Stormbringer
| Stormbringer | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Game No. | 542 | |
| Voting | 6.60 points, 5 votes | |
| Developer | David Jones, Paul Freeman, Ray Owen | |
| Publisher | Mastertronic | |
| Musician | David Whittaker | |
| HVSC-File | /MUSICIANS/W/Whittaker_David/Stormbringer.sid | |
| Release | 1987 | |
| Platform | C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Atari ST | |
| Genre | Graphic Adventure | |
| Gamemode | Single player | |
| Operation |   
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| Media |  
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| Language | 
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| Information | Series:
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Description[edit | edit source]
Stormbringer is a graphic adventure game spanning 56 screens, rendered using a flip-screen technique. As a magical knight, the player returns to his medieval castle after a long absence and must find and put to sleep his alter ego, the "non-white knight" also known as Stormbringer, in order to merge with him. To achieve this, the knight can use items scattered throughout the castle and the surrounding woods, as well as seek help from the local inhabitants.
"Stormbringer" is the final game in a four-part series centered on the magical knight. It is the successor to "Finders Keepers", "Spellbound", and "Knight Tyme." Prior knowledge, especially from "Spellbound", is helpful but not essential for completing "Stormbringer." Likewise, the menu system, called "Windowmation+", is easy to learn if you are not already familiar with it from the two previous games.
Backstory[edit | edit source]
In the previous game, "Spellbound", our magical knight first successfully returned his mentor, Gimbal, and all the characters in his castle to their respective eras, but was then accidentally catapulted to the 25th century and onto the spaceship "USS Piscies." In the sequel, "Knight Tyme", the knight acquires a secondhand time machine to finally return to the Middle Ages and his castle. However, due to a malfunction, he arrives there twice — both as a good knight and as his evil, dark adversary, Stormbringer. Now he faces the task of reaching this enemy and merging with him to become a complete character once more. It becomes clear that his adversary disapproves of this plan when he sends deadly storm clouds at our knight as he fights his way through eerie forests to the castle.
Design[edit | edit source]
The castle and the surrounding enchanted forest are filled with numerous magical objects, far exceeding what is necessary to complete the game, lending it a mysterious atmosphere. Only in a few places do adjacent rooms resemble each other so closely that the overall appearance becomes monotonous.
After the game starts, the sound is limited to background noise during menu actions. However, the magic knight carries a Walkman ("Personal Stereo") which provides musical accompaniment as soon as he puts on the headphones. The melody, however, doesn't fit the medieval magic castle setting and quickly becomes intrusive.
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Graphics[edit | edit source]
The graphics are rendered in monochrome bitmap mode, using only a 256x152 pixel area for the medieval scenes. Since only one screen page is reserved in the Commodore 64's main memory for this purpose (at address $E000, with the corresponding color information in the screen memory starting at address $CC00), a mixture of old and new screen content is visible for approximately 0.6 seconds during the transition from one screen to the next. It is particularly noticeable and unpleasant that during this transition, all color information in the video RAM is briefly set to "white foreground, black background", causing all screen content to flash brightly.
The magic knight is represented by four monochrome sprites (sprites 4-7). Two further sprites (numbers 2 and 3) form the storm cloud of the Stormbringer; alternatively, up to four sprites (numbers 0-3) represent the flying axes on the ground floor of the castle. All other elements, especially all other characters and the objects scattered in the castle and the forest, are incorporated into the bitmap representations. If objects overlap with figures, the figure is preferentially displayed in the corresponding areas. If only objects overlap, the object that is furthest back in the table of objects (see section "Internal Data Structures") is displayed.
Hints[edit | edit source]
Controls[edit | edit source]
The character can be controlled either with a joystick in port 2 or with the keyboard. The same applies to navigation and selection in the menu system, which can be accessed by pressing the fire button or the spacebar.
When using the keyboard, the following key assignments apply:
- SPACE : Start the game, access the menu system.
- N / M : Left / Right.
- A / Z : Up / Down.
- RUN/STOP : Exit the game.
The commands that solve the given task and ultimately merge the magical knight with his second, dark half are entered via a multi-level menu system, which Mastertronic advertises as "Windowmation+". A first press of the joystick's fire button or the spacebar opens the main menu with the various command types. A cursor in the form of a pointing hand can be moved up and down to the desired menu item before it is activated with the fire button or spacebar. This then either opens a submenu with further options or executes the desired action.
The list of actions offered in the individual menus is not static, but can expand with additional entries based on the items the knight is carrying and his current location.
Screen Layout[edit | edit source]
Commands[edit | edit source]
Pressing the fire button or the spacebar activates a multi-level menu system in which the desired action can be assembled from the currently available commands and objects. This makes it clear at all times which actions are possible in a given situation. All commands must be confirmed with "EXECUTE COMMAND" or can be canceled with "REJECT COMMAND".
The following commands are always available:
- "PICK UP AN OBJECT" picks up an object located near the knight, provided he is not already carrying the maximum of 5 items (otherwise the message "YOUR HANDS ARE FULL" appears). If multiple objects are within range, one of them is picked up.
