The Retro Adventurers

Episode 22 - Questprobe: Spider-Man and Redhawk

POW! KABOOM! KWAH!

Dave and Jason explore two 1980s text adventures pulled from the world of comic books! (At the time, comics were just one of many forms of narrative expression and not the dominant storytelling platform as they are this century.)

First up it's Redhawk from Melbourne House, which experiments with text/graphics adventure presentation by building a three-panel comic on-screen based on player input. Can you, as mild-mannered news photographer Kevin Oliver and as flying, fighting superhero Redhawk save the city?

Then it's Questprobe: Spider-Man from Adventure International, from the short-lived Marvel Comics series which just predated the company's end. Amazing feats of wall-walking and strength await!

Finally, we play the work-in-progress of the unfinished Questprobe: X-Men, provided by Scott Adams himself from his archives.

Questprobe: Spider-Man (playable online, Apple II verson)

Questprobe: Spider-Man on IFDB

Redhawk (playable online, Amstrad CPC version)

Redhawk on IFDB

Episode 21 - First Anniversary Chatisode

🎂It’s our first birthday!🎂Enjoy an anniversary celebration with all the hosts and minimal editing!

Founder Ben holds a contest of Retro Adventurers knowledge–who will reign supreme? How many countries have at least one download per episode? Who will be named the Seven of Nine of text adventure podcasting? Will the boys have a polite conversation about expanding to other genres or will chairs fly?

Thank you for listening to our first year of classic text adventure discussion and review. Please get in touch with us with suggestions for the years to come.

(And yes, Nick knows our frequent guest is Tim Gilberts, he was just distracted.)

Googlewhack definition

The Clarion Beauty Computer

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves playable online (not a text adventure!)

Sleuth for DOS

Labyrinth (Lucasfilm Games)

Amazing Quest by Nick Montfort

Twisty Little Passages

50 Years of Text Games

Episode 20 - The Mask of the Sun and Valkyrie 17

Dave and Jason confront a double dose of terrifying terrors! First up is the RamJam Corporation's Valkyrie 17, a Cold War thriller set in a pseudonymous Eastern Bloc nation, boasting excellent off-screen production values but some quirky on-screen choices. The title was originally published for ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, with a Windows update released more recently.

Then we travel to South America for the so-close-to-the-original, you-can-feel-the-stubble Indiana Jones-adjacent The Mask of the Sun originally published by Ultrasoft. You are rugged professor of archaeology Mac Steele, struggling under the debilitating effects of an ancient curse! Only by enduring many (many, many) Jeep and cave-navigating sequences can he be free of the exotic pills which keep him just barely clinging to life! The Mask of the Sun was published for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64, with a German translation to boot!

(And one of these days Jason will stop saying something has an "X-word" parser when he means an "X-letter" parser... but not today!)

Valkyrie 17 box, documentation, and audio

Valkyrie 17, C64 playable online

Valkyrie 17, Windows update

Valkyrie 17 on Mobygames

The Mask of the Sun documentation (Broderbund)

The Mask of the Sun on Mobygames

 

Episode 19 - Monsters of Murdac and Behind Closed Doors (SAM Coupé Adventure Club #1)

Ben occupies the throne, attended by minions Jason and Nick this episode to plumb the depths of the text adventure archives. In the featured spot is the Phoenix/Topologika title Monsters of Murdac by Dr. Jonathan Partington (Episodes #12 and #16), a punishingly creative game. Up first, however, is the 1991 disk magazine SAM Coupé Adventure Club #1 and its featured free game... the toilet-escape simulator Behind Closed Doors by "Balrog" John Wilson.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Monsters of Murdac (playable online, BBC version)

SAM Coupé Adventure Club archive

Browser-readable version of SAM Coupé Adventure Club Disk #1

Behind Closed Doors #1 (playable online, ZX Spectrum version)

Ink Console

Classic articles on games by Jonathan Partington

 

Episode 18 - Bored of the Rings / Calixto Island with Iain Lee

Iain Lee, "an old bloke who was popular in the Nineties" as well as counsellor, broadcaster, and I'm a Celebrity survivor joins Dave and Jason this episode. They discuss Tolkien sendup Bored of the Rings by Fergus McNeill and the Mark Data classic Calixto Island. Iain shares his love for the Dragon 32, memories of sneaking text adventure time on school BBC Micros, and Experienced Media Professional Image Advice with Jason.

