Krull (video game)

Last updated
Krull
Developer(s) Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s) Atari, Inc.
Designer(s) Dave Staugas [1] [2]
Artist(s) Jerome Domurat
Platform(s) Atari 2600
Release
  • NA: Sept 1983
Genre(s) Adventure [ citation needed ]
Mode(s) Single-player

Krull is an Atari 2600 video game based on the 1983 science fantasy film Krull and published in 1983 by Atari, Inc. It was written by Dave Staugas who later ported Millipede to the 2600. [2] Gottlieb manufactured an arcade shooter of the same name in the same year, but it is unrelated to the Atari 2600 cartridge other than the Krull license.

Contents

Gameplay

Colwyn fighting off Slayers in the first stage. Krull Screenshot.png
Colwyn fighting off Slayers in the first stage.

The game generally follows the plot of the movie, and takes place on four separate screens. The first level begins with the player, as Colwyn, at his wedding to Lyssa, which is interrupted by the extraterrestrial Slayers. The game continues to generate new Slayers for the player to fight until he is overwhelmed and Lyssa is abducted to the Black Fortress. [3]

The player then traverses the Iron Desert on a Fire Mare, stocking up on Colwyn's magical throwing weapon, the Glaive (in the film there is only one), by pressing the button each time the horse rides over one.

The next level takes place in the lair of the Widow of the Web. The player is required to jump between moving threads of web, working their way upward towards the Widow at the top of the screen, while avoiding a giant spider. After completing this task, the Widow reveals the location of the Black Fortress, and the player again rides a Fire Mare through the Iron Desert to reach it. If the player fails to arrive at the given location at the correct time of day, according to a timer at the top of the screen, he loses a life and must return to the Widow to find out the Fortress's new location.

Upon reaching the Black Fortress, the player must penetrate the energy barrier surrounding Lyssa with the Glaive (of which the player has a limited number), while the Beast attempts to block the player's shots and hit him with fireballs. If the Glaive hits the Beast, or is not caught on the rebound by the player, that Glaive is lost. If all of the player's Glaives are lost, he is expelled from the Fortress and must return to the Widow of the Web level, discover the new location of the Black Fortress, and traverse the Iron Desert again.

If the player manages to break through the barrier surrounding Lyssa, she transforms into a fireball which the player can throw at the Beast. If the fireball hits, the player wins, and the game starts over at a higher level of difficulty. [4]

Reception

Revisiting the game in 2003, Gregory George of the Atari Times wrote, "Krull is a superb game and the fact that it is a movie license makes it even more so." [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Adventure</i> (1980 video game) 1980 video game

Adventure is a video game developed by Warren Robinett for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1980 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a square avatar whose quest is to explore an open-ended environment to find a magical chalice and return it to the golden castle. The game world is populated by roaming enemies: three dragons that can eat the avatar and a bat that randomly steals and moves items around the game world. Adventure introduced new elements to console games, including enemies that continue to move when offscreen.

<i>Star Castle</i> 1980 video game

Star Castle is a vector graphics multidirectional shooter released in arcades by Cinematronics in 1980. The game involves obliterating a series of defenses orbiting a stationary turret in the center of the screen. The display is black and white with the colors of the rings and screen provided by a transparent plastic screen overlay.

<i>Stargate</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Stargate is a horizontally scrolling shooter released as an arcade video game in 1981 by Williams Electronics. Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, it is a sequel to Defender which was released earlier in the year. It was the first of only three productions from Vid Kidz, an independent development house formed by Jarvis and DeMar. Some home ports of Stargate were renamed to Defender II for legal reasons.

<i>Warlords</i> (1980 video game) 1980 video game

Warlords is an arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game resembles a combination of Breakout and Quadrapong ; up to four players play the game at the same time, and the "castles" in the four corners of the screen are brick walls that can be broken with a flaming ball.

<i>Tempest</i> (video game) 1981 video game

Tempest is a 1981 arcade video game by Atari, Inc., designed and programmed by Dave Theurer. It takes place on a three-dimensional surface divided into lanes, sometimes as a closed tube, and viewed from one end. The player controls a claw-shaped "blaster" that sits on the edge of the surface, snapping from segment to segment as a rotary knob is turned, and can fire blaster shots to destroy enemies and obstacles by pressing a button.

