I’ve been a fan of games based on the Rogue formula for quite some time. It probably stems from my love for the dungeon crawls in RPGs like Phantasy Star and Eye of the Beholder.
Roguecraft GB Title Screen
For the uninitiated, the basic formula for a Rogue game, or “roguelike”, is pretty simple. You are presented with a procedurally generated dungeon. As you make your way through each level, slowly descending deeper into the dungeon, you will come across items to pick up, potions to use, and monsters to defeat. The original Rogue game has been ported to many systems since its 1980 release for Unix terminals.
Roguecraft is a variation on the Rogue formula, originally released on the Commodore Amiga. The lineage of this particular version begins with the Commodore 64 game Rogue4k, developed by Ricki Sickenger of Badger Punch Games. The “4k” stood for the fact that the entire game fit into just 4 kilobytes of RAM. The game was then expanded into Rogue64 with custom graphics and additional features.
Both Rogue4k and Rogue64 were presented in the standard top-down perspective of most Rogue games. When the decision was made to bring the game to the Amiga, one of the major changes was to swap out the top-down graphics for a three-quarter isometric view, similar to games like Head Over Heels and the original Fallout games. The graphics were given a full 16-bit overhaul, with more colors, more animation, and more variety.
Roguecraft GB Above Ground
Not long after the initial Amiga release, a new version of the game, dubbed Roguecraft DX, was released for Blaze’s Evercade retro console ecosystem. It quickly became one of their most popular single-game cartridge releases. This expanded version of the game was back-ported to the Amiga and brought to the Mega65, with a Windows version and even a ZX Speccy version planned.
Amongst those versions was a new release for the Game Boy Color. Instead of attempting a straight port of the game to the system’s tiny screen, it was rewritten to exploit the console’s limitations. Given the portable’s reduced screen resolution, it would have been extremely limiting to attempt to replicate the original’s isometric view, which would have forced the graphics to be incredibly small to fit an entire dungeon room on the screen. Instead, the view was switched back to an overhead perspective, similar to the original Commodore 64 game, but retaining much of the color and detail of the Amiga version.
The game itself is pretty straightforward. You start out above ground for the first level of the game (a change that was made for the DX version of the game). Each screen can be exited in one or more of the four cardinal directions, advancing you to the next screen in the level. Each screen has the potential to contain treasure, potions, the key to exit the level, and any number of different monsters. Starting off, you will face chickens and green tentacled monsters. As you descend through the levels of the dungeon, you will face different, stronger creatures to defeat. You’ll need to tread carefully, because if you run out of health, you’re dead. No extra lives. No continues.
Roguecraft GB Dungeon
Fortunately, you have a number of tools at your disposal during your journey. Three different colored potions will appear randomly throughout the game. The green potions will always refill your health and heal any poison you may have encountered. The red and blue potions are assigned random effects at the beginning of the game that persist for the remainder of the play session. The effects range from showing all of the rooms on the map (accessed by holding down the B button) to temporarily increasing your character’s strength or turning all of the monsters in the room into chickens. You will also encounter red and blue crystals that will increase your maximum health and strength, respectively. These will appear after killing a certain number of creatures. Hearts will refill your health and heal any poisoning. And the final pickup is the key that unlocks the level’s exit. Keep in mind, you will need a free inventory slot to hold the key once you find it.
The original Roguecraft contained a ten-level dungeon leading to a final encounter with the boss creature. In DX, that number was increased to 15 levels plus the introductory above-ground level and final boss. For the Game Boy version, the number of levels was decreased to 10, including the initial ground level, plus the final boss. The first run I successfully completed took me nearly an hour. Given that each dungeon is procedurally generated, there is quite a lot of gameplay to be had here.
Roguecraft GB Final Level
Additionally, there are three different characters to choose from at the beginning of the game. The Warrior is the default character and the easiest of the three. They start with the most health but have no additional abilities. The Rogue is the next hardest. They start with less health, but have the ability to teleport, and after teleporting, they receive a backstab ability that will kill most creatures with a single hit. The Wizard is the hardest character to play. They start out with very little health, but are the only character that has a ranged attack. This can allow you to clear a room without ever coming into contact with a monster. Thus, the different characters serve as difficulty levels for the game, providing additional challenges to complete it. There are even three separate achievements for completing a run with each of the different characters.
I have absolutely adored this game ever since playing the original Amiga version a number of years ago. I have effectively purchased the game 5 times: after buying the original, I bought the Evercade version, the DX on the Amiga, the Mega65, and now this version. And I have every intention of purchasing the Windows version when it releases next month. It is just fun. The gameplay is simple and straightforward; it is easy to pick up for a gaming session, but the challenge is real. While the graphics aren’t quite as impressive as the 16-bit versions, they are very good in comparison to other Game Boy Color games. And the fact that Badger Punch and Thalamus are supporting a system that was discontinued 23 years ago is just amazing.
If you’re looking for a good dungeon crawl, or just want something to make your aging Game Boy Color feel new again, definitely check Roguecraft GB out. One caveat, though: you will need a flash cart to play this game on your original hardware, as it is currently digital-only. While they did take pre-orders for physical copies of the game earlier this year, it is not clear whether any will be available for sale once they are released.
The post Review – Roguecraft GB for the Game Boy Color appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.