In this section I gaze nostalgically back at some potential precursors to Moonstone. Great games these, one and all…

Barbarian (AKA Deathsword). Palace Software, 1987.

“…and lo, a mighty warrior shall come from the frozen wastelands of the north, and he will stand alone against the forces of darkness…”

My old Mum didn’t know quite what to make of these when she saw them in W. H. Smiths!

Few gamers that waggled their joysticks throughout the 1980s will fail to recollect the classic Barbarian. Released on almost every home computer format, perhaps the most instantly memorable feature of this title was scantily clad Page 3 “stunna” Maria Whittaker ample assets gracing the packaging. (Incidentally, if you’re wondering why the muscular bloke looks familiar, its balding Wolf from the UK series of Gladiators wearing a bloody great wig on top of his bonce!)

Although tricky to control, there were a full sixteen different moves available to your oddly-named warrior Gorth, leading to some classic scraps on your way to defeating the evil sorcerer Drax and rescuing the bosomy Princess Mariana from his sordid dungeon.

So why do I reckon the Palace’s seminal hack’n’slash might have inspired Rob Anderson to create Moonstone?

Richard Joseph composed the variety of bone-crunching grunts and groans for this one, which is the most obvious parallel with Moonstone. There’s also the box spiel, wonderful decapitations and gore flying around the screen. Similar to Forbidden Forest, Barbarian also exudes a certain ambience that always tends to evoke Moonstone in my mind.

Flushed with success, Palace released side-scroller Barbarian 2 just a year later. It was essentially more of the same repetitive gory action, but once again exonerated itself by featuring Ms. Whittaker in yet another gratuitous state of undress. Lovely jubbly!

For a game released in 1987, Barbarian still looked bloody great on Amiga…

Sir Godber cleanly lops off the head of another Black Knight from the Dark Hall of Purity. Whoops – wrong game…

Forbidden Forest. Cosmi, 1983.

No swords, daggers or magical scrolls for this hero – back in 1983 all a brave adventurer had to save his skin was a mere bow and arrow!

This game was developed in 1983 by Paul Norman (Super Huey, Aztec Challenge, Caverns of Khafka) while working for Cosmi. Forbidden Forest shifted well over a million copies, and was ported to a number of other platforms including the Atari 800XL, but the C64 version is commonly acknowledged as the definitive version.

The extremely challenging Beyond the Forbidden Forest emerged two years later promising a world of “OmniDimension 4D” action, and was relatively well-received in the gaming press. Forbidden Forest III: The Adventure Continues, a belated third effort in true 3D, was released in 2003, but it suffered from a number of graphical and gameplay issues and largely sank without trace.

So why do I reckon the Paul Norman’s original might have inspired Rob Anderson to create Moonstone?

Forbidden Forest, like Moonstone, is all about atmosphere. With day and night cycles (yes – in 1983!) the forest itself was undoubtedly the star of the game. Playing a lone bowman your task was to tackle the monstrous cronies (including a red dragon!) of the evil Demogorgon in its forest domain and destroy them in a gory a way as possible, before confronting the beast itself in a resoundingly creepy set-piece finale. Discerning gamers will be able to look past the typical C64 Lego-brick graphics and see the classic within. Also worthy of a mention is the fantastic musical score – almost as good as the one Richard Joseph bestowed upon Moonstone!

For ultimate proof, click here to see our hero slaying the red dragon! (1.6mb)

Look – a Moon! Hmmm…

Scrunch you eyes up a little bit and it could be a Balok…

Honourable Mentions – Sword of Sodan. Innerprise, 1989.

The Amiga version had the best front cover, Megadrive had the best back.

Honourable Mentions – Golden Axe. Sega, 1989.

Well I had to think of a way to get the best god-damn box art of all time onto my site, didn’t I?

Any other games you can think of that you reckon may have either directly or indirectly inspired Moonstone? Give me a mail!