<i>Gravitar</i> 1982 video game

Gravitar is a color vector graphics multidirectional shooter arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. Using the same "rotate-and-thrust" controls as Asteroids and Space Duel, the game was known for its high level of difficulty. It was the first of over twenty games that Mike Hally designed and produced for Atari. The main programmer was Rich Adam and the cabinet art was designed by Brad Chaboya. 5,427 cabinets were produced. An Atari 2600 version by Dan Hitchens was published by Atari in 1983.

<i>Starmaster</i> 1982 video game

Starmaster is a video game written for the Atari 2600 by Alan Miller and published in June 1982 by Activision. The game involves the player travelling through space attacking enemy starfighters who are invading starbases. The player traverses through a map called the galactic chart to destroy all the enemies and survive against oncoming enemy attacks and crashing with meteors.

<i>Nitro</i> (video game) 1990 video game

Nitro is a top-down perspective racing video game for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was developed by Psygnosis and published in 1990.

<i>Liberator</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Liberator is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. It is based on the Atari Force comic book series published by DC Comics from 1982 to 1986. Liberator has been described as the opposite of Missile Command, in that the player destroys cities from space instead of defending them from the ground. Only 762 arcade machines were ever made.

<i>Black Widow</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Black Widow is a multidirectional shooter developed by Atari, Inc. and released in arcades in 1982. The game uses color vector graphics. The player controls a black widow spider via two joysticks, one to move and one to fire, defending the web from insects.

<i>G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike</i> 1983 video game

G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike is an action video game written by John Emerson for the Atari 2600 and published in 1983 by Parker Brothers. The game is loosely based on the G.I. Joe franchise and is the first licensed G.I. Joe video game. There are three game modes: single-player, two player cooperative, and two player competitive. The UK version was renamed Action Man: Action Force.

<i>Krull</i> (film) 1983 science fiction fantasy film directed by Peter Yates

Krull is a 1983 British science fiction fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It stars Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis, and Alun Armstrong. Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane, still early in their film careers, appear in supporting roles. The story follows Prince Colwyn (Marshall) and a fellowship of companions who set out to rescue his bride, Princess Lyssa (Anthony), from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet.

<i>Kool-Aid Man</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Kool-Aid Man is a video game released for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision in 1983. Both were published by Mattel, but each game is of unique design. They are centered on the Kool-Aid Man, the television mascot of the beverage Kool-Aid.

<i>Dragonfire</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Dragonfire is a 1982 video game written by Bob Smith and published by Imagic. The player grabs treasure guarded by a dragon while avoiding fireballs. It was originally released for the Atari 2600 then ported to the Intellivision, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Apple II, ZX Spectrum, ColecoVision, and TRS-80 Color Computer.

<i>Journey Escape</i> 1982 video game

Journey Escape is a video game developed and manufactured by Data Age in San Jose, California for the Atari 2600 console, and released in 1982. It stars the rock band Journey, one of the world's most popular acts at the time, and is based on their album Escape.

<i>Yars Revenge</i> 1982 video game

Yars' Revenge is a video game released for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It was created by Howard Scott Warshaw and is Atari's best-selling original game for the 2600.

<i>Atari Greatest Hits</i> 2010 video game

The Atari Greatest Hits series is composed of two compilations of retro Atari arcade games & Atari 2600 games ported to the Nintendo DS. While listed on the Atari web site as free for iOS & Android, Atari Greatest Hits has been removed from both app stores.

<i>Slime</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Slime is an action game for Atari 8-bit computers written by Steve Hales and published by Synapse Software in 1982. The player attempts to protect their ship from a rain of enormous drops of slime by deflecting them into canisters, while fending off attacks by an alien flying saucer. A TI-99/4A port was developed as Super Storm, but not released.

<i>Atari Vault</i> 2016 video game

Atari Vault is a video game collection developed by Code Mystics and published by Atari Interactive for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux via the Steam client. Atari Vault contains titles from Atari, Inc. and Atari Corporation published on the Atari 2600 and arcade cabinets. dating from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The games, where possible, have been updated to include modern-day features such as local and online multiplayer and online leaderboards.

<i>Fireball</i> (video game) 1983 video game

Fireball is a Breakout clone video game developed by Arcadia for the Atari 2600. The game was released on cassette tape and required the Starpath Supercharger add-on to play.

References

  1. Bieniek, Chris (January 1996). "The Atari Quest" (PDF). Ultimate Gamer. No. 6. Larry Flynt Publications. pp. 60–65.
  2. 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  3. http://www.atarimania.com/2600/boxes/hi_res/krull_silver_i_4.jpg
  4. "Krull". atariprotos.com.
  5. George, Gregory D. (January 21, 2003). "Krull". The Atari Times.