Masters of the Universe (Game Series)

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Classic logo
Logo of the new edition from 2002

Based on the Masters of the Universe , an action figure series from Mattel , six video games have been released so far . No further games are currently planned.

Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man

Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man
Studio Mattel Electronics
Publisher Mattel Electronics
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1983
platform Intellivision , Atari 2600
genre Shoot 'em up , jump' n 'run
Subject Fantasy , science fiction
Game mode Single player
control Gamepad
medium module
language English
information intellivisionlives.com

Due to the great success of the action figure series when it was launched in 1982, Mattel had its own video game division, Mattel Electronics, develop a video game adaptation of the Masters of the Universe series, subtitled The Power of He-Man . The game was released for the in-house Intellivision and Atari 2600 during the Christmas season 1983. It was the best-selling Intellivision game of the year alongside Burgertime , but the collapse of the video game market in the following year made it doubtful whether it would have reached the one million unit mark .

Game setup

The only characters that came before were He-Man as the player's figure and Skeletor as the opponent. The first part of the game is a shoot 'em up, in which you as a He-Man aboard the Wind Raider, an aircraft, have to avoid enemy rays and provide enough fuel to reach Castle Grayskull. In the second part, which is set in Castle Grayskull, you fight your way up to Skeletor in a jump 'n' run style, armed only with a shield.

technology

The Power of He-Man was developed by two programmers from February 1983: Rick Koenig created the first part, which included the flight in the Wind Raider, and Vladimir Hrycenko was responsible for the second part, which was located in Castle Grayskull. Hrycenko could not deliver satisfactory results until the end of April, so he was replaced by Ray Kaestner. Ray Kaestner discarded the existing code and started over. He used new graphics routines he had developed and was able to meet the completion date at the end of May.

These graphics routines developed by Kaestner ensured that objects moved more smoothly and faster than in normal Intellivision games. Mattel Marketing called it Super Graphics and developed a logo that all games using the new graphics routines should wear. The Power of He-Man would have been the only game that could have had this logo. Marketing began using the Super Graphics logo on all new games, even before The Power of He-Man was released . Burgertime was the first game with the Super Graphics logo.

Others

Furthermore, was The Power of He-Man part of a significant change in terms of the naming of the programmers involved on the game packaging. In the video game industry of that time, it was common not to name the programmer, as there was always the risk that a competitor could woo good programmers. However, by 1983 at the latest, the respective employees were known to all game companies, sometimes also via internal telephone lists handed out against payment. In addition, one now saw the marketing aspect of recognizing well-known programmers among the players.

On May 27, 1983, Mattel announced that in future the programmers involved would be named on the game packaging. The Power of He-Man was the first game on which this happened.

Mattel Electronics was closed in January 1984, whereby an already completed version for the ColecoVision no longer published and the development of a sequel with the working title Masters of the Universe II was discontinued.

Web links

Masters of the Universe: Super Adventure

Masters of the Universe: Super Adventure
Studio Adventure Soft
Publisher US gold
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1986
platform Sinclair ZX Spectrum , Commodore 64 , Commodore 128
genre Adventure
Subject Fantasy , science fiction
Game mode Single player
control keyboard
medium Datasette
language English
information TheLegacy.de

After the end of Intellivision and Mattel Electronics in 1984, Masters of the Universe games for the home computer were released in 1986, the great success of which triggered the collapse of the home console market in 1983 and 1984.

It started with Super Adventure , which, as the title suggests, was a classic adventure game that was still controlled by a parser , i.e. entering text via the keyboard.

Since Mattel had completely withdrawn from the video game market, Super Adventure was developed by Adventure Soft and distributed by US Gold.

action

In the role of He-Man it is again important to prevent Skeletor from seizing power over Eternia. He has succeeded in using a machine to create an army of stone-eaters that can eat their way through the walls of Castle Grayskull.

criticism

In issue 4/87 of the game magazine Aktueller Software Markt , the background story is described as involuntarily funny. The game does not stand out from the crowd of average adventure games and is normal Scott Adams everyday adventure. Super Adventure differs from other adventure games in that some situations could only be solved by using force. The parser's vocabulary is acceptable, but not great. Only the possibility of being able to undo actions and the memory function are positively mentioned. However, slow image build-up would diminish these advantages.

Web links

Masters of the Universe: The Arcade Game

Masters of the Universe: The Arcade Game
Studio Adventure Soft
Publisher US gold
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1986 , 1987
platform CPC464 , Atari home computer , Sinclair ZX Spectrum , Commodore 64 , Commodore 128
genre Action adventure
Subject Fantasy , science fiction
Game mode Single player
control keyboard
medium Datasette
language English
information TheLegacy.de

A short time later, US Gold released an action game called The Arcade Game , which was also titled He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in: The Ilearth Stone . The developer was again Adventure Soft.

action

In the role of He-Man, the player is faced with an army of clones of the Skeletor's henchmen, created by the power of the Ilearth Stone . For the first time, another character from the action figure series appears with the magician Orko. The player's job is to find the right ingredients for a spell Orkos can use to give you the power to defeat Skeletor's clone army.

criticism

In issue 5/87 of the game magazine Aktueller Software Markt, The Arcade Game is described as a mixture of Antiriad and Future Knight , which certainly knows how to inspire. Although the plot is rather comical, as in Super Adventure , The Arcade Game still knows how to please. Graphics and sound would be pleasing from the start, but unfortunately both slow down as the screen scrolls. The animations of the He-Man figure controlled by the player were just as convincing as the pseudo-3D backgrounds. In the case of the music, it could not be entirely determined whether it was made by Rob Hubbard , it is too short for that. (Note: The editor Ulrich Mühl only speculated that the music was actually by Ben Daglish .)

