my suspicions that I had to attack the city of Margon to free the Amulet of Sangi and recruit the fanatic hordes “to aid my quest”.

I hate “easy” games. They are likely to make me feel stupid.

Missed Classic 68: Reality Ends (1980) - Introduction

By Will Moczarski

A general rule seems to be that the more work you put into thorough research, the more work you create for yourself as a result. Does that make sense? Well, I had ambitiously planned to write a short connecting blog post to describe the non-adventure games Med Systems Software released between Labyrinth and Asylum but as a result I found out that there are many more, almost undocumented adventure games by the company I hadn't even heard about. Med Systems appears to have been as prolific as, say, Sirius Software, and not much less innovative, either. Today's post deals with the first of the overlooked adventure games that came out in 1980 – the same year as Deathmaze 5000 and Labyrinth so who knows which one came first? – and some of the non-adventure games that probably fall into the period between the second and the third "Continuum" adventure games Labyrinth and Asylum. The game in question is called Reality Ends and there is not much information about it to be found on the internet. Actually, Jason Dyer just played it on his blog “Renga in Blue” but I have kept myself from reading his posts because I want to avoid spoilers.

Reality Ends is yet another TRS-80 game but it uses a different premise, a different engine and a different approach to adventure gaming than the 3D maze/adventure crossover games I've previously been writing about. The introductory screen looks familiar because of a sort of corporate identity thing they seem to have been going on but the story is really unique. I can honestly say that I know of no other adventure game or even computer game to have a similar idea at its core. It "places you in a reality composed of over 200 parallel universes. You must move from universe to universe seeking the necessary materials to destroy Baldir." You have 400 moves to accomplish that or "reality dissolves". Sound weird? Well, the game isn't. The "universes" are actually clever metaphors for the rooms. Each room has a different description and the grid consists of 18 by 12 (216) "universes". The descriptions are just a little bit different, though, stressing the idea of hopping between parallel universes instead of just moving through adherent spaces.

 

“Yeah.” (Marlo Stanfield feels at home.)

Missed Classic: Labyrinth - WON! and Final Rating

by Will Moczarski

Modern (Awkward) Theseus Diary #3: Finally. I’ve solved all of the nasty and absurd puzzles the labyrinth had to offer me and hacked the evil minotaur to pieces with a lightsaber. I don’t even know who hid it deep inside the labyrinth but you’ll have to beware of my jedi moves from now on. The original Theseus would have been such a proud Obi-Wan to my Luke – wait, that didn’t come out in my favour now, did it?

Welcome back to the Labyrinth! Last time, I finally made some progress by throwing a cream pie at a wraith and thus opening up the fifth and final level. I also reckoned that I might have to feed a witch disguised as a maiden to a hungry cave bear and if you are worried about the dangerous effects the Med Systems games seem to be having on me, let it be known: My other guess also proved to be correct, so I'm officially on a roll (excuse the pun)! Getting it right took almost half an hour, though. I really had to drop the witch at the bear's feet but I'm too slow to get there on time unless – I wear the roller skates. That seems like adventure game logic, so I'll let it slide. Wearing the roller skates is a real pain, though, as you cannot navigate like you used to, splashing into walls at every turn. Having figured that out, the parser posed the next serious problem. Just dropping the witch wouldn't work, so I tried to throw it, open the box at the right moment, kill the bear with it, attack the bear with it, persuade the witch to kill the bear (in a multitude of ways) and the other way round. The parser is REALLY sensitive here and the right solution was actually “feed bear”. As it's a two-word parser and “kill man” implies ‘with the sword’ if you happen to carry it, that doesn't seem too bad. It still took me some time to find the solution. Also, this is the only time the parser asks you “with what?” after you've stumbled onto the right command. You actually have to add “with maiden” to succesfully poison the bear and get rid of the witch in the same turn. Had I tried to feed the bear before (although why I should do that is still beyond me), I would possibly have received a clear hint at the solution but how should I have known that the bear was hungry in the first place?

Missed Classic: Labyrinth - Minotorious

by Will Moczarski

Modern (Awkward) Theseus Diary #2: I’m running out of paper! Without a whole book of maps anyone would be lost in this amazing labyrinth. I’ve stumbled over all sorts of obstacles, too, without finding much treasure yet. I even met the minotaur but don’t seem to be a match for him yet. A cave gnome, a bear, an ugly little man and a wraith also demand my attention – I wonder if my ancient predecessor could have had it any harder.

Recap and More Mapping

So here’s a short recap of my first hours in the Labyrinth: I started out by mapping the first level where I found a book containing the word “PTOOII” which teleported me to a closed-off section I couldn’t escape from. I also found a sword there but without a way out it’s no use to me. I also found a pile of salt and have no idea what that means. Teleporters seem to be in three of the corners of the first level, all leading me to different levels, respectively. To the west of the level, a swathe of magic fog hinders my progress. I cannot see anything there and am unable to map the section because after a few moves the maze is beginning to rumble and the minotaur rips me asunder. In another part I find a pit that only leads me to another pit – as that seems complicated I won’t go down that road for now. Instead I use the long east and north corridors to measure the size of the labyrinth and my initial hypothesis that it’s 11 by 10 rooms per level appears to be correct, making it so much easier to spot the otherwise hidden teleporters.

Missed Classic 64: Labyrinth (1980) - Introduction

by Will Moczarski

A belated ho ho ho to you all! It‘s time to resume my Med Systems Software marathon that already brought us the goodness that was Deathmaze 5000. We‘re still in territory uncharted by Moby Games (their Med Systems list starts with The Institute which is two adventure games away) and still in the early days of the company. According to the copyright stamp on a manual I found online, Labyrinth seems to have come out in 1980 as the second game of the so-called Continuum Series. Like its predecessor it was written by Frank Corr, jr. and William F. Denman, jr. Labyrinth uses almost the same graphics as Deathmaze 5000 and the premise is very similar, too. We‘ll see if this is just more of the same or if Labyrinth is a genuinely different game.