- "DROP AN OBJECT" places one of the carried objects on the ground. The mirror and bottles break upon being placed on the ground and can only be retrieved as useless shards. The stick of dynamite explodes upon being placed on the ground; it can only be passed to other characters.
- "TAKE AN OBJECT" takes an object from another character and transfers it to the magical knight, provided he is not already carrying the maximum of 5 items.
- "GIVE AN OBJECT" transfers an item belonging to the Magic Knight to another character, provided that character is not already carrying the maximum of 5 items.
- "EXAMINE" examines a character, an item, or the Knight himself. In particular, it can be used to determine the Knight's power reserves.
- "COMMAND A CHARACTER" gives an instruction to a character in the current room ("GO TO SLEEP", "WAKE UP", "GO AWAY", "HELP", "EAT & DRINK", and "BE HAPPY"). The most important command is "HELP"; the other commands are only used if the character is asleep or too tired or unwilling to help.
- "READ SOMETHING" reads an inscription on an object or describes it in detail.
- "CAST A SPELL" activates a spell (see next section).
- "WEAR/UNWEAR OBJECT" opens a submenu with further options: "WEAR OBJECT" allows the magic knight to put on an object he possesses. "UNWEAR OBJECT" allows him to remove an object and then carry it with him, provided he is not already carrying the maximum of 5 items. Otherwise, the removal of the armor fails with the message "YOUR HANDS ARE FULL".
Some commands only appear in the menu under certain conditions:
- "PULL LEVER" pulls one of the levers distributed throughout the castle and is only available if such a lever is present in the current room.
- "THROW SOMETHING" only appears if the Magic Knight is carrying a throwable object (bottles or broken glass, golden eggs, silver arrow, "MAGIC MISSILE", or "TELEPORT PAD"). However, in this case, the command can also be applied to other carried objects. The command can only be executed if at least one character is present in the room at whom the object can be thrown.
- "SMELL SOMETHING" is available if the knight possesses the teddy bear, the stick of dynamite, the chicken, the sword, the "POWER BOOTS", or one of the bottles. Always displays the message "YOU CAN SMELL NOTHING BECAUSE YOUR NOSE IS BLOCKED!"
- "TICKLE A CHARACTER" only appears if the magic knight possesses the "HORSE FEATHER", which he can then use to tickle and cheer up other characters.
- "BLOW SOMETHING" is offered if the knight is carrying the elf horn. However, in this case, other objects can also be blown — which, as in the previous game "Spellbound", only triggers the message "WHAT A LOT OF DUST. DOESN'T ANYBODY CLEAN THIS PLACE?"
- "HAVE A DRINK" is only displayed if the knight has a filled bottle. In this case, the knight drinks the bottle and is then refreshed.
- "HAVE A WISH" is displayed in the room with the wishing well, provided an egg has been placed on the well beforehand. The command supposedly grants a wish, though it remains unclear what that wish entails.
Spells[edit | edit source]
- "DIMENSION MERGE" merges the Magic Knight with his dark half. This opponent must first be put to sleep by the "MAGIC MISSILE", the knight must not be in disguise, and the two characters must be perfectly aligned on the screen.
- "MELT GRANITE" sounds spectacular, but it can never be executed; instead, it always displays a message stating that the necessary conditions are not met.
- "PASS PLANT" moves the Magic Knight from one red rose to the next, provided he is close to one.
- "SPELL OF WONDER" slightly strengthens the Magic Knight, but it also costs him magic power and can therefore only be used to a limited extent.
- "TRAVEL TO PERSON" should transport the knight to a selected player character, provided he is carrying the "MAGIC MISSILE" and the crystal ball. Due to a bug, the game often freezes after casting this spell. Since the spell is not required to complete the game anyway, you should definitely not take this risk.
- "MAGIC FULCRUM" returns all the levers in the castle to their starting positions, allowing you to attempt entering the teleporter code again.
- "QUITICUS GAMUS" ends the game and is presumably a joke.
Tips[edit | edit source]
- If the knight wears the brass anch, his energy reserves are replenished to 60% once they drop to 0%. However, this does not apply to energy loss due to harmful influences such as lightning, axes, or radioactive radiation. Before a potential confrontation, you should first check the knight's energy reserves (menu items "EXAMINE" / "YOURSELF" / "EXECUTE COMMAND", entry in the "STRENGTH" row). If these are too low, you can use up the remaining energy by quickly moving between adjacent rooms or by accessing the menu and then exiting with "REJECT", thus forcing a refill to 60%.
- The flying axes on the ground floor of the castle adjust their speed to the knight's movement. Therefore, instead of quickly jumping across the rooms, it is advisable to dodge the individual projectiles by alternating between jumping and walking.
- If the knight is struck by lightning from the Stormbringer's cloud while jumping, he initially has no way to dodge further lightning strikes. Such a series of lightning strikes can often mean the end of the game. Therefore, it is better to walk under the storm cloud and, if necessary, jump to safety afterward.
