Games with their own "Airwolf Wall"

[Tan Coul]

No-one mentioned Horace Goes Skiing yet? In that case, erm, Horace Goes Skiing - the skiing part is fun but the opening frogger section, oh dear me no, nine times out of ten I'm dead before ever reaching the slopes

[Mpk]

This bit at the end of level 4 of Sir Lancelot is my Airwolf Wall. That ball moves so damn quickly.

I don't find the timing for that too bad.
There's a bit a few levels later where you have to jump over a bird. Might as well be random - I manage it about one time in twenty.

[toot_toot]

Voyage into the Unknown by Mastertronic

It was one of the early Mastertronic releases, I remember picking this up with my hard earned pocket money (50p a week, so I had saved up a month for this), had no idea what the game was about but the cover looked really cool.



As typical of most games of the era, the instructions were pretty cryptic. But once the game started, and I use the term game in the loosest possible way possible, you soon came across the start engine sequence. Which judging by this YouTube video of the game, hardly anybody got past.




Yes, this video is 43 minutes of the same screen. From the comments, it’s mentioned you had to press E, then P, then I then C. But none of this is in the instructions.

But even if you made it past that screen, you were presented eventually with another screen that had a robot arm on it. I had no idea how to get past that, so never did.

(Supposedly the negotiating the “Maze of Total Darkness” as described in the instructions was literally a black screen)

[SteveSmith]

Yes, this video is 43 minutes of the same screen.

I knew it would be a video by zxspectrumgames4 as soon as I read that.

[Matt_B]

At least with Voyage Into the Unknown, you weren't missing much if you never got past the engine start sequence.

I remember once going through the code of the game - it's mostly in basic - to see if I could find the ending to the game and there doesn't appear to be one. You're just stuck in the Maze of Total Blackness, or whatever it's called, forever.

Nice cover art though. I'll give it that.

[AndyC]

[media] [/media]

That's great and it's been explained to me many times. I just don't think I'll ever be convinced that a game that requires you to collect two power ups just to have some semblance of control doesn't have an "Airwolf Wall". After all, once you know how to get past the wall, Airwolf is actually pretty easy. It's that invisible and unnecessary barrier to getting started that's the real issue.

[Vampyre]

Very often in text adventures, like Questprobe One: The Hulk.

The Eye Of Bain is another - literally the first thing you have to do in the adventure. When you do figure it out, or more likely look it up, it's blatantly obvious.

Rigel's Revenge, unless you read the loading screen, was another.

I'll join the enjoyed-Wizball brigade. I think the problem for those who came at it fresh is exactly that - they didn't have any exposure to the C64 version and it's probably not obvious how the upgrades work. I did play the C64 version first (quite a bit actually) and I wonder if that's why I never had any problems. All the reviewers who rated it so highly at the time probably had access to the C64 version first too.

[Daveysloan]

I've forgotten the "solution" to the first rooms of Knightmare, but it was something so unbelievably convoluted than you absolutely needed help to figure it out. And, from what I can remember, doing the wrong thing could very easily soft lock the game so you couldn't get anywhere. Absolutely terrible game design, especially given that "vaguely follow the approach of the TV show" would have produced a competent enough game.

This annoyed me so much as a kid. I absolutely loved Knightmare, but I bought the game & got absolutely nowhere. Like you say, vaguely follow the approach of the TV show, a few multiple choice riddles, some 3D platforming, a bit of light maze work & maybe some pick something up and put it somewhere else would've worked a treat.

Must have a look at it again & see if I can figure out what's going on, then inevitably cheat.

[Timmy]

I've played a bit of Knightmare after reading the thread.

I completely forgot how to do the first rooms, but after I read the walkthrough (exactly like back in the day) I thought it was logical now.

Back in the day I wouldn't have gotten it though, I was too young and my English wasn't good at all.

However, I did use the walkthough because I forgot how the controls worked or how to select a word, and I'm too lazy nowadays and I don't want to spend weeks on a game. But I'm sure I would have found it if I had days to spare in 2023.

The quiz later on, where it required UK specific knowledge, however, I would still have stuck on that and would have to do trial and error on that.

[AndyC]

So I went and watched the first few minutes of a walkthrough just to be sure and yeah it's as I remember. It's not so much that it isn't "logical", it's not like you use cheese to open the door, it's just unbelievably obscure.

And if you do something wrong. Eat the food. Dig in the wrong screen. Don't pick up things in the first screen. You completely soft-lock the game and can't win.

There was a real problem back in the 80's of developers getting too familiar with their own games and not really being able to judge how playable it was as a result.

[spider]

Oh, Jack and the Beanstalk is just non-stop stumbling about effectively blind. There are simply zero clues as to the safe route. Worst it tries to look like a side-on platform game but it's been programmed just as a top-down walkabout with a 'jump' that simply teleports you left or right a bit.

100% concur with this! Its almost impossible. I think I've managed it once or twice ever over 30 years on the rare occasions I try it.

[deanysoft]

I could never get anywhere at all with Shadowskimmer. I just seemed to bounce around uncontrollably and then die**. I played it a few times, got cheesed off with it and never went back. I just watched a youtube walkthrough of it - hmm, must've been me then.

