Ranarama

Infobox VG| title = Ranarama


developer = Graftgold (Steve Turner)
publisher = Hewson Consultants
designer =
engine =
released = 1987
genre = Action game, Maze game
modes = Single player
ratings = N/A
platforms = Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
media = Cassette
requirements =
input = Keyboard, Joystick

"Ranarama" is a top-down Gauntlet like [http://www.crashonline.org.uk/38/ranarama.htm Review from Crash! magazine] ] action game developed by Graftgold in 1987 and published by Hewson Consultants. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX SpectrumWoS game|id=0004022] home computers. In 2004 it was featured as one of the games on the C64 Direct-to-TV. The title appears to be a pun on "rana", which means "frog" in Spanish.

Plot

The main character is Mervyn, a sorcerer's apprentice whose botched spell turns him into a frog just in time to save him from an invasion of evil magic-users who slay his mentors. Mervyn's arcane capabilities are intact, and the game's aim is to hunt down the attackers.

Gameplay

Mervyn has four types of magic and eight increasingly potent and power-consuming spells for each: "Offensive" spells serve as projectile weaponry, "defensive" spells reduce damage etc., "effect" spells activate special abilities or act as area-effect attacks, "power" spells fuel the other kinds. The first three are usable indefinitely, but power spells degrade with damage and with a constant drain caused by the other spells that can vary from minimal to vast depending on supply and demand. They drop to level one on expiration; expiring on that level is lethal and ends the game. Commonly found energy crystals replenish some power.

The game is set in a dungeon split into eight levels that are freely traversable (but not necessarily immediately survivable), each of which is split into a labyrintine network of rooms and houses some benevolent glyphs, 12 hostile wizards, hordes of monsters and monster generators. Rooms aren't visible before they're entered, and their inhabitants only from within. Monsters cause damage by contact, attack "en masse" and fall easily, wizards are much tougher and use attack spells. The latter "can" be defeated by attacks, but contact with them triggers a sub-game of unscrambing the mixed up word "RANARAMA" within a strict time limit. Failure expires the current power spell, but victory destroys the wizard and scatters four runes that can be used at Glyphs of Sorcery to change spells.

References

External links

* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/rana-rama Ranarama at Moby Games]
* [http://project64.c64.org/games/m-z/Ranarama.txt manual]