One thing I‘d neglected to mention in my post about Deathmaze 5000 is the improbable popularity of the Continuum games in TRS-nostalgic circles. They even got namechecked in Mark J.P. Wolf‘s seminal video game history The Video Game Explosion, stressing their importance as predecessors of 3-D games such as first-person shooters (I‘ll get back to that when talking about Phantom Slayer in another post which is the company‘s sort-of proto-FPS). I hadn‘t had any knowledge of this before doing the research for Labyrinth so I was in for quite a surprise. Some users in the comments section of the trs-80.org website seem to be crazy about Deathmaze 5000, as is reflected in some of these quotes: ″Awesome! I looooved that game on the Apple″, ″Absolutely loved them [the Continuum games]!″, ″I loved this game.″ and so on. Most of the other commenters admit that they got stuck in the calculator room or at the very end, confirming my impression that those puzzles were really unfair. Labyrinth doesn‘t seem to be quite as popular, not having provoked one single comment. I have refrained from reading the main article as it may contain spoilers but looking at (or rather for) the comments section I inadvertently read the final paragraph: ″In my opinion, Labyrinth is an excellent follow-up to Deathmaze 5000. It is a more challenging adventure, with more logical puzzles, and one of the best examples of a TRS-80 adventure game.″ More challenging? Really? I‘m sure I‘ll be in for a bumpy ride now…

No, not that Labyrinth, although it‘s definitely
another missed classic (Screenshot from Wikipedia)

Missed Classic: Deathmaze 5000 - WON! and Final Rating

By Will Moczarski

Adventurer's Journal #3: I finally found a secret passage that got me out of my previous conundrum – I got to kill the monster eventually and even found a sword. When I thought that I was in for the home-run the monster's mother came out of the woodwork and taught me otherwise. I also did away with this beast, though, and poisoned a vampire bat on my way out only to be killed no less than four times in the most painful ways imaginable. My guardian angel (or rather guardian demon) kept on resurrecting me, however, and I finally got out of this mess. If there's one thing I've learned it's to cherish the safety of escape rooms...

The third day in the maze starts with a facepalm moment. While examining the perfect square I accidentally press the up button and reappear on the other side. Is this “puzzle” nothing more than an unconventional door? On the other side, I discover the usual essentials: a torch and food, as well as a ball of blue wool. Will there be a vicious cat to accompany the vicious dog from level 2? I have to drop some items, too, so I want to put everything that seems like a treasure – the ring, the ball, the paint brush – in the same square and head out to re-explore level four. Unfortunately, dropping more than one item in the same location results in the hallway being “too crowded”. I'll have to pick a whole corridor, accordingly. The next minutes are spent experimenting with all the items. I finally find out that I can play the flute for the snake and it rises out of the box. Moving towards it results in it biting me and me dying once more, though – not exactly breaking new ground here. Reading the usual message about the game again I suddenly know how to cross the pit in level 2 and get the magic staff! Maybe that is the item I am missing? I restore back and fart my way across the pit, thus avoiding the second vicious dog. Still, the staff doesn't have any effect on my remaining puzzles – not the wildest success I could have come up with in my dreams.

In-game graphics for the snake!

Missed Classic: Deathmaze 5000 - Telephone for Van Gogh

By Will Moczarski

Adventurer's Journal #2: This maze really gets to me. I have been stuck in the strange trap for quite a while before getting my throat ripped out by a vicious dog, starving to death and getting mauled by a foul-smelling monster. Someone or something continues to resurrect me, though, and I have to live through all of these horrors again and again until I find my way through – at least I'm making progress...

Interestingly, the biblical passage that the Byrds borrowed for their hit “Turn, Turn, Turn” is from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, a number too similar to 317.2 to ignore. In Ecclesiastes 3, the 17th word is an „a“, and this „a“ is at the beginning of the second part. Furthermore, the second half of Ecclesiastes 3:7 (thus including 1-7.1 but excluding 1-7.2) is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”. This line is apparently not featured in the lyrics to the song by the Byrds – it's left out. And...in Latin Jehovah begins with an “I”. In short, all of this got me nowhere – my cabbalistic approach was doomed to fail. Instead I put my tail between my legs and took a hint from the in-game hint system which told me to “invert and telephone”. What? The hint is just another puzzle? I appear to have been right by inverting the calculator but how do I use “2.LIE” on a telephone? At least this didn't take me too long but I was astonished just how cruel the game really was. In 1980, the letters L, I and E would have been on the same buttons as the numbers 5, 4 and 3 on a telephone. For example: If you wanted to call the LucasArts helpline from their adventures, it would be advertised as “1800-STAR WARS”, translating into “1800-7827 9277”. 5-4-3-2 was so clearly a sequence that I didn't believe in coincidence and indeed turning right five times, left four times and right three times set me free from my conundrum and I was able to leave with the calculator in hand. What a cruel, cruel puzzle! If there is anybody here who was able to solve this without the in-game hint system, please let me know in the comments – I'd be most interested in your train of thought.

Missed Classic: Deathmaze 5000 - Conference of the Byrds

By Will Moczarski

Adventurer's Journal #1: So I entered the five story building with the ominous name Deathmaze 5000 although everybody had warned me about it. I figured that escape rooms are for pansies and I'd need more of a challenge to get my righteous adrenaline fix. The maze was really something, though – I was perpetually beheaded by some invisible guillotine, found a lot of treasures but nothing edible so far and finally got stuck in a devious trap that seemed to be quoting either the Bible or the Byrds – not really sure which. I'm already longing for the safety of a conventional escape room although naturally I'd never admit that. Here goes nothing!

[From TRS-80.org: excerpt from a Med Systems catalog]

In-game manual and contact data for unbecoming insults...right?

