ULTIMATE GUIDE
TWENTY YEARS AGO, RETRO GAMER CELEBRATED MASTERTRONIC INSIDE ITS FIRST ISSUE. TODAY, WE LOOK BACK AT ONE OF THE BUDGET SOFTWARE HOUSE’S GREATEST GAMES, THE SECOND ENTRY IN THE WONDERFUL MAGIC KNIGHT SERIES
In 1985, budget-software house Mastertronic stood at a crossroads. Its early titles, priced at just £1.99 and available across a broad spectrum of retailers, had sold healthily but were, in the main, of low quality. If Mastertronic was to continue, its founders knew they had to improve the standard of its games.
Earlier the same year, a young freelance coder named David Jones had submitted to Mastertronic one of its finest titles to date. Finders Keepers begins the story of Magic Knight, sent on a crucial crusade by their master, the King Of Ibsisima, to find his daughter, Princess Germintrude, a nice present for her birthday. Finders Keepers proved a decent-sized hit, its combination of platform action and arcade adventure elements elevating it above its budget peers and even many fullprice ones. A follow-up seemed like a jolly good idea, and David began work on what would become Spellbound.
Having either presented the treasure to the King or run off with it at the end of Finders Keepers, Magic Knight now finds herself at the centre of a rather untimely magical mishap. Keen to overcome his inherent distaste for rice pudding, Gimbal The Wizard miscasts his latest spell, transporting himself and seven other unfortunates from throughout time to the mysterious Castle Of Karn. With his final gasp before becoming imprisoned, Gimbal reaches out to his former student, imploring Magic Knight to help rescue the spellbound octet from the cold walls of Castle Karn.
Spellbound begins, appropriately, in The Start Room. Throughout the rooms of the stone building, the other characters wander, and each has a particular role to play in helping Magic Knight free them. Also littered around the castle are various items that Magic Knight can pick up and use. The Wand Of Command gives Magic Knight the power to order people about; blowing in the Elf Horn summons a character to their location; the Teleport Key transports them to the Teleport Pad; and the sticky bun… well, it sticks. In addition to these, you can use multiple objects to interact with the characters. Florin The Dwarf charges bottles of liquid to boost Magic Knight’s energy levels, while Thor desperately seeks his hammer, Miolnir. Elrand The Halfelven can destroy walls once reunited with his trumpet (don’t ask), and Samson The Strong needs his javelin.
Finally, some objects are blended to help Magic Knight cast one of her powerful spells. The inaptly-named red he