- If any objects are placed in the entrance to Bearwoolf's cave, they disappear, and the message "THE MAD JANITOR HAS SWEPT UP THE ... [Name of object] IT IS NOT ADVISED THAT YOU DROP THINGS HERE" appears. It is therefore not advisable to use these rooms to store items that will be needed later.
Solution[edit | edit source]
The following sections present the shortest possible path to solving the game. In particular, only the necessary amount of magical actions and objects are used, and long distances are shortened by using the teleporter.
Map[edit | edit source]
For better orientation, the map is provided with a grid and a coordinate system, to which all location information in the following refers.
Step by Step[edit | edit source]
- Enter the patch specified in the section "Bugfix" and save if necessary, then execute it with
RUN. Only then load the Crack by Remember and start it with the commandSYS704. This procedure corrects a bug in the game that otherwise makes "Stormbringer" virtually unsolvable on the C64. - Depending on your musical taste, either put on or take off the personal stereo, then go to the right and pick up the chicken in room H4 ("ROBIN'S LITTLE HUT").
- Continue to the right and in room K4 ("ENTWOOD"), collect the magic talisman and the brass ankh from Barker the Ent, one after the other. Put on both items immediately. The brass ankh will always replenish the knight's energy to 60% once it has dropped to 0%, provided that the last reserves of energy have not been lost due to hostile or harmful influences — lightning, axes, plutonium, or being in room G2 ("THE POWER PLANT"). The magical talisman causes the knight's magic level to increase in increments of 30 instead of the usual gradual increase of 10.
- Go left again. As soon as the knight arrives in room D4 ("THE SPOOKY FOREST"), the accompanying chicken should have laid its first golden egg (otherwise, wait a moment and regularly check your carried items). Place this egg here, then immediately cast the "PASS PLANT" spell at the red flower to teleport the knight to room G2 ("THE POWER PLANT"). Quickly go left and pick up the elf horn. Then immediately return to the red flower and use "PASS PLANT" again to leave the room as quickly as possible — staying in this room will cost the knight several percentage points of his energy reserves every second!
- Place the elf horn in room D4, then go right. In room F4, take the bottle of liquid, then proceed to room G4 ("THE SWORD IN THE CONCRETE"). By now, the hen should have laid a second, silver egg, so put the hen down here and pick up the disquise instead.
- Find Robin of Shylock (usually in a room further to the right) and take the newspaper from him. Robin will demand and take the silver egg in return. Also, take the boomerang from him and put it down so that he has his hands free later.
- Read the newspaper. It contains a job advertisement seeking a servant for the castle. Depending on the job description, the knight must then put on the disquise and dress accordingly. Only with the appropriate costume and the newspaper containing the job advertisement will the knight be allowed into the castle.
- Find Aramis le Peux (usually in a room to the left) and take the ward of control from him. Then order Robin of Shywood to strengthen himself, be happy, and fall asleep so he'll be ready to help later, and finally head right toward the castle. In room P4 ("THE CASTLE ENTRANCE"), put down the staff and ensure you have sufficient energy reserves (see the first piece of advice in the [[#Tips|"Tips" section]), then go right and jump into the pitfall trap in room Q4 ("ONE AXE ROOM"). There, pick up both the teleport key and the teleport pad, then teleport. Because the knight is carrying both the key and the pad, this step will take him to room M2 ("LIMBO").
- Briefly put down the advert, pick up the power boots and put them on immediately, then pick up the advertisement again. Return to the right, to the castle entrance, drink the bottle you're carrying ("HAVE A DRINK") to refresh yourself, and put the now empty bottle down. Then pick up the wand again and traverse the ground floor of the castle all the way to the right, avoiding contact with flying axes as much as possible.
- In room W4 ("THE FIRST JUMP CHUTE"), put down the newspaper and the teleport pad . Jump onto the jump pad on the far right to reach the top floor and traverse it from right to left. In room Q1 ("BIG WHITE STATUE"), pull the lever ("PULL LEVER"), then go all the way to the left behind the white statue. Place the advertisement under the white arrow as a pedestal and jump onto it to pick up the silver arrow. Then take the advertisement with you.
- Go down the trapdoor to the next lower floor, find Rachel of Amazonia there, and ask for her help. Rachel will then give you the current code for the castle's teleporter. Convert this code to binary and write down the result as a seven-digit binary number.
- Go to the right and pull the lever in room T2 ("PULL LEVER"), then teleport to room W4. There, make sure the knight has sufficient power reserves (see the first tip in the [[#Tips|"Tips" section]), then go all the way to the left and leave the castle. On the way, pull the lever in room T4 and pick up the bottle of liquid, drink it, and put it back down as an empty bottle.
- From the castle, go to Bearwoolf in room C4. On your way, make sure Robin of Shywood is awake and give him the silver arrow. Further along the path, pick up the golden egg and the elf horn.
- In room C4, go far enough to the left so that there is enough space to the right of the knight for another figure. Then blow the elf horn and summon Robin of Shywood. Give Robin the golden egg and ask him for help. Robin will shoot the silver arrow at Bearwoolf, transforming him into a harmless teddy bear.