Missed Classic 59: Deathmaze 5000 (1980) - Introduction

Written by Will Moczarski

One of the creepiest gaming experiences of my childhood was called Asylum, a downright crazy text adventure with graphics scaring the hell out of me back then. As I never actually managed to complete the game it has kind of stuck with me over the years and hung over my head like an unfinished memory. To finally come to terms with it, I've decided to blog through the adventure games developed and published by Med Systems Software of which Asylum (confusingly aka Asylum II) is the last.

The rather unknown company was founded around the beginning of the 1980s and first released a series of simple maze adventure games called Rat's Revenge, Deathmaze 5000 and Labyrinth for the TRS-80. They cannot be found anywhere on MobyGames and the early history of Med Systems is generally in the dark but sometimes retro gaming calls for a little bit of digital archaeology, right?

Missed Classic 34: Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1980)

Written by Joe Pranevich

Box art that cannot be unseen.

A few weeks back, I conquered mainframe Zork (also known as Dungeon), one of the most influential text adventures of all time. It was a fantastic game but a true marathon: at more than thirty-six hours of play (not counting my look at the 616-point version afterwards), it is the longest game currently on the site. It had plenty to explore, well-designed puzzles, and a parser that is still best of breed. Written by students for a very specific MIT-flavored PDP-10 system, it wasn’t intended to be a commercial success. It was a fun coding project by a bunch of guys that really thought they were going to get real jobs after graduation.

That is where the story of Dungeon ends and the story of Infocom begins. In 1979, the original designers (Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling) formed a company together. It wasn’t a gaming company. It wasn’t intended to sell Zork to the masses. It was a way to keep the band together as they transitioned to “real” projects. That they changed adventure games forever happened entirely by accident.

Missed Classic 8: Mission: Asteroid (1980)

Written by: Joe Pranevich

The Space Quest series was not Sierra’s first foray into science-fiction, nor was Space Quest IV the company’s first real look at time travel. No, both of those firsts have to be credited to Roberta Williams in the Hi-Res Adventure series. While I am still too far away from being able to explore Time Zone (1982), the sixth game in the series, I am right on time to look at Mission: Asteroid, the third… sort-of. This may require some explanation.

Missed Classic 5: Wizard and the Princess - WON! and Final Rating

By Joe Pranevich

Happy Wanderer Travelogue #3: The hero comes and the hero conquers, but he also learns a valuable lesson: always get your contracts in writing. I have explored the mountainous region in the far north and found the castle of my nemesis. Though it was not easy, I was able to use his own magic against him to rescue the princess and return her home. But alas, my days of wandering are not over yet and I must quest onward if I ever hope to claim my reward. I think I’ll go explore the desert first. What could possibly go wrong?

Episode 5: In Which Our Hero Does Some Shopping

The artist must have practiced drawing people between games, but not trees.

Last week, the happy wanderer and I crossed a desert, explored a forest, sailed over an ocean, and dug up a buried treasure. As we ended the session, we had just used a vial of flying water to sail over the northernmost part of the ocean to land on a new continent. This has been a long journey and I admire the game for providing a sense of distance, something that many quest games don’t manage to do. My feet are sore just thinking about it.

Unlike the wide-open spaces of the desert and forest, the new land is mountainous with one pah that presses me onward with few few diversions. Along the way, I find a ring on the ground and meet up with a woman that warns me that there is a giant up ahead. Giants in these sorts of stories always end up being the evil “use your bones for bread” kind of giants, but this seems vaguely racist. For once, I’d like to meet a giant in a story that was just sort of a tall accountant.

Too deep for billy goats.

A bit further along the path, I discover an old bridge crossing a deep gorge. The bridge is in bad shape and when I cross it, it collapses and I die. Over the next few deaths, I try to lighten my load and cross but each time meeting the same end. Only when I am carrying nothing does the game let me keep going. Since I do not have much of an alternative, I proceed empty-handed.

I continue crossing the mountains and it starts to rain. Since this is the first weather in the game, it must be significant, but the rain stops and a rainbow appears. I do not immediately find I can do anything with the rainbow, so I keep going west. In the next screen, I finally find that promised giant: he doesn’t seem all that bad of a guy, but he won’t let me continue. When I retrace my steps, I notice that the rain and the rainbow are gone. I smell a puzzle! I restore back to when the rainbow was out and beat my head against the parser before I find something I can do: “follow rainbow”. At the end of the rainbow, there is a single goal coin. I had honestly hoped for a full pot of coins, or perhaps a figure from Irish folklore, but one coin is a good start! I go back to the giant, coin in hand, and confidently try to pay him off. That gets me absolutely nowhere and this puzzle is not quite as simple as I thought.

Red, orange, and yellow were unavailable. Blue and green were drunk. 

Back at the bridge, I am wondering if this is where I should have been using the flying vial. I restore back to the previous island and look for another way to cross, but fail. I even revisit the parrot, but he will not give me a second vial. I will spare you the long narration of playing the harp in every room and generally acting like a fool, but I found a lead right where I didn’t expect: I had been so used to being forced on a linear path in the mountains, that I did not notice that one of the screens (on the far side of the bridge) let me go north. When I followed that, it to an empty cave. Now, when you see an empty cave, I’m not sure what you think of, but I had a moment of “I’ve Played Roberta’s Games Before” intuition and it paid off! I return to the bridge and instead of dropping all my stuff, I use the “LUCY” spell to send the items into God-knows-where. When I cross the bridge and check in the cave, all my stuff was present! I had completely forgotten about the locket until the cave jogged my memory, so I will call this a lucky break.

So many items! Wait, is everything levitating?

With my backpack filled again, I return to the giant. I remember my children’s stories, so the first thing I try is to give the harp to the giant and he lets me pass! Do you think this is the same giant from King’s Quest? I suspect not as he was guarding a chest of gold, rather than a harp. (Gurer jvyy nyfb or n unec va Xvatf Dhrfg I, ohg V sbetrg gur qrgnvyf.)

