 | |
| Developer(s) | Steve Wetherill, Paul Salmon, Stuart Fotheringham, Marc Wilding, Fred Gray |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Odin Computer Graphics |
| Platform(s) | ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 |
| Release | 1985 |
| Genre(s) | Maze game, Arcade adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Robin of the Wood is a maze game published in 1985 for a few 8-bit computer formats by Odin Computer Graphics in the UK and Serma Software in Spain. [1] It was based on the English legend of Robin Hood.
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| Crash | Smash [2] |
Crash (magazine) awarded the game 94%, giving it a Crash Smash, with the reviewer positively saying "This game is one of the most addictive I’ve played and I would recommend it to anyone." [3]
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depicted as being of noble birth, and in modern retellings he is sometimes depicted as having fought in the Crusades before returning to England to find his lands taken by the Sheriff. In the oldest known versions, he is instead a member of the yeoman class. Traditionally depicted dressed in Lincoln green, he is most famous for his attribute of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
The video game crash of 1983 was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including market saturation in the number of video game consoles and available games, many of which were of poor quality. Waning interest in console games in favor of personal computers also played a role. Home video game revenue peaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983, then fell to around $100 million by 1985. The crash abruptly ended what is retrospectively considered the second generation of console video gaming in North America. To a lesser extent, the arcade video game market also weakened as the golden age of arcade video games came to an end.
Robin of Sherwood is a British television series, based on the legend of Robin Hood. Created by Richard Carpenter, it was produced by HTV in association with Goldcrest, and ran from 28 April 1984 to 28 June 1986 on the ITV network. In the United States it was shown on the premium cable TV channel Showtime and, later, on PBS. It was also syndicated in the early 1990s under the title Robin Hood. The show starred Michael Praed and Jason Connery as two different incarnations of the title character. Unlike previous adaptations of the Robin Hood legend, Robin of Sherwood combined a gritty, authentic production design with elements of real-life history, 20th-century fiction, and pagan myth. Robin of Sherwood has been described by historian Stephen Knight as "the most innovative and influential version of the myth in recent times". The series is also notable for its musical score by Clannad, which won a BAFTA award. A video game adaptation, Robin of Sherwood: The Touchstones of Rhiannon, was released in 1985. The series attained cult status worldwide.
Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend, but was the subject of at least two plays by 1600. Her history and circumstances are obscure, but she commanded high respect in Robin’s circle for her courage and independence as well as her beauty and loyalty. For this reason, she is celebrated by feminist commentators as one of the early strong female characters in English literature.
Odin Computer Graphics were a Liverpool-based computer games developer who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a variety of titles for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC home computers.
Crash, stylized as CRASH, is a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer, primarily focused on games. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress. It was relaunched as a quarterly A5 magazine in December 2020 with the backing of the original founders.
Zzap!64 was a computer games magazine covering games for computers manufactured by Commodore International, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood is a graphic adventure game designed by Christy Marx and published by Sierra On-Line in 1991. It is the second and final part of the Conquests series, which begins with Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail. It features VGA graphics and Sierra's standard icon-driven interface first seen in King's Quest V.
Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
Christy Marx is an American scriptwriter, author, and game designer, especially narrative designer. She is best known for her work on various television series including Jem, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Conan the Adventurer, G.I. Joe, Hypernauts, and Captain Power. She is also known for her comic book work, including her original comic book series Sisterhood of Steel as well as work on Conan, Red Sonja, and Elfquest. Marx has also authored several biographies and history books.
Super Robin Hood is a Robin Hood-themed platform game published in November 1986 by Codemasters.
Adventure A: Planet of Death is a text adventure from Artic Computing published for the ZX80 and ZX81 in 1981. Releases followed for the ZX Spectrum (1982), Commodore 64 (1984), and Amstrad CPC (1985). The game was followed by Adventures B, C, D, E, F, G, and H.
Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Cinemaware and published by Capcom. It is loosely based on the legend of Robin Hood and remake of Cinemaware's previous game Defender of the Crown, released for PlayStation 2, Windows, Xbox, and mobile phones.
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood is a 2002 stealth-based real-time tactics video game developed by Spellbound Entertainment. It is similar to games such as Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive and the Commandos series. In the game, the player controls up to five characters in a setting based on the stories of the protagonist, Robin Hood. The player can also control Robin Hood's Merry Men, including Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Will Stutely, and Maid Marian. Robin and his crew must evade the cruel Sheriff of Nottingham and his henchmen and stop the machinations of the vile usurper to England's throne, Prince John. However, Robin must avoid killing enemies as much as possible, or he will not be able to recruit as many new Merry Men.
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a video game released in the autumn of 1991 by Millennium Interactive.
The folkloric hero Robin Hood has appeared many times, in many different variations, in popular modern works.
Robin Wood was an American artist specializing in game art and fantasy. She is best known for her portraits of characters from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, the Robin Wood Tarot Deck and the cover art for several of Scott Cunningham's books on neo-Paganism.
The Sheriff of Nottingham is the main antagonist in the legend of Robin Hood. He is generally depicted as an unjust tyrant who mistreats the local people of Nottinghamshire, subjecting them to unaffordable taxes. Robin Hood fights against him, stealing from the rich, and the Sheriff, in order to give to the poor; it is this characteristic for which Robin Hood is best known. The Sheriff is considered the archenemy of Robin Hood, as he is the most recurring enemy of the well-known outlaw.
The Legend of Robin Hood is a board game published by Operational Studies Group (OSG) in 1979, and later republished by Avalon Hill that is based on the legendary outlaw Robin Hood and his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Robin of Sherwood: The Touchstones of Rhiannon is a 1985 video game by Adventure International, created as a TV tie-in to the television series Robin of Sherwood. It was released on the ZX Spectrum computer.