- Jump out of room C4 to the left and hop through the six rooms of Bearwoolf's cave, using the broken pieces of wall as ledges. In room A4 ("BEARWOOLF'S HOARD"), place the advert on the far left as a pedestal and jump onto it to pick up the magic missile. Then exit the cave to the right; the advertisement can remain where it is.
- Teleport back to the castle, discard the Elf Horn, and pick up the teleport pad instead. Then pick up the Glow Shield and equip it immediately — this shield is made of plutonium and, as long as it is only carried and not worn, constantly depletes the knight's energy reserves.
- Use the jump pad to move to the next floor and set the code for the castle's teleporter at the levers. To do this, work through the binary code from Rachel of Amazonia's advice from right to left: If the lowest digit is a "1", pull the lever in room W3 ("MAIN LEVER 1"). Similarly, use the second-lowest to highest-value digits in rooms V3 to Q3 ("MAIN LEVER 2" to "MAIN LEVER 7"). If a lever is accidentally activated, it can be reset to its starting position by activating it again. If you lose track of all the levers, the spell "MAGIC FULCRUM" returns all the teleporter code levers to their zero position.
- To traverse room V3 ("MAIN LEVER 2"), the Knight must remove the glowing shield ("GLOWING SHIELD") immediately before entering the room and then place it down once inside. The shield will then illuminate the otherwise unlit room without endangering the Knight with its radiation. To pass through the one-way street in room T3 ("MAIN LEVER 4"), throw the teleport pad at Reggie the Rat and then teleport. If the path through room S3 ("SECURITY DOOR & MAIN LEVER 5") is blocked by a security door, then all the levers in rooms Q1, T2, and T4 have not been pulled.
- Go all the way to the right and use the jump pad in room W3 to reach the top floor, then go to room S1 and jump onto the teleporter there. If the code Rachel provided was correctly entered at the levers, the knight will now be teleported to room E2 ("TELEPORT ROOM").
- Locate the Off-White Knight (usually in one of the rooms to the left) and throw the magic missile at him. Remove the disquise, then position the Knight so that he completely covers the Off-White Knight and cast the spell "DIMENSION MERGE". The Knight will then merge with his dark, other half, and the game will be solved.
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Internal Data Structures[edit | edit source]
Starting at address $1724, there is a 36-byte table in which the current location of each character is recorded in 3 bytes, encoded as the room number, X-coordinate, and Y-coordinate within the room.
Starting at address $16FC, there is a 40-byte table in which the items currently carried by each character are stored in 5 bytes. The identification number (Id) for each object is stored according to the table of objects listed below; if a character has fewer than 5 items, the unused bytes are assigned the value $00.
Another table with 12 entries of 8 bytes each, starting at address $16B0, stores the state of the characters. Bit 7 of the first byte, for example, distinguishes between awake (bit cleared) and asleep (bit set).
| Character | Address (room) | Room | Address (item) | Item | Address (state) | Description |
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$1724 | 45 | $16FC | - | $16B0 | OFF-WHITE IS THE OTHER HALF OF YOU |
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$1727 | 9 | $1701 | 3, 2 | $16B8 | ARAMIS CAN'T WORK OUT WHERE THE SMELL IS COMING FROM! |
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$172A | 8 | $1706 | 35, 14, 33, 27 | $16C0 | ROBIN IS A GOOD SHOT WITH POINTED STICKS |
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$172D | 27 | $170B | - | $16C8 | REGGIE IS NOT VERY CLEAN |
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$1730 | 33 | $1710 | 20 | $16D0 | RACHEL IS GOOD AT MATHS |
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$1733 | 11 | $1715 | 34 | $16D8 | BARKER IS INCREDIBLY OLD AND GNARED |
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$1736 | 16 | $171A | - | $16E0 | ORGANON IS VERY TOUGH |
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$1739 | 3 | $171F | - | $16E8 | GRUNTER IS A REAL TOUGH DUDE |
The location of the magic knight (see section "Map"), and simultaneously the room currently displayed on the screen, is located at address $18B9. The knight's power reserves are stored in the address range $16A2...$16A8 ($16A2: STRENGTH, $16A3: HAPPINESS, $16A4: STAMINA, $16A5: MAGIC LVL, $16A8: FOOD LVL). At address $18BA, the vacant job in the castle is coded: 0=FOOTMAN, 1=GUARD, 2=WIZARD, 3=CHAMBERMAID, 4=WHITE WITCH, 5=WARRIOR.
The address range $16F2–$16F6 contains the numbers of the objects the magic knight carries, followed by the range $16F7–$16FB containing the numbers of the objects he wears as clothing. Both lists are padded with null bytes if they are not full with 5 objects each.