Just ahead on the path is a peddler, apparently unaware that a giant was blocking his paying customers. His wares are spread out on a table and each cost one gold coin: unless I find more money, I will just get to pick one. With a bit of experimentation, I can make out a pair of boots, a dagger, a vase, a pan, and a horn but I have no idea what any of them do. Leaving that for now, I head north and discover a castle with a moat. Is this it!? Have I found the wizard’s castle? Unfortunately, the drawbridge is up and the moat is filled with crocodiles, so I do not find a way in. Let’s see if anything I can buy will help!

The selection is great, but no free shipping.

I head south and the salesman is gone. Since there is no way to know what to buy when you meet him the first time, it hardly seems fair that he disappears before you can come back. Something for me to complain about in the PISSED rating, but for now I restore back. In my first attempt, I take the violent approach: I buy the dagger and try to kill the crocodiles. I guess Roberta only believes in the mass slaughter of snakes, because that doesn’t work AND I lose the dagger. On the next pass, I try the horn. When I play it, the drawbridge opens and I can finally enter the castle! Time to fight a wizard!


Final Episode: In Which Our Hero Does Not Get Everything He Deserves

No castle moat would be complete without a collection of crocodiles.

Inside the castle, everything looks normal enough and I have some options how I want to explore: there are doors to the north and west, and a stairway leading up. I choose west at random and find myself in a large dining hall with a flag on the wall. I note a door to the north, but keep moving west. That leads to a throne room. No one is home, so I do exactly what you would do in this situation: sit on the throne.

ZAP!

After a moment of disorientation, I realize that I have been teleported into an open courtyard. There is an angry looking boar here, but after failing to kill the crocodiles I decide to take the non-violent approach: I still have the apple that I picked up in the cabin just after I left I desert. I hand that to the pig, he eats it, and is dead at my feet in moment. Seriously? Who would leave a poisoned apple out where anyone I can pick it up and eat it by accident?

I just feel so guilty...

I re-enter the castle and find myself in an old fashioned kitchen. I start to explore further, before…

ZAP!

I am teleported again, this time to a small room with a locked door. How am I supposed to make any progress if I am teleported around like a madman? I do not have any way to open the door, so I step outside and into a hedge maze. At least, I think it’s a hedge maze; you know how the graphics are… Fortunately, the hedge maze turns out to be large, but simple: each corridor heads off in one direction and there are no switchbacks or hidden exits. Along the way, I find a dungeon room that contains a cell (that I cannot open or do anything with) and the exit back to the castle entrance hall. (The hedge maze had been out the door to the north.)

This pass, I try to explore north of the dining hall instead and… ZAP!

This hardly seems fair.

This time, I find myself in a cell with a locked door, probably the same cell that I just found the other side of in the hedge maze. Unfortunately, I cannot find any ways out so I am forced to reload the game.

This time, I do some experimentation. I find that the zapping is consistent and that it happens whenever I do anything in the teleporting rooms, and always loads back to the same place. More importantly, it seems to only happen once! When I retrace my steps all the way through the hedge maze this time, I can explore the throne room freely without getting teleported anymore. I do not find anything but it is at least a lead!

When I’m done exploring the downstairs, I head up and find a landing with rooms left and right. Left takes me to a gigantic frog, but ZAP! I am pushed back to the landing. I go in again and the same thing happens. This is the only play that zaps you more than once, so it must be significant. Could it be that the princess has been turned into a frog? Who would ever see that coming!?

Not looking forward to kissing that…

The room to the right is a former bedroom, but I find a pair of shoes on the floor in the closet. When I examine them, they have the word “WHOOSH” written on the bottom! I try my new magic word in the frog’s room, but I am still teleported out. It must be something else… how about that locked cell? I force myself to be zapped back to the cell and try my new magic word: nothing happens. But I do not give up that easily and try it again after putting the shoes on. It works! I am teleported back to the very beginning of the game!

Oh God, not again.

Thinking on this for a second, I remember that walking back to the castle won’t be an option. The rowboat is on the wrong shore and I still have no means of getting a second flying vial. Fortunately, using “whoosh” again here teleports me back to the castle entrance. Awesome!

Having triggered and survived that teleport trap, I can explore north of the dining hall further but that ends up not being as exciting as I hoped: it just leads back to the old fashioned kitchen where I was teleported to in the first run. This leads me to another boring segment where I type stupid commands in bunches of places and try to find something that I didn’t before. It’s not the most fun to type up and read, so I’ll spare you the details and just tell you that I found that I could pick the lock in the door at the end of the hedge maze using my knife. (That’s the room I was teleported to, so I wonder if I needed to solve the hedge maze at all.) That leads me to a new room with stairs and a door to the east. When I go through that door, I find myself in the frog room and am teleported out, but the stairs take me to the top of a tall tower.

Now, the first time I went into the tower, it was empty, but at some point I entered it a second or third time and there was a bird flying around. I try to catch the bird or kill it, but that doesn’t get me anywhere and I find myself stuck yet again.

Anyone have a rod with a rusty star on one end?

And this is where I get really stuck. As in, hours and hours of not finding anything new. I even explore the entire first section again after using the “whoosh” spell. Other than the rowboat resetting (so I could get to the second island), there was still no way to get more flying vials so I could not retrace my steps to the castle completely. After hours and hours of this, I gave up and took a hint. I am not proud of that, but I did want to finish eventually. I made it pretty far solving some puzzles and beating others to death with sheer stubbornness, but this one beat me.

The trick is in the ring that I found in the mountains: if you put it on and “rub” it, you transform into a cat. In your cat form, you are able to easily pounce on the bird and eat it. Are there any stories where you rub a ring? I would never have thought to try that verb. Did I miss a hint anywhere?

While that does not seem to do anything immediately, for some reason I can now enter the frog’s room without getting teleported away. (After winning, I consult a guide and it seems that the wizard had disguised himself as the bird to evade detection.) I pucker up and kiss the frog, transforming her back into a beautiful princess.

