Finders Keepers - Wanna buy Gordon's foot?
I've always loved maze games, you might have already worked that one out. But in 1985 I came up against a maze game that had a little added extra. I got my grubby little hands on a copy of Finders Keepers from Mastertronic.
By now I was used to the type of maze game where you wandered around looking for and picking up objects, usually in the company of Ultimate's Sabreman. So what could possibly be different in this game? Let's meet Magic Knight , his goal in life is to get a place at the Polygon Table ( it's like the round table , but probably came from Ikea.) If he can succeed in finding a special birthday present for Princess Germintrude and return to the King of Ibsisima then the place is his. He is dispatched to the Castle of Spriteland to achieve this.
By now I was used to the type of maze game where you wandered around looking for and picking up objects, usually in the company of Ultimate's Sabreman. So what could possibly be different in this game? Let's meet Magic Knight , his goal in life is to get a place at the Polygon Table ( it's like the round table , but probably came from Ikea.) If he can succeed in finding a special birthday present for Princess Germintrude and return to the King of Ibsisima then the place is his. He is dispatched to the Castle of Spriteland to achieve this.
Although this is a maze game it has a menu system , it almost seems like a cross over between a text adventure and an arcade adventure. Admittedly when replaying this game now , the menu system does seem like an intrusion into the action, but back in the day it was a novelty that added to the game ( and if a parent appeared in the room to check what you were up to, it did make it seem like you were playing a more 'educational' game!) Also included in this game were two actual mazes the "Cold Upper Maze" and the "Slimey Lower Maze", also filled with patrolling meanies that would sap your strength and items that could line your pockets!
For me, very soon, this game became all about finding those objects, not to achieve the goal of the game, I just wanted to find them all and try and make other objects, find out what they were worth and flog them! Now , dear reader, as we have come to know each other better, you may be surprised that this gentle, nature loving, part Buddhist, shy and retiring young teen would be interested in this acquiring of wealth angle. In fact it took me by surprise as well! Very soon Gordon the Trader was having items shoved in his face every few minutes before Magic Knight would set off again to find another bunch of meaning-less tat! Let's face it Princess Germintrude was never going to get a present with me in charge.
This was a game I never completed, but that didn't worry me. A seat at the Polygon Table was never really my goal, possibly a market stall would have been better! In fact over the next few years my father and I would spend most Sunday mornings selling plants ( and in my Dad's case sneaking tasting sessions of home made wine in ) at car boot sales. Later on I ended up working in an independent shop selling books and toys. Just what side of my character had this game awakened?
I often refer to these maze games as offering an exploration angle to the game play. But for me this game wasn't just exploring the castle and the mazes. It was exploring a skill I hadn't thought I would enjoy. Buying and selling. Yet another non-intentional educational game!
As the years have passed it has become apparent to me that management style games are the ones that I love to get lost in , whether it's building theme-parks, hospitals or adventuring and bringing back loot to sell. I have to wonder , do I have my very early acquaintance with Magic Knight to thank for this?
Where as Sabreman led me on adventures to escape from reality , had Magic Knight led me on an adventure to learn to survive in reality?
As the years have passed it has become apparent to me that management style games are the ones that I love to get lost in , whether it's building theme-parks, hospitals or adventuring and bringing back loot to sell. I have to wonder , do I have my very early acquaintance with Magic Knight to thank for this?
Where as Sabreman led me on adventures to escape from reality , had Magic Knight led me on an adventure to learn to survive in reality?