Starting at address $1734, main memory contains a table with 42 entries, each 3 bytes long, which records the location of every item in the game. The first byte of this group of three contains the room (in the form of a room number in the range 0–51) where the item is currently located; If the Magic Knight or one of the other characters possesses the item, or if it does not yet exist or no longer exists, this is indicated by the room number "99". The two following bytes store the exact position of the item within the room.
| Id | Address | Item | Weight | Blowable? | Readable? | Carriable? | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | $1734 | - | Nothing at all | 0 | - | - | - | A dummy object that fills the 5-byte inventory list of each character if they do not carry the maximum possible number of 5 items. |
| 1 | $173F |  |
Disquise | 1 | No | Yes | Yes | Inscription: "MAGIC DISQUISE KIT. THIS KIT CONTAINS 6 DISQUISES 1. FOOTMAN 2. GUARD 3. WIZARD 4. CHAMBERMAID 5. WHITE WITCH 6. WARRIOR" |
| 2 | $1742 |  |
Crystal Ball | 2 | No | Yes | No | Provides these clues one after the other: "IT IS VERY EASY TO RETURN FROM LIMBO", "YOU DO NOT NEED THE CRYSTAL BALL BUT IT COULD HELP", "YOU MUST USE YOUR BINARY KNOWLEDGE TO LEVER YOUR WAY TO THE STARS", "OFF-WHITE KNIGHT MUST BE ASLEEP BEFORE YOU CAN MERGE WITH HIM", "DO SOMETHING SILLY WITH THE TELEPORT PAD AND TELEPORT KEY AND YOU WILL WIND UP IN LIMBO", "THE MAGIC MISSILE WILL INDUCE SLEEP IN ANYBODY THAT IT IS THROW AT", "YOU WILL NEED SPECIAL JUMPING BOOTS TO REACH THE UPPER LEVELS OF CASTLE STORMM", "ARAMIS LE PEUX CAN READ THE LIST OF CLUES", "WATCH OUT FOR THE STORM CLOUD!" |
| 3 | $1745 |  |
Wand of Command | 1 | No | Yes | No | Reading gives "THE RUNES WHEN READ EXPLAIN THAT THIS OBJECT IS JOLLY USEFUL FOR BOSSING PEOPLE ABOUT" |
| 4 | $1748 |  |
Teddy Bear | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "TNORF OT KCAB", when examining and reading the message "THE BEAR SAYS 'MAMA! MAMA! TEDDY IS SCARED!'" appears. The message text "I AM MILNE THE BEAR SO PLEASE TREAT ME WITH CARE, AND WASH ME WITH WARM WATER IF I AM HORRIBLY DIRTY, AND IF YOU FIND ANY HUNNEY LYING ABOUT I AM QUITE HAPPY TO SCOFF IT FOR YOU" is also found at address $649B in memory, but it is never displayed. |
| 5 | $174B |  |
Stick of Dynamite | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "STICK OF DYNAMITE, HANDLE WITH EXTREME CAUTION!", detonates upon being laid down (message: "THE STICK OF DYNAMITE BLEW UP! IT WAS NOT A VERY SAFE STICK OF DYNAMITE"), but can be passed on to other characters. |
| 6 | $174E |  |
Magic Talisman | 1 | No | Yes | Yes | Inscription: "WEAR ME FOR FAST MAGIC POWER RESTORE" (only readable with a crystal ball, otherwise reading will give "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ") |
| 7 | $1751 |  |
Broken Glass | 1 | No | No | No | Remnants of the mirror that broke when it was laid down |
| 8 | $1754 | |
Broken Glass | 1 | No | No | No | Remains of the bottle, which broke when it was laid down (Olde Grog) |
| 9 | $1757 | |
Broken Glass | 1 | No | No | No | Remains of the bottle, which broke when it was laid down (Superstrong Liquid) |
| 10 | $175A |  |
Horse Feather | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 11 | $175D |  |
Power Boots | 1 | No | Yes | Yes | Reading will give "THE LABEL READS 'SIZE 7 SOFT SOLE SPECIAL JUMPING BOOTS'" |
| 12 | $1760 |  |
Glow Shield | 1 | No | Yes | Yes | Inscription: "HIGHEST QUALITY PLUTONIUM GLOW SHIELD. CREATED BY THE LEAD MEN FOR SEEING IN THE DARK" (only readable with a crystal ball, otherwise reading will give "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ") |
| 13 | $1763 |  |
Chicken | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 14 | $1766 |  |
Boomerang | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "MAGIC BOOMERANG. WARNING :- CAN BE DANGEROUS. USE WITH CARE" (only readable with a crystal ball, otherwise reading will give "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ") |
| 15 | $1769 |  |
Sword | 1 | No | Yes | No | When reading with a crystal ball, the game hangs (otherwise reading will give "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ"). The message "CHEAPO PLASTIC PRODUCTS LTD. MADE IN HONG KONG." stored at address $6357 should probably be displayed. |
| 16 | $176C |  |
Brass Ankh | 1 | No | Yes | Yes | Inscription: "LIVE LONG AND PROSPER" (only readable with a crystal ball, otherwise reading will give "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ") |
