Barbarian (Palace Software)

scooby1970 · 12:40, 01 May 11

If there's one game that I still talk about with my mates when we reminisce it's the wonderful Barbarian from 1987. This game really changed the way we thought of fighting games, and of course the head-chopping-off was a novelty that we still enjoy thinking about today.

I think the CPC version above all others was the best version, the Spectrum version was ok but nothing special, and the C64 version just didn't look as nice in those drab C64 colours (I had the game on all three systems). When using the joystick, the combination of those button presses and directions really added something to the game.

What does everyone else think of this brilliant game?

Mark

rub3ñ · 15:07, 01 May 11

i've got barbarian2 a few days ago. must check out barbarian then also

rub3ñ

Ythcal · 18:57, 01 May 11

Barbarian 1 was great, but too easy when you found out the trick with rolling and kicking

I liked the changing colours of the fighters and of course the gnome.
It's the fighting game I played the most.

Gryzor · 19:32, 01 May 11

Yes, it could be easy, but then again it was most fun when played against a friend. THEN it was just fantastic!

I really liked II as well, despite it being totally different and not as good...

scooby1970 · 21:39, 01 May 11

Quote from: Gryzor on 19:32, 01 May 11
Yes, it could be easy, but then again it was most fun when played against a friend. THEN it was just fantastic!

At the time of it's release I worked in an IT department with about 15 other guys, and we'd have Barbarian Battles for hours on end. I remember Fridays we'd spend all day just having one on one competitions to be the Barbarian Champion. Those were the days!

Mark

MacDeath · 21:47, 01 May 11

Barbarian/Death Sword (palace soft) is perhaps the actual ancestor of MortalKombat featuring SoulCalibur...

All the ingredients of both franchises are almost here...

Booby hipsy girl in Bikiny... and blood &Gore beheadings and beat ups...both with sword and body (head and kick)

With Testosterone at full level and macabre details set at "High".

Of course it was a darn good game in 1987... especially on Amstrad CPC (despite some screwed up details... can't play with automatic bavckground changes = no norrative stuff...

BTW first time I saw the goblin kick the head...I jizzed in my pants (I was 9 years old...)

QuoteI think the CPC version above all others was the best version, the Spectrum version was ok but nothing special, and the C64 version just didn't look as nice in those drab C64 colours (I had the game on all three systems).

Just like the classical CPC top hits (the ones who were best on CPC) the Amstrad version is simply the most "well rounded" on overall...

C64 : ok Sid sound... not always that good to the hears (like a saw on ears to somes...) and yep, backgrounds weren't as good...
Animation is perhaps faster, but to be honnest, faster doesn't mean realistic then...
those fighters are supposed to be build like Arnold... not bruce lee... = slow mountain of muscles.

Speccy : no real colours to speak about. Also not sure the AY sound was actually supported (most videos are in Beeper sound...)
On the other hands the opponents had some different sprites (heads to chop).
Probably because the Monocolour game (the place with sprites) wouldn't allow colour switch on sprites to differ them.

As a result, the CPC version was smooth and fast enough... the better graphics and "coloured RED" better for blood effects... And the sounds were...well... enough too.

As C64 couldn't argue with scrollings... (not needed...)

C64 : perhaps better music, yet...well... not that better.
CPC : clearly better graphics.

Just a few finition were faulty (lvl changes...)

But htis game was good in every version to be fair.

Allright : benchmark !

C64 :

CPC :

ZX speccy :

16bit :
Atari ST :

Amiga :

PC DOS (CGA, Death Sword US version...)

Most platforms :

Now pics :

rub3ñ · 07:13, 02 May 11

the atari st version looks best, followed by the cpc version. must get a copy of this game too

rub3ñ

Optimus · 08:48, 02 May 11

Wow! The CPC version is quite good compared to most ports.
C64 version seems to have slower animation. And worse colors of course.
Spectrum version is fine but b&w.
Only AtariST version is better in graphics. Well, Amiga has better background too but there is some ugly redesign in the graphics that I don't like.
I didn't know there was a PC version too.

I remember this game a lot. My parents have hided the disk when they heard you can behead the opponent in this game

ssg · 09:15, 02 May 11

One of the first games I got for my CPC. Boring two player option (infinitely rolling towards each other, IK+ was much better on that).