Web links

Masters of the Universe: The Movie

Masters of the Universe: The Movie
Studio Gremlin Graphics software
Publisher Gremlin Graphics software
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 1986 , 1987
platform CPC464 , Atari home computer , Sinclair ZX Spectrum , Commodore 64 , Commodore 128 , MSX
genre Action adventure
Subject Fantasy , science fiction
Game mode Single player
control keyboard
medium Datasette
language English
information TheLegacy.de

At the same time as the Masters of the Universe film , a corresponding video game implementation was released. Due to the fact that the action figure series ended shortly thereafter, it was also the last classic Masters of the Universe video game.

action

The plot of the underlying film was hardly adopted at all. In the video game, He-Man's job is to find eight strings. These are hidden in a ramified city that is teeming with Skeletor's henchmen. Once you have found this, you have to fight the decisive battle against Skeletor. Central elements from the film such as the Cosmic Key do not appear. Characters other than He-Man and Skeletor also do not appear.

criticism

Masters of the Universe: The Movie suffered from the errors of so-called film conversions, which are still known today. The gameplay was monotonous and the scope was too small. Trade magazines of the time could only recommend the game to Masters of the Universe fans, if at all.

Web links

Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull

Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull
Studio Taniko
Publisher TDK Mediactive
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 October 29, 2002
platform Game Boy Advance
genre Action adventure
Subject Fantasy , science fiction
Game mode Single player
control Gamepad
medium module
language English
information not published in German-speaking countries

Almost 15 years after the release of Masters of the Universe: The Movie , Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull, the next video game in the franchise, was released from 2002 to 2004 based on the remake of the Masters of the Universe action figures the Game Boy Advance.

Game setup and boss

In Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull is a hack-and-Slay -Action- adventure in the style of Diablo -Computerspielreihe. In 13 levels you will be confronted in the role of He-Man with countless opponents who have to be eliminated. In order to complete a level, you have to destroy the portal that these enemies keep producing and defeat a henchman known from the action figure series, Skeletor. In the last level you face Skeletor.

Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull has not been officially released in German-speaking countries.

criticism

In addition to the monotonous level design , the poor collision query in Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Power of Grayskull was particularly criticized. This leads to unfair situations in fights with opponents as well as when mastering skill passages such as jumping over platforms.

Web links

Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Defender of Grayskull

Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Defender of Grayskull
Studio Savage Entertainment
Publisher Midas Interactive Entertainment
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 March 8, 2005
platform PlayStation 2
genre Action adventure
Subject Fantasy , science fiction
Game mode Single player
control Gamepad
medium CD-ROM
language English
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended from +7 years

Originally, Defender of Grayskull was also planned to be released in 2003 for the alternative video game consoles Xbox and GameCube . An unprecedented odyssey of the game across the tables of three publishers ( THQ , TDK and Midas Interactive ) resulted in the delay and non-release for Xbox and Gamecube. When Midas Interactive finally launched the game only for the PlayStation 2 in 2005, production of the basic toy series had already been discontinued.

action

Skeletor has succeeded in gradually weakening Castle Grayskull's power. The sorceress must use all her strength to continue protecting Castle Grayskull from being conquered by Skeletor. He-Man, who is currently fighting in Skeletor's fortress Snake Mountain, is suddenly transformed back into his true, but also weaker self, Prince Adam, through the weakening of Castle Grayskull. He ends up in one of the many dungeons of Snake Mountain when the Sorceress of Grayskull turns telepathically to inform him that he can now turn back into He-Man, but not always at full strength.

The player's task is now to fight your way out of Snake Mountain to find the underground entrance to Castle Grayskull in the Evergreen Forest and to defeat the Skeletor who is already residing in Castle Grayskull.

Sometimes you are on the back of Battle Cat, the fighting tiger, on the way, but most of it is covered by foot.

Game setup and boss

The game itself is divided into four sections: Snake Mountain, Evergreen Forest, the underground entrance to Castle Grayskull and Castle Grayskull itself. At the end of each of the sections you will encounter a boss . Tri-Klops, a classic Masters of the Universe character, is waiting at the exit of Snake Mountain, while the Evergreen Forest is dominated by a figure newly invented by the game developers, the Sphinx. The underground entrance to Castle Grayskull is guarded by Beast-Man, another character from the Masters of the Universe collection.

In Castle Grayskull there is then the final duel with Skeletor.

criticism

Due to the very late publication, Masters of the Universe - He-Man: Defender of Grayskull appeared largely unnoticed by the specialist press and received poor reviews in the few reviews.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on intellivisionlives.com
  2. ↑ Scan of the original review
  3. ↑ Scan of the original review
  4. ↑ Review at Gamespot
  5. ↑ Review overview at Gamespot