You still look a little green. Are you okay?

The princess follows me back to the throne room and I expect an ending, but that does nothing. For lack of any better ideas, I use “whoosh” one more time and we are both transported to Serenia. With all the pomp and circumstance of buying a soda from a machine, the game is over:

JUNIOR-MASTER!?

After all this effort, walking halfway around the world, and defeating the wizard, the best they can do is “Junior-Master Adventurer”? The manual clearly stated that I would marry the princess and take half of the kingdom, but now I’m just left disappointed. Did I miss something? Is there a better ending that I could have received? Please reply in the comments!

Time played: 4 hrs
Total time: 9 hrs


Final Rating

Without further pomp or circumstance, let’s talk about the game overall.


Puzzles and Solvability - 3

This game is a mess when it comes to puzzles, with some absolutely brilliant/fun ones (the notes that you have to assemble to leave the desert) with some real losers (rubbing the ring to kill a bird that was secretly an evil wizard). This game loses points for the opening maze as just an example of poor pacing, as well as the puzzles that required reloading to solve. I may be able to forgive the latter since the game was nearly over and we expect an increase in difficulty, but to start the game off in a maze? That was just poor design.

If only the Professor had thought of this, Gilligan and his friends may have made it home.

Interface and Inventory - 3

Other than color, the interface to this game is the same as Mystery House with few exceptions. The keyword “all” has been added and can be used in a few cases, but that is about it. (And the only way I even know about that is that the manual brings it up.) This game however has a great collection of inventory items, almost all of which you need to solve a puzzle. While many of those puzzles had their flaws, the inventory in the game isn’t that bad in itself.


Story and Setting - 4

I sort-of like the story and setting of this game. It’s a decent traveling journey across varied terrain and you really get a sense for having gone a long way. While it was not well-used, I also liked that you could re-explore pretty much the whole game at the end. A better game would have made that worthwhile, but this isn’t that game. I know I’m letting my future-sight cloud my judgement here, but this felt like a King’s Quest game with that same hodge-podge of fantasy tropes and mixed up mythologies that enjoy. I am sure that many would not find that as endearing as I did, but I liked it.

Sound and Graphics - 2

The graphics were somewhat more mature than Mystery House, but it still looked amateurish and unpolished. Worse, it seems that the continuity wasn’t always there. The damned sailboat thing really screwed with me for a long time, but I bet that was just an artist trying to draw the rowboat from far away and not caring that different kinds of boats look different. Sound was nonexistent, of course. I also have to ding some points here for the blandness of some of the environments, especially the two mazes. Since you spend the majority of the first hours in the desert, at least they could have made it slightly less bland.

See the pirate hiding behind that tree? Me, neither.

Environment and Atmosphere - 3

Just like the “story” section above, I find myself uncontrollably reading the Kings Quest feeling into this game, but otherwise the environments were hit or miss. The desert section went on far too long, detracting from the feeling that the game was going anyplace. While I found it somewhat annoying, the constant “zapping” in the final castle created an unsettled feeling, like you could get whisked away at any moment. Exploration became more hurried, tension was higher. That was a good way to shake up the final segment and I’ll give the game a point just for that.


Dialog and Acting - 3

Like its predecessor, the text in this game is sparse and there are relatively few NPCs that you can talk to. I’m reminded of the lonely town of Serenia which apparently has no people at all! But unlike Mystery House, there was enough text to get a feeling for the tone of the game and to appreciate the writing when it was there. I scored it a bit higher for that reason.


Drumroll Please...

(3+3+4+2+3+3)/.60 = 30 points! That is just slightly ahead of Mystery House. I was considering deducting a point for the terrible opening, but I think the scores speak for themselves overall. The first Kings Quest game scored a 48 and while I can see a glimmer of what that series will become in this game, we can see a much earlier and less refined approach to storytelling here. If the art had been a bit more consistent and the start not quite as frustrating, I think we would be a lot closer. I am curious whether any of the “Hi-Res Adventure” games will come close.

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Roberta Williams may have taken the criticism that Wizard and the Princess was too hard seriously: her next game would be Mission Asteroid. Released as her third game in 1980, the game was renumbered as “#0” to act as an easier prequel of sorts to help new adventurers get into the genre. That will be my next “Missed Classic”!

Missed Classic 5: Wizard and the Princess - Over the River and through the Woods

By Joe Pranevich

Happy Wanderer Travelogue #2: Have you ever had one of those days where you set out to rescue a princess and then you find out that she is hidden in a castle far, far away? I had one of those days today and boy, do my feet hurt! Along the way, I learned a few spells, fed a lion, crossed the ocean in a leaking rowboat, and stole a treasure from a pirate. I can see the mountains in front of me. The princess is close, I can feel it.

Episode 2: In Which Our Hero Traverses More Desert

Deja vu. Didn’t I just solve a puzzle about a snake in the desert?

Last week, the happy wanderer and I solved the mystery of the desert maze and defeated an inconveniently placed rattlesnake. I’m still not sure why I couldn’t just walk around it, but hey: it’s an adventure game. My trusty rock in hand, I set off north to see what new challenges Roberta Williams would throw at us. Unfortunately, those challenges primarily consisted of more desert and more snakes.

The first of these snakes is guarding a hole in the side of a small hill. I can walk past him easily enough, but if I try to find out what is in the hole, he bites me and I die. My trusty rock doesn’t do the trick, so I’m going to need to find another approach. For now, I think I’ll see what else is in the desert and come back later.

This section of desert is at least more interesting than the last, with most screens having something to see or pick up. Very quickly, I find a locket on the ground (inscribed with “LUCY” on the inside), a stick, and a strange note. The note looks like it is written in code, but I do not have a way to decipher it yet. I also find a cracker hidden inside a cactus, which is strange.

