Vade retro (ZX Spectrum)

HISTORY

Much has been told about the adventure I am about to relate. Some of those things are true, others not so much. It could begin like this: "There existed a vast world in a dark age threatened by frightening creatures and horrifying beings", and it would continue, "... an uncharted land with a dark past...".

The text would sound like any other epic adventure. "A white knight, fleur de lis in the chest and sword in hand", would take us to medieval ages of jousts and crusades. But it would be equally false.

The knight is not such, but rather a simple palace blacksmith. The uncharted land has 'Dusarlyn' as its name and the frightening creatures... Well, some are more so than others. In that palace, Eshur, for that's our protagonist's name, worked for years as an apprentice blacksmith. And tired of making swords for the brave knights of the kingdom he decided to leave in search of adventure.

Some time later he crossed the deserts and barren lands of the West. He found horrifying creatures that terrorized villagers in small towns. An evil sorcerer had turned every living being into soulless creatures. He intended thereby to create an army of zombies with which to conquer the known world. Tucked away in the misty forest, Eshur found an old sorceress who told him how to destroy the work of Delcram and return the people of that remote place to their previous selves.

The sorceress Aganzia explained that Delcram's power resided in the 'kishá' an orb whose wickedness was immense. Eshur fought tenaciously to achieve this. Delcram fled vowing revenge and the orb was destroyed. Our hero came home tired of adventures and resumed his old job as an apprentice blacksmith. He decided to forget everything and hid the pieces of his sword and his past in different corners of the palace.

Ten years have passed since then, and Delcram has found a way to get his revenge from Eshur. Thanks to the power of six horrifying vludurus, necromancers from the damned forest of Rgoar, from which he took the power to recreate the army to help him conquer Dusarlyn. Therefore he has installed in the kingdom where Eshur was born, and took the life of every other citizen.

Eshur could never forget that adventure. And even though nobody recognized his victory, and he could never be knighted, he didn't forget how to wield the sword. The kingdom needed him, and that's why he decided to fight against Delcram again.

Will you help him?

ADVENTURE DEVELOPMENT

In your mission you must recover the sword fragments to be able to use it. You'll need it to be able to kill Delcram. It would also be very convenient to find the potion that Aganzia the sorceress gave you back in the day, to enchant your sword. Without it, trying to finish the adventure would be pointless.

The object collection order doesn't matter, but some messages will appear when you're able to use the sword or when you can defeat Delcram.

During the adventure you'll find some enemies which will drain your energy, which can only be killed by using the sword. It's advised that you keep track of your strenght while you look for the sword fragments before you enter the castle dungeons.

Most of the enemies can be eliminated, but there are some which are immune to your hits. Some of those can be briefly defeated until you reach the next screen thanks to some "paralyzers" that you'll find in certain situations. Those paralyzers can only be used once, so try to make the best of them.

The enemy hits are brief, and depending on the type and size of the enemy, they will drain more or less energy. During the game you'll be able to recover part of your energy taking some skulls. Those are precisely the remains of the necromancers that Delcram used to come back. Without them it will be impossible to finish the adventure, because you need them together with the potion to enchant the sword.

The adventure begins in the castle's smithy; but to step through the mapping you must release the four seals of the four relevant cavalry orders in the kingdom. These are scattered around the castle, so don't forget to visit all the nooks and crannies thereof to locate them.The passage to the dungeons won't be open until you pick them all up.

Once inside you'll find some parts of the dungeons closed by doors, which you'll open by pressing their corresponding buttons. Good luck!!

CONTROLS

KEYBOARD

Q jump

O left

P right

SPACE hit

USED TOOLS

• Editor Context & Editplus3 Compiler pasmo (Julián Albo)
• Bin2tap & Bin2code (Jaime Tejedor)
• Decompressor zx7mini (Einar Saukas & Antonio Villena)
• Graphics made with SevenuP (Jaime Tejedor)
• Music created with WYZTRACKER (Augusto Ruiz)
• Tape file created with Utoloader (Javier Peña)

CREDITS

• (code & graphics) José J. Ródenas -sejuan-
• (additional code & optimizations) Jaime Tejedor Gómez -metalbrain-
• (music player code) José Vicente Masó -wyz-
• (music) José Vicente Masó -wyz- & Juan C. Soriano -mikomedes-
• (loading screen) Kantxo Design
• (Cover and phisical version) Francisco J. Velasco -pagantipaco-
• (English translation) Jaime Tejedor Gómez -metalbrain-
• (Betatesters) Ivanzx, Pagantipaco, Metr, Augusto Ruiz, ... and the rest of Retroworks crew.

THANKS

Specially to Ricardo Cancho, Topo Soft & Animagic graphician, for wanting to participate in the project.

To Retroworks for their indispensable help in the making and finishing of it. And to everyone who shares their Z80 knowledge.

IN MEMORIAM To Topo Soft's Javier Cano for the enthusiasm he showed when he saw the game's first images, and the support he gave us in the videogame development subject. "Wherever you are Javier, thanks"

(c) 1986 Crazy Soft / 2015 Retroworks