| 17 | $176F |  |
Bottle of Liquid | 1 | No | Yes | No | Aufschrift: "OLDE GROG. BOTTLED AND DISTRIBUTED BY P ARTIST & SON" |
| 18 | $1772 | |
Bottle of Liquid | 1 | No | Yes | No | Aufschrift: "SUPERSTRONG LIQUID BOTTLED AND DISTRIBUTED BY A POTHECARY & SON" |
| 19 | $1775 |  |
Torch | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "BRITELITE MEGA-TORCH" |
| 20 | $1778 |  |
Mirror | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 21 | $177B |  |
PersonalStereo | 1 | No | No | Yes | — |
| 22 | $177E |  |
Elf-Horn | 1 | Yes | Yes | No | Inscription: "HORN OF SUMMONING" (nur lesbar mit der Kristallkugel, sonst liefert Lesen "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ") |
| 23 | $1781 |  |
SilverArrow | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "ANTI-POLLYMORPHY ARROW" (nur lesbar mit der Kristallkugel, sonst liefert Lesen "THERE IS WRITING HERE BUT IT IS WRITTEN IN A MAGIC LANGUAGE THAT YOU CANNOT READ") |
| 24 | $1784 |  |
Instruction Book | 2 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "AFTER RETURNING FROM THE STARSHIP USS PISCES IN THE 25TH CENTURY MAGIC KNIGHT FINDS THAT THE OTHERWISE QUIET VILLAGE OF CORNHAMP-ON-MARSH HAS BEEN ATTACKED BY A DESPOT CALLING HIMSELF THE OFF-WHITE KNIGHT. OFF-WHITE IS THE DREADED STORMBRINGER! THE KEYS ARE :- N = LEFT M = RIGHT A = JUMP/UP Z = DOWN sp = MENU (FIRE) THIS GAME FEATURES WINDOWMATION+ STARRING YOU AS MAGIC KNIGHT WITH ARAMIS, ROBIN, REGGIE, RACHEL, BARKER, ORGANON, AND GRUNTER" |
| 25 | $1787 |  |
Magic Missile | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 26 | $178A |  |
Advert | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "GAME CONCEPT AND PROGRAM BY DAVID JONES. C64 BITS BY PAUL FREEMAN GRAPHICS BY RAY OWEN. THIS GAME CONTINUES THE ADVENTURES OF MAGIC KNIGHT, FOR EARLIER EPISODES SEE FINDERS KEEPERS, SPELLBOUND AND KNIGHT-TYME." |
| 27 | $178D |  |
Scroll | 1 | No | Yes | No | Provides these clues one after the other: "THE MAGIC MISSILE CAN PROVIDE TRAVELLING ENERGY", "TO TRAVEL TO PEOPLE YOU WILL NEED TO CARRY TWO SPECIAL OBJECTS", "OFF-WHITE KNIGHT IS TRYING TO KILL YOU", "YOU MUST NOT KILL OFF-WHITE KNIGHT", "YOU MUST MERGE WITH OFF-WHITE KNIGHT TO BECOME A WHOLE PERSON AGAIN", "DISQUISE CAN BE USEFUL SOMETIMES", "OFF-WHITE KNIGHT IS THE BAD HALF OF MAGIC KNIGHT" |
| 28 | $1790 |  |
Empty Bottle | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "OLDE GROG. BOTTLED AND DISTRIBUTED BY P ARTIST & SON" |
| 29 | $1793 | |
Empty Bottle | 1 | No | Yes | No | Inscription: "SUPERSTRONG LIQUID BOTTLED AND DISTRIBUTED BY A POTHECARY & SON" |
| 30 | $1796 |  |
Shield | 1 | No | No | Yes | — |
| 31 | $1799 |  |
Teleport Key | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 32 | $179C |  |
Teleport Pad | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 33 | $179F |  |
Newspaper | 1 | No | Yes | No | Provides one of these job advertisements under the heading "SITUATIONS VACANT:" "THERE IS A VACANCY AT THE CASTLE FOR ONE CHAMBERMAID WITH A MINIMUM EDUCATION OF CLASS 1 HONOURS DEGREE. PLEASE APPLY IN PERSON.", "THE OFF-WHITE KNIGHT REQUIRES THE SERVICES OF AN ADDITIONAL GUARD AT THE CASTLE DUE TO EXPANSION OF THE TAX COLLECTION RACKET. PLEASE APPLY IN PERSON WITH THIS ADVERT.", "A FOOTMAN IS REQUIRED URGENTLY AT CASTLE STORMM. SALARY IS NEGOTIABLE.", "A VACANCY NOW EXISTS FOR A WHITE WITCH AT CASTLE STORMM DUE TO THE SUDDEN RESIGNATION OF GRETOL THE SEER.", "A NEW COURT WIZARD IS NOW REQUIRED. APPLY TO CASTLE STORMM IN PERSON WITH THIS ADVERT. PLEASE NOTE THAT 1ST LEVEL ADEPTS NEED NOT APPLY", "A STRONG WARRIOR IS REQUIRED AT THE CASTLE FOR THE NEW POST OF BOUNCER. DUTIES TO INCLUDE KEEPING HUNGRY PEASANTS AWAY FROM THEIR LORD AND MASTER THE OFF-WHITE KNIGHT." |
| 34 | $17A2 |  |
List of Clues | 1 | No | Yes | No | Reading gives "THIS WRITING APPEARS TO BE VERY OLD AND YOU CAN NOT READ IT". If you hand the list to Aramis le Peux and then ask him for help, he will read the following instructions aloud one after the other: "THE CRYSTAL BALL IS NEEDED TO READ MAGIC WRITING", "A YELLOW STREAK MIGHT NOT HELP BUT A BIRD WITH SIMILAR ATTRIBUTES MIGHT", "AN ADVERT CAN HELP GET THE POINT FOR ROBIN", "COPPER, SILVER, GOLD. JUST WAIT AND YOU WILL BEHOLD!", "SPECIAL JUMPING BOOTS ARE AVAILABLE IN LIMBO", "DANGEROUS USE OF TELEPORT PADS WILL YOU TAKE TO LIMBO", "THE MAGIC MISSILE IS SOMEWHERE IN THE CAVES", "THE ELF-HORN CAN BE USED TO SUMMON PEOPLE" |
| 35 | $17A5 | — | Bow | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 36 | $17A8 |  |
