Jump to content

Forbidden Forest - C64 games could be scary!


Rowsdower70

Recommended Posts

One of the games we would frequently play with my buddies with Forbidden Forest, and to this day I consider it a remarkable game.



The C-64 with its legendary SID chip could produce some amazing music, and one of the keys of Forbidden Forest was its creepy musical score (written by the programmer Paul Norman).   This, along with the ambient graphics (good but not great, however extremely effective) made for a very tense and enjoyable experience.

The graphics had a nice parallax scrolling effect, the monsters were all very creepy (with their own theme music), and the gameplay was solid (although maybe a bit frustrating at times with aiming).

I remember completing the game by beating the Demogorgon was very satisfying

This game had a sequel, but I found it to be sub-par compared to the original. 

Any other fans of this game? Edited by Rowsdower70

"For you - Rowsdower from the 70 - have been appointed Omnivisioner of the Game Grid."  ~ Atari Adventure Square

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PS - Emulation notes --
 

For C64, I use "VICE", which is really really really good.  It emulates all of the Commodore machines, automatically fast-loads and types the load command, has a quick button press to switch joysticks.  Just an excellent emulator.

 

For Atari, I use MESS, which I really like, but it's kind of a pain to set up.  Altirra is also good. 

 

(My real machines are put away -- grandmas is using our extra room during the holidays).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.ataricave.com/F/ForbiddenForest.htm

 

Breakdown on differences between C64 original and the far weaker A8 conversion, detailed there.

 

I must say it's refreshing to hear people being so honest about how much weaker A8 conversions sadly were at times, instead of reading the kind of biased rubbish i used to read in Retro Gamer Magazine towards the end of my subscription, how A8 was holding it's own agains't the C64 towards the end.

 

Utter piffle as it never got the sequel and the original was given to someone struggling to learn Atari code, to convert:

 

Full interview with Vance Kozik here:

 

http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=http://www.nesworld.com/kozik.php&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjM66Prv5XRAhVCeFAKHfLyBGwQFggXMAE&usg=AFQjCNG33Rz8ox36VgT1fbK4KhDXXgw1_w

 

Interestingly he also talks of Lynx Crystal Mines and NES Hell Raiser in interview and that pretty much cements fact that as NES version was so far from finished, Lynx version despite being advertised, was never started.

Following a few links from that first article, I found this gem.   This could easily have been a movie theme:

http://www.monroeworld.com/forbiddenforest/media/forest.mp3

"For you - Rowsdower from the 70 - have been appointed Omnivisioner of the Game Grid."  ~ Atari Adventure Square

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caverns of Khafka for C64 and A8 are completely different games. On C64 the level scrolls very groggy and the controls are sloppy. Sometimes your sprite falls flat and you loose a life without having a clue why. But the music is awesome and creates a superbe atmosphere. So you stay tuned.

 

On A8 the cavern is build on one screen and the controls should be more accurate. But i also haven't seen that version until now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...