Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 2: 1984-1987 - Britannia Gnomes and the Tower of Doom - Part 1

This week on Super Adventures, my tour of the first ten years of Dungeons & Dragons games has reached its third year: 1984. But I'd like to keep this moving at a decent pace, so I'm also going to write about every D&D game released in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Though it occurs to me that I don't really have the context for these Golden Age CRPGs. I'm not old enough or American enough to have ever loaded one of them up on an Apple II, so I have no nostalgia and zero fond memories. I did play a few Amiga and DOS RPGs, but it usually only took me 10 minutes to realise that they were not meant for me. The 2000s are when I got into the genre, with games like Final Fantasy IX, Deus Ex, Dungeon Siege and Knights of the Old Republic. That's the era I'm nostalgic for.

So okay, what I'm going to do is research some of the other influential RPGs of the mid-'80s and I'm going to play them as well. I don't promise that I'm going to stick with them very long, I'm not the CRPG Addict, I'm just some millennial writing a retro blog, but I'm smart enough to know that I need a history lesson.

I'm going to play... 16 games I think. About 4 per year. That seems like a normal reasonable amount. I'll even put a number next to each title so it's like one of those 'top 20' internet lists.

Karateka (Apple II)

Today's game is... Karateka, by legendary Prince of Persia developer Jordan Mechner. I've seen the game mentioned a lot, but I know next to nothing about it. So I thought I should probably check it out.

Ghostbusters (ZX Spectrum) - Guest Post

I've received a challenge!

Ghostbusters on the ZX Spectrum. One of the very first games I ever played, if not the first. Haven't played it in many, many years.

Can I play it start to finish without going completely crazy? We shall see!

Golgo 13 (SG-1000)

This is based on a famous anime series that I know next to nothing about. Though I'm fairly sure this guy is a sniper.

2010: The Graphic Action Game (ColecoVision)

I think this may be it, the laziest title screen on my entire site.

The game's based on the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I'm sure I've read but can't remember a single thing about.