Exodus (video game)

Last updated

Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land
Exodus Coverart.png
Developer(s) Color Dreams
Publisher(s) Wisdom Tree
Engine Crystal Mines
Platform(s) NES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, MS-DOS
Release1991
Genre(s) Puzzle/Christian
Mode(s) Single-player

Exodus is a video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Color Dreams through its Wisdom Tree label in 1991. [1] Like all Wisdom Tree games, Exodus was not officially licensed by Nintendo. It was ported to the Game Boy. Exodus is based on Crystal Mines, an earlier game from the company when it was known as Color Dreams.

Contents

According to the instruction manual, the player controls the biblical figure Moses as he leads the Israelites to the Promised Land, meaning he goes through a labyrinth. Moses has the ability to shoot glowing "W"s, which signify the word of God, to defeat enemies and remove obstacles. To finish each level, Moses must acquire five question marks as well as a certain amount of manna while avoiding enemies such as magicians and soldiers. After a level is completed, the player must answer five multiple choice Bible-related questions before advancing to the next level. After answering enough questions correctly, the player is rewarded with an extra life. The final 50 levels are a mirror of the first 50 with tougher enemies. At the intro screen, players can skip ahead in intervals of five levels until level 81.

The background music of the Exodus levels is to the theme of "Father Abraham" (a popular Christian children's song named after an iconic figure of the Old Testament).

Legacy

Wisdom Tree later released a sequel to Exodus, titled Joshua, with slightly improved graphics and gameplay.

Joshua is based on the Biblical figure Joshua, who was Moses's apprentice in the Old Testament. He later became the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses. Joshua's most popular biblical story is about the taking back of the "promised land", where Joshua sent his men to march around the walls of the city of Jericho for seven days. After God saw his people's loyalty, he destroyed the city walls.

Similar to Moses shooting W's (to symbolize the word of God) in Exodus, Joshua shoots music notes which symbolize the music for the priest's trumpets.

Unlike its predecessor, Joshua has no level background music.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Book of Joshua</span> Sixth book of the Bible

The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian exile. It tells of the campaigns of the Israelites in central, southern and northern Canaan, the destruction of their enemies, and the division of the land among the Twelve Tribes, framed by two set-piece speeches, the first by God commanding the conquest of the land, and, at the end, the second by Joshua warning of the need for faithful observance of the Law (torah) revealed to Moses.

The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final form is possibly due to a Priestly redaction of a Yahwistic source made sometime in the early Persian period. The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites.

The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible. It is a narrative of the Exodus, the origin myth of the Israelites leaving slavery in Biblical Egypt through the strength of their deity named Yahweh, who according to the story chose them as his people. The Israelites then journey with the legendary prophet Moses to Mount Sinai, where Yahweh gives the 10 commandments and they enter into a covenant with Yahweh, who promises to make them a "holy nation, and a kingdom of priests" on condition of their faithfulness. He gives them their laws and instructions to build the Tabernacle, the means by which he will come from heaven and dwell with them and lead them in a holy war to conquer Canaan, which has earlier, according to the myth of Genesis, been promised to the "seed" of Abraham, the legendary patriarch of the Israelites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua</span> Central figure in the Hebrew Bibles Book of Joshua

Joshua, also known as Yehoshua or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Exodus and Numbers, and later succeeded Moses as leader of the Israelite tribes in the Book of Joshua of the Hebrew Bible. His name was Hoshea the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, but Moses called him "Yehoshua", the name by which he is commonly known in English. According to the Bible, he was born in Egypt prior to the Exodus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moses</span> Abrahamic prophet

Moses was a Hebrew teacher and leader considered the most important prophet in Judaism and one of the most important prophets in Christianity, Islam, the Druze Faith, the Baháʼí Faith, Samaritanism, and Rastafari. According to both the Bible and the Quran, Moses was the leader of the Israelites and lawgiver to whom the prophetic authorship of the Torah is attributed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabernacle</span> Temporary dwelling used by Israelites in the biblical Book of Exodus

According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle, also known as the Tent of the Congregation, was the portable earthly dwelling used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instructed at Mount Sinai to construct and transport the tabernacle with the Israelites on their journey through the wilderness and their subsequent conquest of the Promised Land. After 440 years, Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as the dwelling-place of God.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burning bush</span> Supernatural phenomenon described by Exodus 3:1–4:17

The burning bush refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah. It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the biblical account, the bush was on fire but was not consumed by the flames, hence the name. In the biblical narrative, the burning bush is the location at which Moses was appointed by Yahweh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wisdom Tree</span> Video game company

Wisdom Tree, Inc. is an American developer of Christian video games. It was an offshoot of Color Dreams, one of the first companies to work around Nintendo's 10NES lockout chip technology for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Color Dreams formed the Wisdom Tree subsidiary in 1990 in an effort to circumvent Nintendo's restrictions against publishers of unlicensed video games for the NES by selling their games at Christian book stores which was not subject to pressure by Nintendo.