On my green screen I had thought one of the dark guys was a ninja ahahah.

McKlain · 10:16, 02 May 11

I've watched the c64 video and the music is 6 mins and 30 seconds long! You can tell that this was the original version of the soundtrack

milamber · 14:43, 02 May 11

I Never ralised that the was a Part 2 & 3 for Barbarian 1.

Where these unofficial sequals?

Nich · 16:05, 02 May 11

Quote from: milamber on 14:43, 02 May 11
I Never ralised that the was a Part 2 & 3 for Barbarian 1.

Where these unofficial sequals?

Yes; they were cracked versions of the original game, with backgrounds modified by the crackers (in the case of Barbarian Part III, it uses the backgrounds from the Players game Shanghai Karate).

It's actually relatively easy to do this, because as far as I recall, the original version of Barbarian used a standard CPC loading scheme (on cassette, anyway), and the backgrounds are just 16KB screen files that can be modified using an art package.

McKlain · 18:26, 02 May 11

Quote from: Nich on 16:05, 02 May 11It's actually relatively easy to do this, because as far as I recall, the original version of Barbarian used a standard CPC loading scheme (on cassette, anyway), and the backgrounds are just 16KB screen files that can be modified using an art package.

Yup, I remember doing it at the time on my 464.

scooby1970 · 19:00, 02 May 11

Quote from: ssg on 09:15, 02 May 11
Boring two player option (infinitely rolling towards each other, IK+ was much better on that).

Man, you must have been playing it wrong! As I said, we had office competitions, and played it for months on end. It was the first two-player fighter that really offered something different and was mind-blowing... even if I was 17 at the time! Imagine a remake of this, it could be so damn sweet!

Mark

milamber · 19:41, 02 May 11

Quote from: mcklain on 18:26, 02 May 11
Yup, I remember doing it at the time on my 464.

Wish I had! I loved painting/drawing with the CPC.

Doh!

The Scotland scene in Part 2 looks alittle poor

Hey, what about a contest to see who can produce the best backgorund for the game

MacDeath · 06:08, 03 May 11

QuoteBoring two player option (infinitely rolling towards each other, IK+ was much better on that).

Dude you must have been playing always against the same opponent...
Just simply jump.

Gryzor · 08:01, 03 May 11

Quote from: ssg on 09:15, 02 May 11
One of the first games I got for my CPC. Boring two player option (infinitely rolling towards each other, IK+ was much better on that).

On my green screen I had thought one of the dark guys was a ninja ahahah.

You'll be getting some heat for that

Well, every single fighting game that I've played (up to 2011 titles) has some sort of "sure", repeating move. It's up to you to make it fun...

ssg · 20:33, 05 May 11

Quote from: MacDeath on 06:08, 03 May 11
Dude you must have been playing always against the same opponent...
Just simply jump. ;D

Ahahah. And then what? Roll again? :)

Quote from: Gryzor on 08:01, 03 May 11
You'll be getting some heat for that :D

Well, every single fighting game that I've played (up to 2011 titles) has some sort of "sure", repeating move. It's up to you to make it fun...

I agree. I love Barbarian. But it's highs were mentioned so many times I had to criticize. I still think IK+ managed to get better multiplayer experience, not counting the extra fighter.

Here are what I loved most about Barbarian: Sword fighting. Big fighter graphics. Awesome background graphics. Awesome sound effects (sword clashes, beheading sound). Humor. Awesome music (actually because the "DEMO" mode ended the music as soon as someone hits, I actually used to switch to two player mode and just waited there to listen to all of it and got even more fascinated back then. If you hadn't done so, do it today). I think you could also switch to "music only" mode with f-keys. (f2?, it's been 24 years since I used that key sorry :))

I had also heard that Barbarian's soundtrack composer Richard Joseph passed away in 2007, may him rest in peace.

Besides everything, Barbarian gave me priceless memories of childhood fun. There is no match for that. Please take my criticism in context :)

EgoTrip · 21:07, 05 May 11

I used to play this a bit back in the day, because I never had Street Fighter 2 or a console to play it on. Now, I dont like to play these sort of games at all.

Technically though, this is a very good game. The graphics and music definitely rank amongst some of the best on the CPC.

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Barbarian (Palace Software)

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