Zorro (1985)

Preliminary: What I thought would be a quick playtest, for a franchise I never clicked much with, turned out to be an in-depth platformer action-adventure! With a solution available! Ah! Of course I had to play through it to the set ending!

Look: 8/10 The look and color scheme definitely fit the Zorro theme (at least what I know of Zorro media). And nice to see full-body sprite of course. This was one of my favorite screens. The bar was good too, but it's a bit provocative lol.

Kinda cool you can walk on the pile of crosses. And that's something I often look for in games and their looks: the ability and desire to explore the edges, horizons, what-you-can-and-can't-interact-with. I did that a lot with PS1 and early 3D graphics games, seeing what I can jump on, seeing around corners, etc. I talk about it a lot. But anyway, it was nice to see what platforms I can jump on, what walls I can't--and I gotta say the Look had a big part in making that possible and enjoyable. And it was cool how the color scheme and jingle slightly changed when got down into the Catacombs. Was a nice touch that reminded me of the approximately-contemporaneous Super Mario Bros with the cave vibe.

Sound: 7/10 Functional enough, surprisingly didn't get as annoying as it felt at first or how the reviewers felt. Plus the ending jingle was a nice touch, as was the bell ringing (and the 2 bells ringing being different) and the change in music when you go into the Catacombs. Still, nothing special or sentimental.

Play: 8/10 Sure enough I had fun for my first 20 minutes playing it that first night. But then we had to head downstairs. I hope I have as much fun with it as I did tonight! Sure it got a bit frustrating under the well area, dealing with the quirky mechanics and frustrating puzzle type situation, but it's my type of C64 game so Imma keep pushing through for now! If only that jingle wasn't so annoying... (Sometimes the jingle is a bit endearing I guess heh...) Like most platformers from this era, the springboard/trampoline mechanic was super clunky and frustrating to get used to. In fact, I almost gave up due to that mechanic being used as a factor in one of the early parts. Oh and of course it would be nice to have some mid-jump control and more velocity control... and better combat mechanics... but you know.. to be expected for this era heh. Some clunky collision masks for the platforms too, but fortunately almost always in the player's favor so can't complain. Like I definitely didn't make some of the jumps but my sprite faithfully just blerped right on to the platform anyway :-p (Oh, and as always, I'm grateful you can fall from any heigh--love that in platformers especially early platformers)

Feel: 9/10 Great adventure game type puzzles, like giving the rum to the bartender. It truly tells a story, without really any words! A true action-adventure for its time. So many amazing pre-Zelda examples that get overlooked. I mean, cmon, give the Rum to the Bartender so you can access the upper floor to push an enemy onto the chandelier to lift the box so you can access the ladder to get the Chalice... Awesome. And lol branding the bull as the solution to a puzzle, I just love the vibe of these puzzles.

Attachment: 8/10 Too bad the very trampoline jump I almost quit over is also one of the necessary steps to get to "the Hotel" that the game has you do over and over and over. Seems to be a theme with 1985 action-adventures. I like backtracking, but there comes a point... if every key item is in the same spot not much puzzle after a while. At first it felt delightful tho! The tedium kicked in as I was getting the Bells for the Boot. I was too far along to stop now but decided I'd get one Bell tonight and save the rest for later. Kingdom Hearts was calling my name :-p (or really anything other than going back to the Hotel screen). Lol when the Bell starts "tolling" with a dull thud and you get a break from the sometimes-annoying, surprisingly-not-as-annoying-and-didn't-end-up-muted jingle.

In usual adventure game fashion, they just had to have the completely illogical labyrinthine Catacombs part. Thank goodness for a solution being available, like in classic adventure game feel, but I was proud to still solve the action game acrobatics and puzzle solving necessary to get through it. The solution made a point not to go in-depth about the jumps and whatnot. What a good balance, like always I love when a guide has a big part in my love of a game. And this one definitely followed suit. And I was proud as I solved the Fort part on my own, which reminded me a lot of Abe's Odyssey, trying to time when the guards patrol or when the shots pass you and hustling over. At last, I was on the last screen--I could see "her" on the screen! (Tho there were no words, as far as I saw, explaining what was happening, the adventure and story felt readily apparent, and as usual for this era, the clear "damsel in distress" with a literal heart above her was a clear signal)

Oh wait, in true adventure game fashion, it's not so simple! Still some puzzles to solve... Wow really that same damn Hotel puzzle to end the game lol... and then the choice of also backtracking through the headache labyrinth or the shortcut way (but you get bonus points for the labyrinth way... if I had played a separate session, I would have done that way for the extra Score, but since I wanna finish as it's 10 PM, I'll do the shortcut... I can only imagine if I hadn't knocked the cannonballs into the Underground Lake to have access to the shortcut..)

As is probably readily apparent, instead of stopping after the first Bell, I wound up playing on... playing the whole game ha. Well, there goes the idea of streaming and/or Runescaping and/or Kingdom Hearts. But it's a sign of a good game for me to push past the tedium and frustrations that are inherent to this era of gaming. Out of the sea of pre-Zelda action-adventures, pre-Metroid Metroidvanias, and pre-Super Mario Bros Mario (tho kinda contemporary), this one stands out! And is worth a playthrough.

And at last! Always smart to save your best jingle for the end. And quite cute to have you have to manage to carry the Rose back to her through all that hell, especially if you chose the high-Score labyrinth route :-p

Completion: Main Story, Score 47,720 Playtime: ~1hr 30mins