<i>Spiritual Warfare</i> (video game) 1992 video game

Spiritual Warfare is a 1992 Christian video game developed by Wisdom Tree for the Nintendo Entertainment System, it was later ported to MS-DOS, Game Boy, and Sega Genesis, and re-released as a part of the Spiritual Warfare & Wisdom Tree Collection in 2017 on Steam for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game was not officially licensed by Nintendo for the NES, so it was mostly sold in Christian bookstores instead of traditional video game retailers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Exodus</span> Founding myth of the Jewish people

The Exodus is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Pentateuch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shemot (parashah)</span> 13th portion in the Jewish cycle of weekly Torah reading

Shemot, Shemoth, or Shemos is the thirteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 1:1–6:1. The parashah tells of the Israelites' affliction in Egypt, the hiding and rescuing of the infant Moses, Moses in Midian, the calling of Moses, circumcision on the way, meeting the elders, and Moses before Pharaoh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mosaic covenant</span> Biblical covenant between God and the ancient Israelites

Abrahamic religions believe in the Mosaic covenant, also known as the Sinaitic covenant, which refers to a covenant between the Israelite tribes and their God, including their proselytes, not limited to the ten commandments, nor the event when they were given, but including the entirety of laws that their legendary patriarch Moses delivered from God in the five books of Torah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mosaic authorship</span> Belief that the Torah was dictated to Moses by God

Mosaic authorship is the Judeo-Christian tradition that the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, were dictated by God to Moses. The tradition probably began with the legalistic code of the Book of Deuteronomy and was then gradually extended until Moses, as the central character, came to be regarded not just as the mediator of law but as author of both laws and narrative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish mythology</span> Body of myths associated with Judaism

Jewish mythology is the body of myths associated with Judaism. Elements of Jewish mythology have had a profound influence on Christian mythology and on Islamic mythology, as well as on Abrahamic culture in general. Christian mythology directly inherited many of the narratives from the Jewish people, sharing in common the narratives from the Old Testament. Islamic mythology also shares many of the same stories; for instance, a creation-account spaced out over six periods, the legend of Abraham, the stories of Moses and the Israelites, and many more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bible and violence</span> The Bible and violence

The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament both contain narratives, poems, and instructions which describe, encourage, command, condemn, reward, punish and regulate violent actions by God, individuals, groups, governments, and nation-states. Among the violent acts referred to are war, human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, murder, rape, genocide, and criminal punishment. Violence is defined around four main areas: that which damages the environment, dishonest or oppressive speech, and issues of justice and purity. War is a special category of violence that is addressed in four different ways including pacifism, non-resistance, just war and crusade.

<i>Joshua & the Battle of Jericho</i> 1992 video game

Joshua & the Battle of Jericho is a 1992 Christian video game developed and published by Wisdom Tree. The game is themed on the Battle of Jericho described in the Book of Joshua, in which the Israelites topple the defensive wall of the city of Jericho by encircling it and blowing their trumpets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Refidim</span> Conflict narrative in the Hebrew Bible

The Battle of Refidim, as described in the Bible, took place between the Israelites and the Amalekites, which occurred in Rephidim while the former were moving towards the Promised Land. The description of this battle can be found in the Book of Exodus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua 1</span> Book of Joshua, chapter 1

Joshua 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter focuses on the commission of Joshua as the leader of Israel after the death of Moses, a part of a section comprising Joshua 1:1–5:12 about the entry to the land of Canaan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua 5</span> Book of Joshua, chapter 5

Joshua 5 is the fifth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition, the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter focuses on the circumcision and Passover of the Israelites after crossing the Jordan River under the leadership of Joshua, a part of a section comprising Joshua 1:1–5:12 about the entry to the land of Canaan, and the meeting of Joshua with the Commander of the Lord's army near

References

  1. Mark J. P. Wolf, ed. (2021). Encyclopedia of Video Games [3 volumes]: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 716. ISBN   978-1-4408-7020-0.