King's Quest V (NES)

King's Quest V (NES)
Developer(s)	Sierra Design, Novotrade Software
Publisher(s)	Konami
Producer(s)	Mark Flitman
Designer(s)	Roberta Williams
Lead Programmer(s)	József Szentesi
Composer(s)	Ken Allen, Mark Seibert
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System
Release(s)	June 1992
Genre(s)	RPG Point and select adventure, Hero Quest
Mode(s)	Single-player

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King's Quest V (NES) is a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is an official King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder adaptation created for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was released in June 1992 (copyrighted to 1991). The game was licensed by Sierra On-Line, published by Konami, and developed by both Novotrade Software and Sierra Design.

The port utilizes an original engine with interface based loosely on the floppy versions of KQ5.

Background[]

Title Screen

At last a role playing adventure fit for a king...or a corpse, depending on your skill.

Dark powers summon a cold wind from the north. The terrifying gust surrounds Sir Graham's castle, and mysteriously sweeps his fortress and family into the prison of oblivion. It's a bitter omen that chills the bones of every man, woman and child in that once peaceful Kingdom of Daventry.

Who or what is responsible for this royal theft, and the misery that ravages the heart of Daventry? Has the ruthless wizard Manannan cast another evil spell? Or are the Black Forest Witch and the unforgiving Ice Queen using sinister powers to promote their wicked cause? Only you can answer these questions, as you assume the role of Sir Graham, then set forth on an adventure that will test your intelligence, challenge your skill and rip your courage to shreds.

Fortunately, you're not alone. For a wise owl who witnessed the tragedy will accompany you, offering guidance and advice which he receives from a friendly old warlock. Along the way, you'll encounter the dungeon monster, the Yeti monster, the magical genies, and winged Harpies to name a few. You'll also journey over continents laced with crystal caves, forbidden forests, bandit hideouts and treacherous seas filled with mystery. Be sure to question kind strangers for clues, and give assistance to animal allies. Also locate magical items and weapons, or else your mortal strength will be powerless to unlock the secrets leading to your imprisoned home and family.

As foretold by ancient warlords, King's Quest V has finally arrived to weed out the weak, and immortalize the brave. The only question now is...which are you?

Differences from the PC version[]

It has original 8-bit artwork, some of the cutscenes were removed, shortened, or altered. For example in the PC version you could reenter Crispin's house after the introductory video, and he would say a few more things; in the NES version he locks the door directly after the cutscene (the extra things he said were adapted into the intro cutscene.)

The conversation with the Willow is slightly expanded. She discusses how the gold heart must be returned to a hole in her trunk, where it was taken from her.

Having the stick won't trigger the cat chasing the rat. The shoe is required.

Even if you miss saving the rat, the scene repeats if you leave and come back to the screen until you solve it.

Most of the 'alternate' solutions, or dead end trade solutions (such as buying things with the golden heart, or using the needle or gold coin in the wrong spot) are removed. Sometimes there is new text to show that character will not accept the items. I.E. The tailor will say that the gold coin is not enough to buy the cloak, instead he will only accept the needle. Likewise you cannot use the stick to scare the cat, only the shoe works.

Graham automatically opens the pouch and takes the emeralds.

There are differences in the script in places (such as different town descriptions and different descriptions for the oases editing out references to 'gods' likely to fit within Nintendo's censorship rules).

Sometimes different item descriptions as well. For example the Ice Crystal (this is possibly a reference to the Official Book of King's Quest which also calls it an ice crystal), and the Shepherd's Staff.

Another example is that Amanda and Austin never appear in the bake house. The inn only has two men rather than three, and no dog.

The bear appears attacking the bee tree even before finding the fish.

The name of the Green Isles has been updated in the script to conform to KQ6, it is named the Land of the Green Isles, rather than the Kingdom of the Green Isles.

The crystal doesn't shatter after being used to defeat the serpent dragons, and remains in the inventory.

Herbert doesn't leave the room, until you talk to him (even if you walk out of the room). He will disappear if you enter the first screen of the Dark Forest and return.

A wooden bridge crosses the pond in front of Crispin's house rather than a 'stone bridge'.

