Adventure Land

NEC PC-8801 - Released - 1984

Adventure Land was an update of the text-only Adventureland. It had many additional features including: Hi-Res graphics, Text-to-Speech hardware support, upper- and lowercase support for display (but not for input). Gameplay was very similar to the original. You still used the same one or two word commands to move about and manipulate objects. The RETURN key toggled back and forth between graphics and text. The objective of the game is to collect all the treasures. There are all sorts of places to explore above and below ground. You have to outwit and escape many creatures during your quest including a dragon, a bear, and a hive of bees.

Cranston Manor

NEC PC-8801 - Released - 1983

Cranston Manor is the fourth game in On-Line System's Hi-Res Adventures series, along with Mystery House, The Wizard and the Princess, and Mission Asteroid. In the game, you must invade a mansion that was occupied by a late millionaire and steal the sixteen treasures that lie in it. You perform actions in the game by only typing a one- or two-word command (e.g. "west", "get shovel", etc.), and you can save the game at any point in the game by inserting a disk and pressing a letter. Cranston Manor was based on the original text adventure, The Cranston Manor Adventure, by Larry Ledden.

Kyu Ryu Tou

NEC PC-8801 - Released - 1986

Lefty Mouse

NEC PC-8801 - Released - 1986

Mission Impossible

Fujitsu FM-7 - Released - 1984

This is adventure #3 in Scott Adam's text adventure series. It takes place in a nuclear power plant. You must race against time to fulfill your mission or the reactor may be doomed. You use one or two word commands to move around and manipulate objects.

Mission Impossible

NEC PC-8801 - Released - 1984

A spy infiltration story inspired by the famous movie. The stage is a fully mechanized nuclear reactor center. A mechanic is trying to commit suicide by setting a time bomb in the reactor. Main character Jim Phelps needs to prevent that from happening by finding his way in the maze-like building.

Mystery House (StarCraft)

NEC PC-8801 - Released - 1983

Mystery House is a monochrome interactive fiction adventure game that places the player in a Victorian mansion with seven other people. As the player explores the mansion, he discovers that there is a killer murdering each guest one by one. The objective of the game is to figure out who the murderer is before the murderer finds the hero. Players explore and manipulate objects by typing in one or two-word phrases such as "north" or "get knife". In Japan, several different adventure games under the title Mystery House were released. In 1982, MicroCabin released Mystery House, which was unrelated to (but inspired by) the On-Line Systems game of the same name. The following year, the Japanese company StarCraft released an enhanced remake of On-Line Systems' Mystery House with more realistic artwork and depiction of blood. This version is the one ported by StarCraft.

Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes

Microsoft MSX2 - Released - January 30, 1991

After the evil Nikademus was defeated, the land of Scandor enjoyed a time period of peace, which lasted twenty years. However, when a ship sent to the Skull Island disappeared without trace, Scandor's inhabitants realized a new threat was rising... Phantasie IV: The Birth of Heroes is the fourth entry in the RPG series Phantasie, and the only one that was released exclusively for Japanese computers. Gameplay-wise and visually, the game is very similar to the previous installments. The player creates a party of adventurers (up to six active combatants, including the series' trademark "random creatures", such as ogres, minotaurs, lizardmen, etc.), which then roams the top-down world-map, descending into dungeons, and fighting randomly appearing enemies in turn-based combat. Battles allow specific commands such as "Thrust", "Parry", "Throw", etc., and - similarly to the third game - placement of the characters in rows on the battle screen.

Puckman

Apple II - Released - 1981

Puckman is a 1981 unlicensed Pac-Man clone for the Apple II. Released approximately a year after the initial arcade version of Pac-Man, the player controls a small character who must move about a maze munching dots. All graphics are tilted 90 degrees. Four ghosts constantly harass the player, but if they eat one of the four power pellets located in each corner of the screen, the ghosts temporarily become vulnerable, and can be eaten by the player. The player must much all dots to advance to a more difficult level. The player starts with 3 lives, and if all are lost, it's game over.

Rhyme Star

NEC PC-9801 - Released - November 11, 1994

Star Blazer

Microsoft MSX - Released - 1982

Star Blazer is a side-scrolling shooter similar in style to Konami's Super Cobra. You are a fighter pilot on several hazardous missions. In each level you have to fulfill one mission like bomb the radar, destroy the tank etc. The scenery as buildings and warehouses and airborne objects as jets and rockets can all destroy your jet. Your fighter jet is armed with a limited supply of bullets for a on board machine gun and with bombs, also with limited supply. Bombs can only be dropped from very low altitude. Furthermore, your jet has a limited amount of fuel which can be refueled by picking up a parachute dropped out of another plane.

The Quest

Fujitsu FM-7 - Released - 1984

A dragon is terrorizing the kingdom of Balema, and King Galt send his champion, named Gorn, to solve the problem. The player takes the role of a nameless advisor, who has to help the strong, but not very intelligent Gorn to get rid of the dragon and save his homeland. The Quest was one of the first graphic adventures that incorporated full sentence parsing. Unlike most other adventures, the commands the player inputs do not refer to the playable character. Rather, as the playable character, the player gives those commands to Gorn. Instead of just entering short verb commands, the player is able to type relatively complex instructions, that have to be understood by Gorn in order to perform the necessary action.

The Quest

NEC PC-9801 - Released - 1984

A dragon is terrorizing the kingdom of Balema, and King Galt send his champion, named Gorn, to solve the problem. The player takes the role of a nameless advisor, who has to help the strong, but not very intelligent Gorn to get rid of the dragon and save his homeland. The Quest was one of the first graphic adventures that incorporated full sentence parsing. Unlike most other adventures, the commands the player inputs do not refer to the playable character. Rather, as the playable character, the player gives those commands to Gorn. Instead of just entering short verb commands, the player is able to type relatively complex instructions, that have to be understood by Gorn in order to perform the necessary action.

Ulysses

Fujitsu FM-7 - Released - 1983

Ulysses is an adventure game where you play the part of Ulysses in ancient Greece. The king has given you the task of finding the golden fleece, a legendary treasure which is protected by the gods. You begin your quest in a small town, and will need to travel to several far away lands to find the fleece. Many characters from ancient mythology will be encountered along the way, including King Neptune, the Sirens, Cyclops, and others. You need to find a way past them as well as the many obstacles on sea and land if you are to be successful. Along the bottom of the screen is a text parser which accepts two word commands to interact with the game, and at the top (covering most of the screen) are graphics depicting your current situation. If needed, the graphics can temporarily be cleared to see some of the most recent commands entered.

Wizard and Princess

Fujitsu FM-7 - Released - 1983

King George's daughter Priscilla has been kidnapped by an evil wizard named Harlin, who holds her in his castle. The King offers half of his kingdom to anyone who would venture into the faraway mountain land, enter the castle, defeat Harlin, and bring back the princess. Only one adventurer is brave enough to accept this challenge. The Wizard and the Princess is a text adventure with graphics. The game's environments are composed of still shots viewed from first-person perspective. The player types combinations of verbs and objects to interact with the game world, move between locations, solve puzzles, and advance the story.