Dragonstomper

The story goes; a magician created an amulet that he could use to subdue the great dragon. On his way deep into the lair where the dragon slept, the amulet was lost and the magician was forced to leave without accomplishing his task. But the dragon found the amulet and used it to increase his intelligence and power. He recruited monsters and allied with evil men, terrorizing the surrounding kingdom. The king selected a dragon hunter to build up to become, "The DragonStomper".

An actual RPG on the lowly 2600. Made possible by the Super Charger adapter that loads multiple portions of the game that is stored as digital audio data on a cassette. It even has two music clips. Uses the joystick for a menu based interface. The game has multiple 'locations', including an expansive The Wilderness, churches, villages, castles, wilderness huts, bridges, trading shops, magic shops, The Scorpion Pit and The Dragon's Cave. The game has 3 distinct modes corresponding to its three loads.

• Battling monsters to build up strength and become The DragonStomper.
• Recruiting warriors to protect oppressed villages whilst buying, selling, and trading supplies.
• Descending into The Dragons Cave, attacking it with a unit of warriors, and slaying it.

This 3 step process is the recommended path, yet there are several alternatives that will work equally well (none of them are really shortcuts). For instance, if the player manages to find destroy the legendary amulet, the dragon will lose his power; after this, there is the choice of two more options. The Wilderness area is HUGH, considering most 2600 games were no more than 3 screens in size. There are no experience points or levels, rather stats can be directly improved (or lost) with items collected from defeated enemies. A Charm, Cross, Potion, Ring, or Staff will randomly: add strength and heal you, add dexterity, decrease strength, decrease dexterity, or reveal traps. An Axe and a Shield are the only weapons and armor available for use in The Wilderness. Keys can be used to open locked doors and treasure chests. Vitamins will restore strength. Elixir increases dexterity. Medicine protects against fever and acts as an antidote. Lanterns will reveal traps. A Rope or Chain can be used to descend into pits or into The Dragon's Cave. Rubies and Sapphires are more efficient than gold. Bow and Arrows can be used against the Dragon. The Flash spell will momentarily show all traps. The Vision spell will completely reveal traps. The Blast spell is for attack. The Protect spell makes to invincible to enemy attack for its duration. The Stun spell will stun enemies. The Unlock spell will dispel magic barriers.


Was originally advertised as "Excalibur" but the name was changed before publishing.

"The best title ever made in the history of U.S. videogaming." - Forbes Magazine November 2005

Without doubt, DragonStomper would have been the shaper of things to come as the first RPG on the 2600. With subsequent RPGs for the system having better graphics, music, cut sequences, and more in-game story and dialog. Multi-loading from cassette (or CD, first available the same year as this game) and/or more ROM and RAM in the cartridges, would have allowed for chapter structured gameplay and/or each location to have its own load, complete with talking characters and side quests. An audio CD with voice and game data, couple with second generation supercharger like device(s), would have effectively became the first CD drive for consoles and could have included voice for characters and/or many tracks of music. Alas, the videogame market crashed in 1983-84 and DragonStomper remains the only RPG for the system. A huge setback for game quality but a boon for game hardware because the 2600 officially hung around until 1992 with a relative few innovative games. More innovative games, especially RPGs, may have extended its life even longer and delayed the success of consoles with more capabilities.



(Zerothis) - # 2008-08-01 20:42:02

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