The man working on the wagon, Tam Baker, is behind the wagon rather than the front of it. The location of the shops in the town are a different order than in the PC version. The cobbler in the left building, the tailor is in the middle building, and the toyshop is in the right building. The town descriptions have been changed to reflect this.

The bandits, when they kill Graham, say, "Aha! An intruder!," rather than saying Graham is a spy.

Some areas, like the desert, are slightly smaller than in the PC version. Some of the location names are modified as well; the inn, for example, became North Inn.

Some of the puzzles were slightly modified as well; the PC version had, for example, a different layout for the dungeon maze beneath Mordack's castle, and Dink appeared in one of four rooms. In the NES version, you can shake the tambourine anywhere and he will come, running up before Graham. Dink can still be found by looking for him however.

Some of the deaths are modified or removed; the sea creature is a tentacle, and there is no way to fall off the steps on the beach of Mordack's island. There is no crevasse to fall into in the elf's cave. The words, 'death', 'dead' or 'killed' or generally edited out (likely for censoring purposes). The only exception being the 'dead fish'.

Icebella orders the wolves to take you to prison for the rest of your life, rather than implied being ripped to shreds as in the original.

There is no crevasse at the bottom of the icy slope, where the sled is used. Graham instead slips to his death near the top of the path.

There are only two harpies seen capturing Graham, Cruleena and Minotta. The text is changed to represent there only being two.

Not everything has theme music.

The blue henchman magically disappears upon being tripped.

The Cobra Dragons look more like 'dragons' (the same artwork shared Mordack's form at the end of the game), likely to save memory.

The rattlesnake is a cobra (sharing the artwork with Manannan's form at the end of the game), likely to save memory.

Mordack's way of killing Graham differs from that in the original game. He shocks graham and turns him into a charred body (sharing the same graphic as being burned by the dragon statues), rather than choking/suffocating Graham. This is probably due to memory limits.

The game references the King's Quest Companion, stating that Cedric was turned to stone by Mordack's spell (in the original the form of curse is not described, although Graham thinks he may have been killed), this is again likely due to censorship. Alternatively this might be leftover from a much earlier King's Quest script. The concept of Cedric being turned to stone first appears in the King's Quest Companion in the 2nd Edition (1990, and Peter Spear was working from concept material and possibly earlier builds of the game when he was writing the story).

The bear swats graham with both arms ('bear hug' style) and drags Graham away off screen by his arm (this is actually a bit more gruesome than in the PC version!).

The desert temple doors slide open into the sides of the temple. There are two doors that appear to be metal doors (in the PC verison there is a stone door that magically disappears, and then reappears).

The bones of the wanderer also has a skull of a bull near it as well.

Development[]

Sierra was not new to cartridge based industry, having released games on IBM PCjr (Crossfire), Tandy CoCo (Thexder and Silpheed), C64 (Threshold & B.C.'s Quest for Tires & Oil's Well), Vic-20 (Crossfire, Threshold, Cannonbal Blitz and Creepy Corridors), TI99 (Jawbreaker II), the ColecoVision (Jawbreaker, Threshold, Sammy Lightfoot and B.C.'s Quest for Tires), Atari 400/800 (Crossfire, B.C.'s Quest for Tires, Oil's Well & Mr. Cool) and Atari VCS/Atari 2600 (licensed games to Tigervision: Jawbreaker, Marauder & Threshold). However, they had suffered along with everyone else during the console crash in 1983, and became leery of self-publishing in that market.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Between 1985 and 1988 (for over three years), Sierra began working to have business relationships with the software industry in japan to port successful games to the PC market (Sierra's first release was Thexder in 1987). While on a follow-up business trip in 1988 they discovered how successful Nintendo had become with their Famicom system. The NES console had already reached North America in 1985 where it was already starting to see a boom. In spring 1989, editors at Sierra would offhandedly dismiss the success of Nintendo (where on the cover they essentially claimed that their new release Silpheed also imported from Japan, would help them beat Nintendo's market).^[7]. In the same issue Mark Crow one of the developers of the Space Quest series, also mentioned how some of his family mixed up computer gaming market with the console gaming market, and in particular Nintendo (thinking they made games for the system)^[8] Something which may have inspired marketing jokes for Space Quest III (and space Quest 6) related to cartridge based company ScumSoft (and its later collapse in SQ6)^[9]^[10] A few issues later John Williams still dismissed videogame consoles as mere 'toys', but by this time Ken Williams began licensing games to other companies to produce cartridges again (including a port of King's Quest: Quest for the Crown for the Sega Master System).^[11] Though Sega Master System turned out to be a flop (only selling 1.5 million to 2 million units in the North America before it was discontinued in early 1992).

