''Spellbound'' is a video game that was designed and programmed by David Jones with music by

Rob Hubbard Rob Hubbard (born 1955) is a British composer best known for his musical and programming work for microcomputers of the 1980s, such as the Commodore 64. Biography Early life and career Hubbard was born in 1955 in Kingston upon Hull, England. Hu ...

and released in 1985 for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

and

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

(also with Ed Hickman) home computers. Versions for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

(with Richard Darling) and the

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

(with Adrian Sheppard) and an enhanced 128K Spectrum version with music and additional graphics were all released in 1986. Unlike the other ''Magic Knight'' games, ''Spellbound'' was never released for the

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

system back in 1985, but an authorized version was finally released by Tracy Lewis in 2023. It is the second game in the '' Magic Knight'' series and was published by

Mastertronic Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were launched on April 2, 1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved ...

as part of their Mastertronic Added Dimension label.

Plot

Magic Knight is transported to a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

with a collection of other characters and must rescue his friend Gimbal the wizard. Gimbal has become trapped by a self-inflicted "white-out" spell whilst trying to create a better-tasting

rice pudding Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and commonly other ingredients such as sweeteners, spices, flavourings and sometimes eggs. Variants are used for either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is commonly c ...

. Magic Knight must rescue Gimbal from his self-inflicted imprisonment and then ensure both he and the castle's other inhabitants are all returned to their correct time and place.

Gameplay

Unlike the previous game in the series, ''

Finders Keepers Finders keepers, sometimes extended as the children's rhyme finders keepers, losers weepers, is an English adage with the premise that when something is unowned or abandoned, whoever finds it first may claim it for themselves to own, by the “f ...

'', the game is less action-oriented and more of a graphic adventure although it still contains some

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

elements. The player controls Magic Knight as he wanders around the castle. As well as the player character, the cast also contains various other characters who have found themselves trapped. Like Magic Knight, these characters move around (albeit off-screen, they are always static when on-screen) and can fall asleep and grow hungry. Magic Knight needs to look after and "maintain" these other characters (as well as himself) and this adds a further strategic element to gameplay. Magic Knight interacts with his environment and other characters using a drop-down window system called "Windimation", which is full of commands such as "take object" and "talk to character". Because of this, much of the gameplay is quite similar to later graphic adventures such as ''

The Secret of Monkey Island ''The Secret of Monkey Island'' is a 1990 point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It takes place in a fictional version of the Caribbean during the age of piracy. The player assumes the role of Guyb ...

''. Most of the game's puzzles are solved by using objects in the correct place or giving objects to the correct character and then having them assist the player. Another method of solving problems is to use Magic Knight's spellcasting abilities. Most of his spells require him to have collected certain objects first. The castle itself consists of several floors (including a

roof garden A roof garden is a garden on the roof of a building. Besides the decorative benefit, roof plantings may provide food, temperature control, hydrological benefits, architectural enhancement, habitats or corridors for wildlife, recreational oppo ...

and a

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

) that can be accessed via a

lift Lift or LIFT may refer to: Physical devices * Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods ** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop ** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...

. Some of these areas are only fully accessible once some puzzles are solved. Magic Knight only has a certain amount of energy and if he runs out of this he dies and it is game over. His energy is depleted both by moving between rooms and when dangerous objects such as

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

s hit him. Finding a way of topping up Magic Knight's energy is one of the first puzzles the player must solve. There are also a few rooms that cause Magic Knight to die just by entering them. These can be passed by solving puzzles. The game is also played against a time limit: there are only 48 hours of in-game time until Gimbal is destroyed by his spell and Magic Knight and the other characters are trapped in the castle forever.

Legacy

Two further Magic Knight games were released: ''

Knight Tyme ''Knight Tyme'' is a computer game released for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and MSX compatibles in 1986. It was published by Mastertronic as part of their Mastertronic Added Dimension label. Two versions of the ZX Spectrum release ...

'' (1986) and ''

Stormbringer Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos. The sword has a will of its own and it is ...

'' (1987).

A game called ''Crime Busters'' featuring a detective in a mansion, was released by IJK Software in 1986, and found to use significant portions of the Spellbound code. This game was withdrawn following Mastertronic's demand for a written apology from the ''Crime Busters'' author, Harry S. Price, and the threat of legal action after Price refused to apologise.

References

External links

* * * * {{atarimania, id=4904
Review of ''Spellbound''
from '' Crash'' magazine 1985 video games Amstrad CPC games Atari 8-bit computer games Commodore 64 games Mastertronic games Single-player video games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Rob Hubbard Video games set in castles ZX Spectrum games Adventure games