Golden Egg | 3 | No | No | No | — |
| 37 | $17AB |  |
Silver Egg | 2 | No | No | No | — |
| 38 | $17AE |  |
Copper Egg | 1 | No | No | No | — |
| 39 | $17B1 | |
Golden Egg | 3 | No | No | No | — |
| 40 | $17B4 | |
Silver Egg | 2 | No | No | No | — |
| 41 | $17B7 | |
Copper Egg | 1 | No | No | No | — |
 "Limbo" has the room number $00; the Stormbringer is located in rooms $2D...$33. The rooms labelled "Ba4...Be4" on the map all internally have the room number $02. |
Cheats[edit | edit source]
While Stormbringer focuses on puzzle fun and combinational skills, and resources such as energy and magical powers play a subordinate role, two CSDb cracks with a Trainer functionality can be found in the CSDb. The version "Stormbringer +21D" by Hackersoft, with its numerous variations, is particularly noteworthy (left image in the gallery below).
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Votes[edit | edit source]
| Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote): | ||
| 6.60 points at 5 votes (rank 640). You need to be logged in to cast a vote. | ||
| Zzap!64 | Presentation 68%, Graphics 68%, Sound 80%, Hookability 62%, Lastability 72%, Overall 70% | Issue 39 (July 1988), S. 69 |
| Your Sinclair | Graphics 9/10, Playability 9/10, Value for Money 9/10, Addictiveness 9/10, Overall 9/10 | Issue 19 (July 1987), S. 77 |
| Sinclair User | 4/5 9/10 |
Issue 59 (February 1987), S. 88 Issue 65 (August 1987), S. 29 |
| Crash | Presentation 82%, Graphics 82%, Playability 89%, Addictive qualities 80%, Overall 86% | Issue 42 (July 1987), S. 16 |
| Computer and Video Games | Graphics 9/10, Sound 8/10, Value 10/10, Playability 10/10 | Issue 69 (July 1987), S. 47 |
| C64Games | 6 | January 30, 2023 - 20188 downs |
| Lemon64 | 7,37 | January 30, 2023 - 19 votes |
| Ready64 | 6 | November 18, 2025 - 1 vot0 |
| Universal Videogame List | 3.5/5 | 17. Februar 2023 |
Critics[edit | edit source]
Stephan64: "An adventure game that was obviously never tested before release and is therefore unsolvable — it really deserves a maximum of one pity point. However, because Stormbringer is my favorite of all the "Magic Knight" games in terms of gameplay and design, and developing a bug fix (with today's available software tools) wasn't too much trouble, I'll turn a blind eye and give it 7 points. I just hope this doesn't happen again!"
Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]
Cover[edit | edit source]
Inlay[edit | edit source]
Cassette[edit | edit source]
Bugs[edit | edit source]
The C64 version of "Stormbringer" contains a number of serious errors, one of which renders the game virtually unsolvable and thus worthless.
- The most serious error is a faulty piece of advice from the character "Rachel of Amazonia", who gives the player the wrong teleporter code (see the left image in the gallery below). While the correct value of this code is always between 32 and 127, Rachel always gives a number between 0 and 7 instead, thus misleading the player. Even if the player is aware of this fact, they can only continue the game by trying all 96 possible codes one after the other, which is extremely tedious at a time of at least two minutes per attempt. The incorrect advice stems internally from a section of code that is inserted — possibly retroactively — between storing the binary teleporter code and its conversion to ASCII, and which overwrites the code stored in the accumulator before it can be converted into a sequence of digits. In the following assembler listing, this insertion is indented:
1B51: LDA *$A2 ; Load A with the timer value (as a random number between 0 and 255) 1B53: AND #$7F ; and move it to the range 0...127 (corresponding to the position of 7 levers) 1B55: BEQ 1B51 ; Return if 0 (redundant, as covered by the following test) 1B57: TAX ; Save the value to X 1B58: AND #$60 ; Test bits 5 and 6 1B5A: BEQ 1B51 ; Return if 0 (ensuring that at least one of the two highest-value levers must be actuated) 1B5C: TXA ; Retrieve the teleporter code from X 1B5D: STA $1886 ; and store it 1B60: LDA #$05 ; Inserted program section, destroys the contents of A 1B62: STA *$FB 1B64: JSR $8BB9 1B67: STA $18BA 186A: LDA *$A2 186C: AND #$07 186E: STA $18C5 1871: CLC 1872: ADC #$04 1874: AND #$07 1876: STA $18C6 1879: LDX #$3B ; Destination address (low byte) for decimal number 187B: STX *$FB 187D: LDX #$5D ; Destination address (high byte) for decimal number 187F: STX *$FC 1B81: JSR $4976 ; Convert A to a decimal number Convert and include it as a teleporter code in Rachel's advice.