Because two snakes were not enough, I also meet up with a third: the King of Snakes. This very important snake seems to have had a rock dropped on him and I am faced with a decision: should I kill him? or let him go? Naturally, I let him go and he rewards me with a magic word: “HISS”. I try it out and am transformed into a snake, but change back after a brief time. It’s pretty cool, but haven’t we had enough snake-based puzzles?

In the far north of the desert, I see the promised land:

The artist wanted to draw “some woods”, but managed to only draw one tree?

Unfortunately, I will need to cross a wide and water-filled canyon before I can escape the desert, but at least I can see that escape is possible. I have a feeling that somehow the solution will involve a snake. Now that I have enough items, I take a break from exploring the northern part of the desert to go back and make sure that I had fully explored the maze from the beginning of the game. I do not find anything new, but there was no way around it. I do not trust Roberta not to have hidden something I’ll need for the end of the game there.

With nothing else to do, I revisit the snake guarding the hole. Assuming that the snake would not attack another snake, I use my “HISS” spell to transform then try to squeeze into the hole myself. Apparently this particular snake is anti-social because he bites and kills me anyway. I check my inventory and try a few objects and one of them does the trick: I can fight off the snake using the stick I found lying in the desert. Once it is driven off, I reach into the hole and pull out another encoded note!

The two notes are written in a sort of code, but are clearly related to each other:

The top one might read “CULUN”, but the bottom one just has me scratching my head.

Because I’m playing this game on an emulator in the future, I print out the two notes and play around with them. I try using a mirror on the center line, or flipping them horizontally. The solution is obvious in retrospect, but I was thrown off because the note with the text on the BOTTOM is actually the TOP of the message. And when you paste them together, what do you get:

Hocus Pocus Alimagocus!

It is obvious that “HOCUS” is my next magic word. I try it out and see what animal it turns me into, but it is not that kind of magic word. I wander the desert from screen to screen, typing “HOCUS” like an idiot before I go to the obvious place, the ravine. When I use the word there, it creates a bridge! With luck, I can leave this desert (and its abundance of snake-based puzzles) behind for good.

Before I cross into the green beyond, one side note: I am starting to suspect that there are other magic words scattered throughout the game. On a whim, I try “LUCY”, the name from the locket, and that is a magic spell, too! When I use it, all of my stuff disappears and I have to reload the game. It must come in handy somewhere, but I can’t imagine how.

Episode 3: In Which Our Hero Is Mugged By A Gnome

Wasn’t that house brown a minute ago?

On the other side of the ravine, I immediately check the house for valuables, but only find an apple. Before I can get anywhere else, something terrible happens: I am mugged by a gnome. I replay the scene a few times, trying to find a way to escape or kill him, but in the end I give up and assume it is supposed to happen. I probably had it coming to me anyway.

Hey, is your name David? Just checking.

I start exploring the forest, but I hit immediately on a new obstacle: a snake. Just kidding! It’s actually a lion and he’s guarding a path down to a beach. In the distance, I can see a sailboat and crystal blue water, but before I start hitting the lion with rocks or sticks, I need to find my stuff and see what else is around.

This side of the ravine is a pleasant forest. There’s a brook where I can refill my water jug, a parrot in a tree, a different tree that I can climb all the way up to get a good view of the ocean, and a hill with a strange crack in it. More importantly, I also find a tree that contains a staircase down to a locked door. Could this be where the gnome has hidden my equipment? I’m not sure, but I cannot find any way to unlock the door so I will need to keep exploring.

Just a thought: we have a house in the woods, a short distance away from a tall tree that you can climb. Is this a coincidence or a reference to Mystery House?

Two trees, alike in dignity?

I climb to the top of the tree, but cannot find anything to do with it so I concentrate my puzzle-solving on the hill with the crack in it. Back in the desert, I tried to sneak into a hole by turning into a snake and slithering in, only to be bitten and die. I try the same approach again and this time it works! I crawl through a dark tunnel for several screens before emerging into a room with a door and all of my stuff. This is obviously the gnome’s lair, but he does not seem to be at home. Not wanting to stick around for too long, I pick up my things and exit out the front door, emerging at the tree that I discovered earlier. Now what?

I delegate the captioning of this image to Kenny.

I check my inventory and notice that I have the cracker that I found in the cactus back. And who might like a cracker? A parrot, of course! I head back to the parrot and exchange the cracker with him for a vial of liquid. I save my game and try it out: I can fly! The effect wears off almost immediately, but I set about seeing if there is anywhere that I can use my new prize. I try it first at the top of the tree, thinking that I can leap out and cross the ocean like Daedalus. Unfortunately, that does not work.

Lambert, the sheepish lion! Or did they not have the ability to use yellow in this game?

A little more experimentation shows the answer: I can use it to fly over the lion guarding the beach. Once there, I find some rope and a rowboat. The sailboat I saw from the last screen is nowhere to be found, but perhaps I will find it later. The rowboat has a giant hole in the bottom, so I try a whole bunch of my items until I find one that works: the blanket. Somehow balling up the blanket and sticking it in the hole makes the boat seaworthy. I am fairly certain that this would not work in real life, but the next time I am in a leaking rowboat with an old blanket, I will give it a shot.

Episode 4: In Which Our Hero Searches For Buried Treasure

“X” marks the spot!

Setting out to sea in my rowboat was not as climactic as I expected. While I had hoped for a bit of The Wind Waker-style island-hopping, I realized soon enough that the ocean continued on forever in every direction except landing on this one specific island, a bit to the east. The first feature I notice on the island is a large “X” on the beach, obviously a pirate treasure. But generally doesn’t “X” mark the spot on a map where treasure is buried? If you were a pirate and actually put an “X” where your treasure was, I think it would get stolen pretty quickly. I would be stealing it already, but I do not have anything to dig with.

Exploring the island is easy, but there is a bit of a interface-stupid here. In a couple places, it seems that if you type a direction and there is nothing that way, you walk off the edge of the island and drown without warning.

