Elidon
| Elidon | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Game No. | 541 | |
| Voting | 6.43 points, 7 votes | |
| Developer | Brian Brunswick, John B. Marshall | |
| Company | Orpheus Ltd | |
| Publisher | Orpheus Ltd | |
| Musician | Jon Maskill | |
| HVSC-File | /GAMES/A-F/Elidon.sid | |
| Release | 1985 | |
| Platform | Amstrad CPC, C64, MSX | |
| Genre | Arcade, Platformer, Multi-Screen | |
| Gamemode | Single player | |
| Operation |   
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| Media |  
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| Language | 
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Description[edit | edit source]
Elidon is a graphic adventure game spanning over 300 screens, rendered using a flick-screen technique. Playing as a fairy, the player collects seven bottles of magic water in a labyrinth and uses it to water seven flowers scattered throughout the maze, causing them to bloom and be added to the Fairy Queen's wreath.
This task is made more difficult by numerous enemies that drain the fairy's energy or even cause her to fall, as well as by obstacles and narrow passages that require skillful navigation. The energy supply can be replenished by collecting fairy dust, and extra lives are awarded after each flower is added to the wreath.
Backstory[edit | edit source]
Winter is drawing to a close, and with the arrival of spring, the Fairy Queen will once again assume dominion over the secret forest of Elidon. A grand ball is to be held at dusk to mark the occasion, but the queen still needs the flower crown Finvarra, adorned with seven blossoms. As the only mortal privy to this secret, the player controls a fairy as she explores the forest of Elidon, helping her to collect seven magic potions in time for the festivities, use them to make seven flowers bloom, and finally unite them on the Fairy Queen's crown.
Design[edit | edit source]
During the game, the player-controlled fairy roams the richly detailed and atmospherically rendered enchanted forest of Elidon, filled with vibrant and realistically designed flowers, plants, and mushrooms. Only the fairy herself appears somewhat wooden — especially in flight, where she only moves her wings and otherwise holds her wand rigidly aloft — and the enemies are mostly not creatures native to the forest, but merely indefinable little clouds.
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Graphics[edit | edit source]
The graphics are rendered in monochrome bitmap mode, using only a 264x184 pixel section for the labyrinth scenes (bitmap at address $6000, corresponding color information in screen memory starting at address $5C00). Despite the relatively large amount of data that needs to be written, switching from one screen to the next takes only about 0.2 seconds. Five monochrome sprites (sprites 3-7) are used to represent the fairy. The remaining three sprites (sprites 0-2) together form one of the enemies (5-7) in some rooms (see the gallery in the section "Enemies"). All other objects on the screen are incorporated into the bitmap graphics.
Sound[edit | edit source]
A three-part melody plays continuously during the game, matching the scenes from the fairy realm and contributing to a magical atmosphere. If this music becomes boring or annoying after playing for a while, it can be turned off at any time.
Hints[edit | edit source]
The main objective of the game is to find seven bottles of magic water hidden in the labyrinth (see the gallery below) and use their contents to make seven widely scattered plants (left image) bloom, one after the other, in order to then combine their blossoms on the fairy queen's wreath. Each blossom placed on the wreath is worth 500 points. In addition, there are 100 points for collecting a lucky horseshoe (see section "Strengthening and Aid") and 150 points for each portion of fairy dust collected. Furthermore, each first-time entry into a room grants 10 points, so that simply by fully exploring the garden labyrinth, 3,000 points can be earned.
The plants that have already been "harvested" can be identified by the absence of a bud (right image); re-watering with additional bottles of magic water is not possible in this case.
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Screen Layout[edit | edit source]
Enemies[edit | edit source]
Seven different types of enemies, as well as an inverted and therefore deadly horseshoe, threaten the fairy. Their effects range from energy loss and a fall to the instant loss of a life.
 1st Enemy (bitmap) |
 2nd Enemy (bitmap) |
 3rd Enemy (bitmap) |
 4th Enemy (bitmap) |
 5th Enemy (3 monocolor sprites) |
 6th Enemy (3 monocolor sprites) |
 7th Enemy (3 monocolor sprites) |
 Deadly Horseshoe (bitmap) |
Protection[edit | edit source]
If the fairy carries one or more of the following objects, she can use her wand to fight certain types of enemies. For example, the tuft of grass helps against enemies 1 and 2, and the clover against enemies 3 and 4. However, while carrying these objects, the fairy can carry fewer other items, such as bottles or flowers.
 Tuft of grass |
 Clover |
 Leaf |
 Fruit |
Strengthening and Aid[edit | edit source]
Fairy dust appears sporadically at various locations in the labyrinth and, when collected by the fairy, replenishes her energy. This is necessary regularly, as the supply lasts for a maximum of 3 minutes and 20 seconds (200 seconds) and can also be depleted by contact with various enemies.