- The spell "TRAVEL TO PERSON" does not transport the magic knight to the desired character, but instead leaves him in the same room, moving him to the status screen, where he may then become stuck (center image in the gallery).
- Although the item "SWORD" is marked as "readable", after reading it, the screen displays only a large number of overlapping and partially incomplete windows, while the game remains permanently frozen (right image in the gallery).
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- If you order Reggie the Rat to leave ("GO AWAY"), he supposedly obeys ("REGGIE HAS GONE AWAY"), but remains visible on the screen in the same position.
- When leaving Limbo (Room M2), the knight does not end up in Room I4 ("EXIT FROM LIMBO"), but instead in Room M4 ("THE SPOOKY FOREST").
Bugfix[edit | edit source]
The first bug listed in the section "Bugs", which makes the game practically unsolvable, can be fixed by shifting the subsequently inserted code section 11 bytes to the right and moving the overwritten subroutine call forward. However, this cannot be done simply by a sequence of POKE instructions, since the relevant program code is only available in compressed form immediately after loading and must first be unpacked.
For the crack of Remember available on CSDb [1], the author of this article has therefore developed the following patch, which hooks into the game's initialization routine and moves the problematic section of code at the correct time. The patch must be executed before "Stormbringer" is loaded from disk, and after loading, the game must be started not with `RUN`, but with the command `SYS 704` (see command sequence in the right-hand image):
1 FOR N=704 TO 742 : READ D : POKE N,D : NEXT 2 DATA 169,205,141,151,142,169,2,141,152,142,76,12,8,160,162,169,0,170,152,188 3 DATA 150,51,157,150,51,138,201,27,144,2,233,38,105,11,208,237,76,1,8
Fastloader[edit | edit source]
The [2] cassette version of Stormbringer uses an integrated software fast loader, which is automatically activated during loading and speeds up the loading process by approximately a factor of 4.
The fast loader is capable of successively loading any number of program segments to any location in memory. Each such program segment is preceded by a 4-byte data structure containing the start and end addresses of the subsequent data block; the block is then followed by a checksum calculated by performing an exclusive-OR operation on all data bytes. Due to optimized encoding (shorter intervals for 0 and 1 bits, no duplicate storage of program data), loading Stormbringer takes less than three minutes, whereas the KERNAL's datasette routines would take about 11 minutes for a file of this size.
While loading in the background, the foreground program plays a Rob Hubbard theme song and offers a variation of "Space Invaders" to pass the time (right image in the gallery below). To prevent the fast loader's timing from being disrupted by DMA accesses to sprite data from the VIC, all elements of this game are rendered using appropriate characters in monochrome text mode (character set at address $F000, video RAM at $F400).
The authors of the fastloader made no effort to conceal how their program works: Three program blocks are loaded sequentially: the loading screen, the background music, and the "Space Invaders" game (each approximately 2 KB at addresses $F800–$FF8F and $7000–$77FE, and approximately 4 KB at $E000–$EF5F), followed by the actual game (approximately 33 KB at addresses $0801–$8AE3). Stormbringer is a standalone program that begins with the BASIC line
1987 SYS2068 FOR ALL
and can be started with RUN.
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Highscore[edit | edit source]
Using the "step-by-step" solution above, anyone should be able to completely solve Stormbringer in about half an hour. However, this approach only achieves a score of 82%. Anyone who manages to achieve a better score through additional actions is welcome to document this in the following list (and perhaps explain it in the "Tips" section).
- Stephan64 - 82% (13.02.2023)
- Niemand - 0 (tt.mm.jjjj)
- Leer - 0 (tt.mm.jjjj)
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| #2 Niemand | #3 Leer |
Links[edit | edit source]
- C64.com - Game No. 1395
- CSDb - Release No. 41861
- CSDb All entries
- Gamebase64.com - Game No. 7456
- C64Games.de - Game No. 1405
- Lemon64
- ready64 - Game No. 4415
- Stormbringer at MobyGames
- Magazine
- ZZap64 test report (S. 69)
- Your Sinclair test report (p. 77)
- Sinclair User test report (p. 88)
- Sinclair User test report (p. 29)
- Computer and Video Games test report (p. 46)
- Crash test report (p. 16)