Treehouse of brown, now sit down!

I explore a bit further and find a treehouse in the jungle, but no way up. The rope that I found seems to be the right approach, but there’s no heft to it and so I can’t get it high enough. I keep exploring and the answer comes immediately: there is an anchor on the beach in the next screen. I tie the rope to the anchor and throw it up to the treehouse. This lets me climb up and explore, where I find a shovel. I backtrack to the beach and start to dig.

Putting my “Happy Wanderer” muscles to good use, I unearth a treasure chest. Before I can open it, a pirate jumps out from behind a tree and steals it. That makes twice this game that something of mine has been stolen, but at least there are no snakes. Thanks to the poor graphics of this game, you never actually see the pirate except in your imagination. His whole appearance is only described in text.

The last time I met a pirate that hid things in a cave, the cave was a bit bigger than this.

I continue exploring the island, quickly finding a cave containing a treasure chest. This whole section of the game seems a bit under-designed. Maybe I am just lucky, but I keep finding the puzzle objects I need immediately after learning that I need them. There is no challenge here. I suppose I could have stumbled into the cave before I got the treasure, but at least the way I am playing it through it all connects pretty simply.

Inside the chest is a harp. I can play it, but there is no obvious magic. I continue exploring the island, playing the harp in random places, but do not find anything else of interest. I also do not find any way off the island, or even a good clue where I might go. I know from the manual that the direction of the evil wizard’s fortress is north, but that does not help all that much. Not wanting to give up, I cross back to the original landmass and play the harp everywhere there as well. No dice.

I am not ashamed to tell you that this is when I spent a LOT of time trying to chase after that sailboat. Remember the sailboat? The one you can see from the beach and the top of the tree? The one that is definitely not a rowboat with a leaky bottom? My thinking was that something from the north island would let me snag the boat so that I could continue sailing north.

Curse you, sailboat!

In all of this exploring, I decided that maybe I could use the vial to get to the sailboat. I restored to before I sailed over the lion and looked for a different approach. I did not have to go too far through my inventory before I discovered that this lion enjoys bread. I gave him some bread and he let me pass, but this time I still had the vial. I used it on the beach, but I was still unable to find a command that would let me get to the sailboat.

Running out of ideas, I started trying the vial in various places on the jungle island. I found the trick pretty quickly and I am fairly ashamed that it took me a while to work it out: I went to the northernmost screen I had found so far, the beach with the anchor, and used the vial there. I then typed “north” and I flew over the water to another beach!

Is this the right solution? I do not know. The vial was used once already to solve a puzzle that I could have solved another way. Was this the right solution? Or a cheat that will trap me later? I am not sure, but I am sure that my time is up for this week.

Thus far I am enjoying the game, but it is far from perfect. This week’s session was not as annoyingly difficult as the desert maze was, but there were spots when it just came too easy. Finding the object you need in the screen after you realize you need it is fun once, but it happened several times on this leg of the journey. Let’s hope next week is better!

Next time: the thrilling conclusion!

Session time: 4 hrs
Total time: 5 hrs

Missed Classic 5: Wizard and the Princess - Introduction (1980)

Written by Joe Pranevich

King’s Quest was not the first adventure game I played, or even an early favorite, but it shaped how I viewed adventure gaming. I was thirteen when I first played it, one of a handful that my girlfriend introduced me to on her Tandy when I would come visit. We played the first three together. I loved the whimsy of the series, the haphazard way that the they blended familiar stories, and the joy of exploration. As I got older, I continued to view Kings Quest as something of a bellwether for adventure gaming trends. I was awed by the sound and “multimedia” experience in King’s Quest 5, then by the challenge and depth of King’s Quest 6, and finally by the simplicity and cartoon-like experience of King’s Quest 7. Each game brought something new to the formula. I regret that I never played #8 —it came out while I was in college and what little I had heard about it was less than good— but perhaps I will look it up when the blog eventually gets that far.

It was a surprise to me, and it may also be a surprise to some of you, that Wizard and the Princess, “Hi-Res Adventure #2”, is actually a King’s Quest game —or rather, takes places in the same universe as the later games. Thus, two out of two games in the “Hi-Res Adventure” series inspired later Roberta Williams games! I look forward to finding out whether that trend continues with the subsequent games. I have not played this game before, both because the PC version is quite rare and because it is a bit before my time. I did have a large number of Commodore 64 games of uncertain origin that were provided by my parents, but this was not one of them. Either way, I look forward to playing it now!

Title screen from 1986 re-release. This is the version that I played for this review.
It may not be possible to have a more boring title screen.

But first, a little history: Earlier in 1980, Ken and Roberta Williams published the first game by their fledging software company, Mystery House. They had intended On-Line Systems, as it was then-known, to be a business software company, but they saw the way the wind was blowing and shifted to games instead. Mystery House was the first graphical adventure, in a time when text adventures were just hitting their stride. It was primitive, ugly, and short, but it was also successful, selling enough copies to convince the pair to keep going. Wizard and the Princess was their second attempt and was marketed as “Hi-Res Adventure #2”.

Why did Ken and Roberta call their series “Hi-Res Adventures”? The answer seems to be two-fold. The first part of the answer comes from Apple itself: they called their 280 x 192 pixel graphics mode “Hi-Res” to distinguish it from their pong-level 40 x 40 low-resolution graphics. This was a nearly 34x increase! It seems laughable now, but that must have been a big deal at the time. The second part of the answers comes from their competition: Scott Adams was marketing his “Adventure International” games as “Adventure #1”, “Adventure #2”, and so on. Whether this was a common way to market games or simply Ken and Roberta not being above a bit of consumer confusion, I cannot say, but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. This nomenclature was kept for a further five games in the series before being retired in 1984. Scott Adams would later rebill his games as “S.A.G.A. #1” and so on during his graphical refresh in 1982. More on that later, if I get to cover some of his games for this blog.