Bored of the Rings (playable online)

Calixto Island (playable online, MS-DOS with graphics)

Calixto Island (playable online, "Play Now" button next to "Calixto Island (Text)", CoCo plain text)

Iain Lee's Random Access Memories podcast

Quill Adventure Guides (Bored of the Rings and other Quill games, deconstructed)

MST3K: Detective

 

Episode 17 - Magazine Roundup #1

Jason, Nick, and the returning Tim Gilberts of Gilsoft dig into the magazines of the 1970s and 1980s that chronicled the rise of text adventures!

We look at two of the most significant Stateside issues of the early commercial period, the November 1979 issue of Creative Computing with a full (and unusual) implementation of Colossal Cave Adventure, and the December 1980 BYTE with articles by Dave Lebling, Jon Freeman, and of course one of the most significant events of the year in personal computer games: Scott Adams' release of the Pirate Adventure source code.

New Zork Times #3.1, early 1984

Micro Adventurer #1, November 1983

Creative Computing, November 1979

BYTE Magazine December 1980

Sinclair User #2, May 1982

Sinclair User #3, June 1982

Adventure Probe #1, June 1986

Be an Interplanetary Spy (Ron Martinez) discussion on IntFic

Mike Dornbrook (Infocom) oral history

Giant's Gold, Commodore 64 port

Atari Swordquest's Real-Life Treasures

Another Atari Swordquest overview

Treasure Quest

Treasure Quest prize winner mystery

Adventure (Colossal Cave) Family Tree

Episode 16 - A Conversation With Jonathan Partington

Jason and Dave welcome classic text adventure author Jonathan Partington to the program. While studying at Cambridge University, he created and contributed to several memorable games including Avon (featured in Episode 12), Crobe, Sangraal, Fyleet, Monsters of Murdac, and Spy Snatcher.

We discuss how Jonathan got hooked into text adventures, how the pipeline between Cambridge mainframe creations and the broader commercial market worked, and the best time of day to play games on official campus computers without getting scolded. And for the first time, we ask a living author which of his games we should play next!

Special thanks to Mark Hardisty for helping connect us with Jonathan.

CORRECTION: The interview mistakenly credits L to Peter Killworth. The game in question was actually GiantKiller.

Jonathan Partington on IFDB

Topologika (The Digital Antiquarian)

Phoenix (mainframe operating system) on IFWiki

Mystic Wood (board game)

Sorcerer's Cave (board game)

Peter Killworth on IFWiki

How To Write Adventure Games by Peter Killworth on MOCAGH

L: A Mathemagical Adventure

Episode 15 - Lancelot and G.F.S. Sorceress

Our first three-player episode since the premiere pits Ben, Jason, and Nick against challenges that span millennia! Learn the intricacies of long-lost Earth military law as Joe Justin fights for freedom in Avalon Hill's G.F.S. Sorceress before traveling way back to King Arthur's England in Level 9's Lancelot. Robots, colored objects, and companion knights (so, so many companion knights) stand ready to assist!

Lancelot on Level 9 Memorial

Lancelot on IFDB

Lancelot playable online (BBC Micro)

Lancelot documentation

Lancelot walkthrough (AppleAdventures)

G.F.S. Sorceress documentation

G.F.S. Sorceress walkthrough (AppleAdventures)

Avalon Hill computer titles (MobyGames)

The Visible Zorker

SAM Coupé Adventure Club

Crown of Arturo for Sharp MZ-700