** hmm, this could also be my experience with Thing On A Spring, but that one held my attention a lot more.

[HEXdidnt]

So I went and watched the first few minutes of a walkthrough just to be sure and yeah it's as I remember. It's not so much that it isn't "logical", it's not like you use cheese to open the door, it's just unbelievably obscure.

And if you do something wrong. Eat the food. Dig in the wrong screen. Don't pick up things in the first screen. You completely soft-lock the game and can't win.

There was a real problem back in the 80's of developers getting too familiar with their own games and not really being able to judge how playable it was as a result.

To be fair, I think that's a feature carried over from the TV show rather than an issue with the computer game's design or execution. The formatting of the show was such that it was possible to miss items in each location (and wasn't there an arbitrary limit to the number of items they could carry in their satchels?), and backtracking just wasn't an option because of the constantly decreasing 'health' monitor.

[TMD2003]

To be fair, I think that's a feature carried over from the TV show rather than an issue with the computer game's design or execution. The formatting of the show was such that it was possible to miss items in each location (and wasn't there an arbitrary limit to the number of items they could carry in their satchels?), and backtracking just wasn't an option because of the constantly decreasing 'health' monitor.

"And remember... the only way is onward! There is no turning back."

[Joefish]

To be fair, I think that's a feature carried over from the TV show rather than an issue with the computer game's design or execution. The formatting of the show was such that it was possible to miss items in each location (and wasn't there an arbitrary limit to the number of items they could carry in their satchels?), and backtracking just wasn't an option because of the constantly decreasing 'health' monitor.

As an aside, I urge anyone who gets the opportunity to go and see the stage show 'Knightmare Live' - it's an attempt to re-create the game on-stage with an audience volunteer in the blind helmet, though the two team guides are part of the show. Add in a hammy Lord Fear, a constantly aggravated Treguard with assorted chips and grudges about rivals at ITV, gormless wizards and traders and assorted slow-moving knights and monks swinging swords at the contestant .V.E.R.Y. .S.L.O.W.L.Y. not to mention improvised quests based on random objects thrown in by the audience at the start, and it's utterly brilliant and properly hilarious. Saw it at Bluedot this year while ankle-deep in stinky mud. Oh the joys of a summer festival.

[Timmy]

So I went and watched the first few minutes of a walkthrough just to be sure and yeah it's as I remember. It's not so much that it isn't "logical", it's not like you use cheese to open the door, it's just unbelievably obscure.

And if you do something wrong. Eat the food. Dig in the wrong screen. Don't pick up things in the first screen. You completely soft-lock the game and can't win.

There was a real problem back in the 80's of developers getting too familiar with their own games and not really being able to judge how playable it was as a result.

Well, you probably watched the first few minutes of a speedrun, therefore you missed the clues in game that lead to the solution.

It's still a bit obscure, but compared with text adventures puzzles back in the day, this one was of low difficulty. And Knightmare was mostly a text adventure with pretty graphics, or an arcade adventure, and if you treated it that way, it was playable, but it's not an action game like Jet Set Willy or Renegade.

I see that in the database that it's correctly categorised as an Arcade Adventure, so why is it that people think it's an Action game?

[Daveysloan]

I see that in the database that it's correctly categorised as an Arcade Adventure, so why is it that people think it's an Action game?

Because the database didn't exist in 1987.

[blucey]

I'm pretty sure Cybernoid had moments that were just ridiculously hard. I mean it's a hard game anyway but the first few screens were reasonably playable.

[Joefish]

I'm pretty sure Cybernoid had moments that were just ridiculously hard. I mean it's a hard game anyway but the first few screens were reasonably playable.

There's a screen in Exolon where it looks perfectly safe to walk forward and then a plunger pops up and gets you every damn time you first walk into that screen.

[Joefish]

Of course, I forgot the obvious equivalent of Airwolf's wall - the constantly re-laid wall of mines in level 4 of R-Type. That and the shear number of enemies thrown at you from all directions in a game genre which is generally all about firing in only one direction.

[bluespikey]

Theres this jump on the first screen.



It might just be me, but I was able to complete many of the later screens using the cheat code before I was able to figure out how to do the first screen.

[AndyC]

Theres this jump on the first screen.



It might just be me, but I was able to complete many of the later screens using the cheat code before I was able to figure out how to do the first screen.

Good point. Once you know how to do it, it's not too bad but it's a lot trickier to get the timing right than many of the subsequent screens. The difficulty curve in Manic Miner is a little all over the place now I think about it.

[worcestersource]

I think some games reward those with curious minds that try slightly different methods each time round until they find the one that clicks. Otherwise, one gets stuck and can’t move on.

Looking back, I like the concept of the difference in angles Wizball would bounce relative to rotation. I’m quite chuffed I figured that out and completed the game. I’m sure there are games I never worked out using trial and error, although I can’t remember which.

However, some games are just silly hard from the get-go. This could be because the developers got so used to their game they didn’t dial back the difficulty, poor programming or just bad design decisions. Or a combination of all three.

[Matt_B]

Theres this jump on the first screen.



It might just be me, but I was able to complete many of the later screens using the cheat code before I was able to figure out how to do the first screen.

Yeah, it's easy to forget how hard the Central Cavern was the first time you played it.

Once you've got through though, it's pretty much plain sailing until you get to Eugene's Lair.

[blucey]

The instructor fight in Combat School.

And if you get past that, your reward is the worst level in any game ever.