The torch illuminates dark rooms where forest spirits otherwise lurk, waiting for the fairy. The shawm and pan flute are needed to open barriers, and the lucky horseshoe provides bonus points.
 Fairy dust |
 Torch |
 Shawm |
 Pan flute |
 Lucky horseshoe |
Controls[edit | edit source]
"Elidon" can be controlled either with a joystick in port 2 or with the keyboard. The game can be started by pressing the fire button or the spacebar, which also selects between joystick and keyboard controls. The following key mappings then apply:
or Z : The fairy walks or flies to the left
or X : The fairy walks or flies to the right
or K : The fairy takes off or flies higher
or M : On the ground: Pick up or put down objects; in the air: The fairy flies lower
or SPACE : Cancel gravity- P : Pause (resume with the spacebar)
- Q : Turn off music
- S : Turn on music
Tips[edit | edit source]
- The first thing you should do in every game is get the torch, as some otherwise unlit rooms can only be traversed at considerable risk.
- The fairy dust, which replenishes the fairy's energy reserves, appears only sporadically and disappears again after a while, so it should be collected immediately. If you try to save it for a later time when it is needed more urgently, it may no longer be available by then.
- Navigating, especially in narrow passages, is significantly easier if you continuously press the fire button in these situations.
- Two areas of the labyrinth are separated by barriers that open as soon as you place a musical instrument in the respective rooms (pan flute for the barrier to the room below, shawm for the room above).
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Solution[edit | edit source]
Elidon's solution is actually quite simple: collect the seven bottles of magic water one after the other, use each to water a flowering plant, and make it bloom. Besides some skill in navigating, you also need luck to quickly find the bottles and flowers and to come across a fresh portion of fairy dust in time.
Helpful objects (see section "Tips") include the torch (room G6, coordinates on the map below), the pan flute in room B16 to open the barrier in room G18, and the shawm in room L4 to deactivate the barrier in room H4. With the various plant parts that can be used to fight the numerous opponents (bush in room L9, leaf in N10, fruit in C12, and clover in L18), it must be weighed whether their usefulness truly outweighs the disadvantage of being able to carry fewer other items.
Map[edit | edit source]
For better orientation, the map is provided with a grid and a coordinate system to which all location information refers.
Plan[edit | edit source]
The left image in the following gallery illustrates the structure of the game board. The starting point, where the Fairy Queen's flower wreath is located, is marked in green. At the two yellow-marked intersections, barriers block the way to the adjacent, color-coded areas, which can only be opened by placing the pan flute (lower, orange area) or the shawm (upper, turquoise area).
The right image shows, in animated form, the original positions of all objects in 60 consecutive games. Only the bottles of magic water (blue markers) and the plants that must be made to bloom with it (green) change their location from game to game; in contrast, the torch (red), the musical instruments pan flute and shawm (yellow), and the objects used for protection against enemies (purple) are always found in the same rooms.
 Structure of the labyrinth (green: starting point with flower wreath, yellow: barriers) |
 Initial position of all objects in 60 games as an animation |
Cheats[edit | edit source]
In the CSDb there are a large number of cracks with a trainer functionality. The most diverse configuration options are offered by the versions "Elidon +7" by Onslaught and by Pugsy (first and second images in the gallery below).
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Internal Data Structures[edit | edit source]
For developing custom trainer functions and for analyzing or manipulating the data used by the game, knowledge of memory allocation and internal workings is helpful. The following table therefore compiles a range of information about "Elidon".
| Address | Content | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| $040A-$040B | Current room | X-coordinate (range 0...16) and Y-coordinate (range 0...19) |
| $0421 | Number of lives | Range 0...4 |
| $0426 | Energy supply | Range 0...39 |
| $0492-$0494 | Score | 6-digit packed BCD number, least significant digit first |
Starting at address $0528, an 84-byte table is stored containing the current location of each item in 4 bytes (X-coordinate and Y-coordinate of the room, X-coordinate and Y-coordinate within that room). If an item is being carried by the fairy, the X-coordinate of the room is stored as $FF.