Watch out! This WizArd is in camel case! Doesn’t this cover just scream “romance novel” to you?

Although I have not played the game yet, I know that Wizard and the Princess makes some technical innovations over its predecessor. First and most obviously: this game is in colour! In fact, Ken and Roberta moved straight past blocks of color and into dithering to provide a wider variety of colors than the Apple ][ was technically able to display. My emulator tends to show this as tight individual pixels, but I have heard that on the original systems, the pixels blended to provide a better color experience. They also added support for up to 15 save slots on a second dedicated save-game disk. Beyond that, I will find out as I play.

I know this game takes place in Serenia —the same setting as King’s Quest 5— but otherwise I am a bit rusty on connections with other King’s Quest games. It has been many years since I played any of the early KQ games and I encourage you to comment on any connections you see between this and the later games. Obviously, there is a downside to not being Trickster and having all of these games in my own recent memory.

No one could possibly buy this game twice by accident, could they? 

Before I get into playing, this game has one more curious bit of history. In 1982, IBM and On-Line Systems released a version of Wizard and the Princess for the PC. Although the game appears to be the same (at least through the first several screens), it was retitled as Adventure in Serenia. Why? I am not sure, but several sources suggest that Roberta Williams was unhappy with the port. While it is usually the practice of this blog to play the PC versions when available, I have decided to play the Apple version to ensure a more authentic play experience. I want to be fair to the game, especially if the PC version is a lower quality.

IBM PC version (above) and Apple ][ version (below).

Reading through the manual, the plot of the game seems simple enough: you are a “happy wanderer” just passing through Serenia when you hear a tragic tale. The king’s daughter, Princess Priscilla, has been kidnapped by the evil wizard Harlin and taken to his castle, far to the north. Being the completely clueless wanderer you are, you head off in that direction before buying any supplies. Time to play!

Happy Wanderer Travelogue #1: Man, I hate magic. I bought a copy of “Daventry on Five Gold Coins Per Day” from a quaint little shop in Llewdor and the gnome proprietor offered to throw in some “magic transportation” to speed up my journey. I said sure! Big mistake. Next thing I know, all my money is gone and I’m in Serenia of all places with a nasty headache. Serenia! The only thing Serenia is famous for is how much sand they put in the sandwiches. I tossed the book aside just as a crowd was gathering on the other end of the square. A royal crier was spreading the new: Princess Priscilla was kidnapped by an evil Wizard. My ears perked up when I heard that the reward would be half of the kingdom! Maybe the gnome did me a favor after all. I packed up what was left of my traveling supplies and marched off to the northern desert. Princess, here I come!

Argh, a snake!

And we’re off! I start the game in the “Village of Serenia”, and it takes me only 30 seconds to become disappointed. None of the town is explorable, there are no people or shops, and the buildings are just for show. It’s a complete facade of a town and just a lazy and disappointing way to start the game. Oh well! I know from the manual that the evil wizard is off to the north, so let’s start off in that direction first.

Just to the north of town, a snake is guarding the path. Despite the miles of desert in all directions, there seems to be no way to walk around the snake and the only way further north is through it. I check my inventory: water, knife, bread, and blanket. I try to use the knife, but it is not big enough to kill the snake, but even that failure gives me a clue. How else can I kill the snake? Can I get a bigger knife? Not having the answer, I head east to see what else is around.

Twisty little maze of cacti all alike?

A few seconds later and I realize what I have walked into: a maze. This game drops you into the middle of a maze as the very first puzzle of the game. We have the snake and the town, but all of the surrounding screens are identical, in the style of a classic adventure game maze. Going west in one screen does not mean you can get back by going east, for example. The only way forward is careful mapping. Yes, I do know what to do-- this is not my first adventure game after all-- but mazes are not my favorite kind of puzzle. I restart the game to get a fixed reference and start to build my map using the four items that I started the game with. As I explore, I realize that there is a small help as not all of the screens are exactly identical. Several of them have rocks which, on further observation, have scorpions hiding behind them. I cannot pick them up without dying, but they add a bit of variance to the terrain and makes mapping it somewhat easier.

But damn. No sooner do I think that than the game throws me a curveball: some of the rooms are almost identical. In fact, I only realized that they weren’t when my maps were coming out wrong. The only way I realized was with careful screenshots, which 1980s players would not have had access to. Take a look at this:

Oh yeah. Just try to figure this out without screenshots. I dare you.

That just does not seem fair! Still, I work it out and my mapping is coming along well until I run out of items. I only started with four and so I can only map rooms with rocks and four more and the maze is clearly bigger than that. But by luck, I think I found what the end of the maze is supposed to be: one of the rocks does NOT have a scorpion behind it! In fact, I can pick it up and take it with me. Hooray! I have found a rock. From there, it takes a couple of tries to work out a path that gets me to the rock and back without dropping any items, but I succeed and am back at the starting town with one new rock in my possession. What a victory!

I head north again and “use” the rock on the snake, thumping it until dead. I pick the rock back up in case there are more snakes, but I suspect this is just the beginning. Once I get more items, I will have to go back to the maze and make sure I found everything. I do not trust this game not to hide an important object there. Already, it has proven itself to be somewhat annoying.

Thus far, I admit to being rather unimpressed. After an hour of looking at nearly identical screenshots and mapping, I have managed to solve one puzzle, and I’m not 100% sure that is the right way to do it. (Can you get by without killing the snake?) I am also not sold on starting the game in a maze. Still, there must be a lot of the game left and I am eager to see what Mrs. Williams is going to throw at me next. If there is another maze, I am not going to be pleased.

On the bright side, at least it looks like a scorpion...

Since this IS a first post for a game, do not forget that you can make wagers and vote on the final score for the game. I am also eager to hear of what King’s Quest connections you see, if any!

Session time: 1 hr
Total time: 1 hr