However, Sierra essentially ate their own words, several months later, in spring 1990 issue where Ken Williams acknowledged Nintendo's success in 1987-1989 markets in North America as well (and how PC gaming could never dare to compete). Though he made a failed prediction that videogame console market would flatten out.^[12] However the videogame market continued to remain strong with both SEGA Genesis and Nintendo over the next few years: The NES was retired in 1995 (having sold 61.91 million consoles) and had beaten both Sega Genesis (30.75 million units) and SNES (49.1 million) in sales (the SNES went on to outsell Sega Genesis beating the so-called 'console war' for it's generation by the time it discontinued in 1999^[13]). For PC comparison numbers see King's Quest sales data (Sierra's best selling PC franchise at the time), King's Quest V for example only sold around three-five hundred thousand copies in the PC market.

Through the course of later issues, Sierra acknowledged that Nintendo held a serious market share (with the NES and SNES), and with the rise of multimedia CDs (since they could hold more data than a cartridge could^[14]^[15] ), had a rediscovered interest in console gaming market (although still not interested in publishing cartridges themselves). However, they left room for other publishers to license Sierra products onto various machines and convert them to cartridges if a company was interested.

King's Quest V was actually released as part of an extended plan by Sierra to release King's Quest V on a number of popular or upcoming consoles. There were plans to release KQ5 on NES, Sega-CD, SNES-CD, CD-I, and possibly 3D-O as well, but none these panned out (either the hardware couldn't handle SCI games, the hardware wasn't released as is the case of SNES-CD, or hardware was deemed not worth it).

The plan was other companies could license Sierra IPs to convert them to cartridge based consoles, while Sierra would work on converting Multimedia games to CD based systems. KQ5 (and earlier KQ1) were the only one to make it, and that's in part because it was designed from the ground up with a new engine made specifically for the NES hardware.

Williams added, "We're happy, though, to talk to any Nintendo, Sega or other potential licensee willing to do a good job of converting our products to fit on those machines." Williams went on to demonstrate the version of King's Quest produced by Sega under license. To this writer's amazement, although the Sega King's Quest doesn't have the text input interface, it was both easy and fun to play. Ken also confirmed rumors that other Sierra titles might be found on other game machines in the future, and pointed out that both Thexder and Silpheed were big hits in Japan on the Nintendo Game Machine.^[16] Note: Technically only Thexder was on original Japanese Famicom in 1985 (though a port of Silpheed did make it to Sega-CD in 1993).

King's Quest V comes to Nintendo

Konami, a leading publisher of video game cartridges, has managed to fit the epic King's Quest V on a cart for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The new cartridge offers all the puzzles and challenges of the original Sierra game, matched with new 8-bit art designed especially for Nintendo machines. It's the first Sierra video game since 1983 when the company stopped producing cartridges to concentrate on computer games. The new game sells for around $50 in software and toy stores.

The would be no plans to bring King's Quest V to the Sega Master System (if anyone had licensed it it's never been discussed), by mid-1992, when King's Quest V NES was released Sega Master System had already flopped and stopped production in North America (it's last game had been released in 1991). Nintendo in contrast was still going strong.^[17]

Sierra chose to port KQ5 onto the NES because it was the best selling systems of the day (outperforming even Sega Genesis and the SNES at the time of the game's release). It was part of a planned attempt to convert several Sierra & Dynamix VGA games across multiple platforms of the era (NES, Sega, SNES, etc), in order to get into the console market share, which had a much higher audience than the original PC market the games were originally marketed to.^[18]