| Item | Address |
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$052C-$052F |
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$0530-$0533 |
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$0534-$0537 |
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$0538-$053B |
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$053C-$053F |
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$0540-$0543 |
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$0544-$0547 |
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$0548-$054B |
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$054C-$054F |
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$0550-$0553 |
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$0554-$0557 |
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$0558-$055B |
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$055C-$055F |
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$0560-$0563 |
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$0564-$0567 |
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$0568-$056B |
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$056C-$056F |
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$0570-$0573 |
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$0574-$0577 |
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$0578-$057B |
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$057C-$057F |
Votes[edit | edit source]
| Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote): | ||
| 6.43 points at 7 votes (rank 723). You need to be logged in to cast a vote. | ||
| C64Games | 3 | November 8, 2025 - "geht so" 2007 downs |
| Zzap!64 | Presentation 84%, Graphics 93%, Sound 69%, Hookability 86%, Lastability 80%, Value For Money 84%, Overall 83% | Issue 4 (August 1985), S. 46 |
| Computer and Video Games | Graphics 9/10, Sound 8/10, Value 9/10, Playability 8/10 | Issue 46 (August 1985), S. 27 |
| Home Computer Weekly | 3/5 | Issue 113 (21.-May 27, 1985), S. 11 |
| Your Commodore | 2/5 | Issue 11 (August 1985), S. 26 |
| Your Computer | 4/5 | Vol. 5 No. 7 (July 1985), S. 27 |
| Tilt | Intérêt 4/5, Graphisme 4/5, Bruitage 3/5 | N° 25 (Octobre 1985), S. 51 |
| Lemon64 | 6.41 | November 8, 2025 - 32 votes |
| Ready64 | 8.29 | 17. Februar 2023 - 7 voti |
| Universal Videogame List | 4/5 | 17. Februar 2023 |
Critics[edit | edit source]
Stephan64: "A beautifully designed, atmospheric quest in a huge, graphically impressive labyrinth... unfortunately occasionally interrupted by a deep slump when, thanks to clunky controls, the fairy once again scrapes along an obstacle or one of the annoying enemies gets in her way. It's still fun though; therefore, I give it 7 points for an unjustly little-known game."
Riffislam: "A simple game principle: run around a labyrinth, collect items, and hand them in. But the sheer number of rooms made it really difficult to keep my bearings. And then the fairy falls down, and you can't control anything for a while until you regain control 20 rooms below. Monsters chasing the fairy and draining a huge amount of energy made my life even harder. So it's all the more satisfying when your energy is almost gone and you reach the last pixel of the display and stumble upon fairy dust. Saved — but only until a nasty horseshoe is placed in such a way that you HAVE to run into it. Despite everything, I had fun, and the game deserves 8 points."
Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]
Cover[edit | edit source]
Cassette[edit | edit source]
Fastloader[edit | edit source]
The cassette version of Elidon (found in Ric64's Tape Archive) uses an integrated software fast loader that is automatically activated during loading and speeds up the loading process by a factor of approximately 6.5. Thanks to optimized encoding (shorter intervals for 0 and 1 bits, no duplicate storage of program data), loading Elidon takes only about two minutes, whereas the KERNAL data cassette routines would take almost a quarter of an hour for a file of this size.
During loading, the actual fast loader is first loaded from the initial program section, which is activated via autostart, using the KERNAL routines. This feature is characterized by its clear structure and lack of any elements that might obscure its operation (e.g., illegal opcodes), and by its operation in a memory area that is not erased upon reset (address range $C003-$C0E2, jump to $C0A5). This makes it exceptionally easy to analyze and understand.
The quick loader transfers two program segments, whose start and end addresses are fixed in its main routine ($C600-$CFFF and $0800-$9FFF), into the C64's main memory and then starts the game by making an absolute jump to $08D0. During loading, the screen displays horizontal colored stripes; there is no loading screen or accompanying sound.
Theme[edit | edit source]
The following image shows the first page of the accompaniment music in standard musical notation. For creative reuse of the melody, the complete sheet music is also available as a PDF document (File:Elidon Theme PDF.pdf) and in ABC musical notation (File:Elidon Theme.abc.txt).
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Video Recording[edit | edit source]
Longplay, visit all rooms and collect all flowers
Trivia[edit | edit source]
Two versions of "Elidon" are circulating, one of which has the problem that the game ends prematurely after collecting the first flower. Computer and Video Games Review (p. 27) Preview (p. 5)
Highscore[edit | edit source]
- Ivanpaduano - 17640 - all (03.04.2023)
- Riffislam - 7220 (03.04.2023)
- Stephan64 - 6700 (13.03.2023)
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| #2 Riffislam | #3 Stephan64 |
Links[edit | edit source]
- C64Games.de - Game No. 6621
- Lemon64 - Game No. 816
- Gamebase64.com - Game No. 2471
- ready64 - Game No. 2571
- CSDb All entries
- Elidon at MobyGames
- Magazines
- ZZap64 test report
- [98]
- Home Computing Weekly test report (p. 11)
- Your Commodore test report (p. 26)
- Your Computer test report (p. 27)
- Tilt test report (p. 51)