"Back when I got started, which sounds like ancient history, back then the demographics of people who were into computer games, was totally different, in my opinion, then they are today. Back then, computers were more expensive, which made them more exclusive to people who were maybe at a certain income level, or education level. So the people that played computer games 15 years ago were that type of person. They probably didn’t watch television as much, and the instant gratification era hadn’t quite grown the way it has lately. I think in the last 5 or 6 years, the demographics have really changed, now this is my opinion, because computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More “average” people now feel they should own one."-Roberta Williams, 1999

Retail sales of personal computer-based games grew only 28.5% between 1987 and 1988, according to Stamford, Conn.-based Software Industry Bulletin, the newsletter of the Digital Information Group. Retail sales of video games such as those used for the Nintendo Entertainment System, on the other hand, grew 100% between 1987 and 1988, partially due to a strong Christmas. To PC games publishers, the disparity is alarming...."PCs will never have the penetration into homes that video games do," says Davis. Nintendo sets, which sell for $99.95 with a game pack, are far cheaper and easier to use.^[19]

Here’s one thought on why MS-DOS might be doing so well, and this one takes some thinking about. It’s you and us. Take away Sierra’s revenue from the MS-DOS entertainment segment and even this market was essentially flat! My sense is that Nintendo does some kinds of games better than any personal computer and that, with the exception of Sierra (and a few others), the software industry just didn’t do enough product which demonstrates the power of a computer when compared with a video game. Perhaps as Sierra moves our enhanced SCI products to non-MS-DOS machines over the next year, we can get some much deserved momentum going for these other computers.^[20]

...In spite of better graphics on just about every other videogame system Nintendo will remain the dominant videogame format.^[21]

In 1983, a company called Nintendo introduced the Family Computer into the Japanese market. In America, we call it the NES. It's central processor is the same 6502 processor that drives the Apple II...Why has Nintendo been so successful in penetrating almost every household with children in the U.S. and Japan? It's cheap, easy-to-use, and every cartridge sold runs on every Nintendo sold. Computers aren't cheap, easy-to-use, or very standard.^[22]

Sierra had shown interest in Famicom/NES market as early as 1988, and it was a market Sierra wanted to get into (and a major influencer on developing PC-port releases of Thexer/Silpheed, and other GameArts games).

In Japan, the #1 market presence belongs to Nintendo, which has sold literally millions of its Family Computer. The Japanese version of the Nintendo machine, offers an optional disk drive in addition to the cartridge slot.

The “Famicom” (Nintendo’s nickname), is a national obsession. Sierra’s crew witnessed the extent of Japan’s love affair with games when Dragon's Quest III for Nintendo was released. The night before it went on sale, lines formed around the block at stores where the game would be on sale in the morning. Inside of five days (the length of Sierra’s trip to the country), Dragon's Quest III sold over 1.5 million units. Towards the end of the week, with the game in short supply, the normally sedate Japanese were pushing and shoving to get to the treasured Dragon’s Quest III games before supplies were exhausted.

Nintendo currently owns a “dominant” share of Japan’s home computer market, but a battle for this market seems to be forthcoming. While Nintendo prepares a 16-bit version of their machine, other hardware makers are looking to make their own presence known there. Sega has already offered a new game machine to rival Nintendo, though it has placed a distant second (much like the Nintendo/Sega competition in the U.S.).^[23]^[24]

The first games to be made for cartridge-based consoles was King's Quest: Quest for the Crown (SMS), and soon after he confirmed plans that other games would come out for game machines in the future, and mentioning the popularity of Nintendo (though that Sierra wouldn't necessarily make them themselves). ^[25]

Behind the scenes[]

King's Quest V for the NES was designed by Novotrade a company better known for its Ecco the Dolphin games on Sega systems. It was only published by Konami.

King's Quest V NES was the first (and only released) version of the game being designed for various future consoles such as NES, SNES (SNES CD), Sega Genesis (Sega CD), CDI, Tandy Memorex VIS, and 3DO and possibly a few other systems.

Kq5nesmap — Entire map of KQ5 for the NES

KQ5 menu

The game is built upon an original engine (it is not SCI).

The box just refers to the game as King's Quest V, but the subtitle appears in the game itself.

Reception[]

Nintendo Power gave three ratings for the game. As explained the Pros at Nintendo HQ rate each new game. Ratings are from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) in four different categories. The main score was Nintendo's overall score based on all the 'Pros' who reviewed the game, and two reviews from two of the 'Pros' who gave their personal views of the game. The first reviewer Rob rated the game 3.0 (graphics and sound), 3.0 (play control), 3.5 (challenge), and 3.5 (theme and fun). The second reviewer George rated the game 3.5 (graphics and sound), 3.0 (play control), 3.5 (challenge), and 3.5 (theme and fun). The overall score by the Pros at Nintendo was 2.9 (graphics and sound), 3.6 (play control), 2.9 (challenge), and 3.3 (theme and fun) out of 5.

This was largely in line with other adventure games reviewed in Nintendo Power such as Maniac Mansion and Shadowgate. Maniac Mansion for example only scored a little bit higher than KQ5 on graphics, while Shadowgate nearly full 5 on graphics. Maniac Mansion received less on play control (at around 3.0), while shadowgate received about the same score for play control (maybe a point or two higher at around 3.6). Both were considered higher on the challenge (with Shadowgate being more challenging than either of them with around a 4.5 score, while Maniac Mansion scored around 4.0). Both games were considered more fun, and each having a better theme than KQ5 at around 4.5 each.

Gamepro rated it higher than NP, they gave it max 5.0 ratings for graphics, sound, fun factor and challenge, and high 4.0 rating for gameplay. 5.0 meant outstanding and 4.0 was “good job”. They called it one of Konami's crowning achievements.

Ken Williams stated "Sierra long avoided manufacturing video-game cartridges...In the past, we refused to license our products to video-game publishers fearing consumer confusion. However, last year we licensed Konami the right to publish King's Quest for the Nintendo Entertainment System and have been pleased with the results. We now believe it is Sierra's best interests to allow noncomputer owners a way to experience our products..."

Credits[]

Design: Roberta Williams
Associate Producer: Mark Flitman
Lead Programmer: József Szentesi
Artists: Rudolf Komjádi, Borbala Kovats, Nándor Orbán, Barbara Paris, Radan Pribadi Hannawati, Ildiko Somos, and Reka Vereb
Programming: Pal Baji, Zoltán Bartos, István Fey, Andras Foldes, Peter Gosztola, and Phan Cuong
Composers: Ken Allen and Mark Seibert
Cover Design: John Gamache

External Links[]

References[]

↑ Sierra News Magazine, The - Volume 3 Number 2 - Summer 1990 At the time Sierra took its first venture capital, the idea of a computer in every home was not just a goal or dream for those of us in the business, it was the actual sales forecast for the industry. Apple introduced the portable and sleek Apple He. Commodore had the VIC -20 and the industry leading Commodore 64, Atari had the Atari 400 and 800. Texas Instruments looked like it might take over the market with its 7799. and even Coleco (makers of the astoundinglypopular ColecoVision game machine) was taken seriously with tape drive based Coleco Adam. ...And Reality Comes Crashing In Sierra, with its eager new "Fortune 500" style management team and its wealth of venture capital, managed to invest in each and every one of these ill-fated computers. We made software products on cassette for the VIC-20 and the Atari 400, cartridges for the Coleco Adam and the Commodore 64, we even spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing product for the Texas In- struments TI99, which wasn't even out of development yet when the "con- sumer computer market" collapse hap- pened at the end of 1984. By the end of the year, we were in a tight jam. We had tens of thousands of game cartridges for can- celled and bankrupt computers like the VIC-20 and the Coleco Adam. We had cassette programs for the VIC-20 and the Atari 400 and 800) that we couldn't sell. All told, it was a few million dol- lars worth of inventory that we might be able to sell for 3 cents on the dollar.
↑ InterAction Magazine - Vol. VI Number 2 - Summer 1993 Then, IBM invented the PC jr. Infocom's success in 1983 and some dumb mistakes at our end (making video game cartridges) almost sent us the way of Scott and Alexis' company. Two things saved us. Infocom decided to enter the business software market with a database program called Corner Stone. They lost so much money on it that everyone I knew took to referring to it as Tomb Stone. Infocom and Sierra were in such deep financial trouble that both of our companies were for sale to just about anyone who could cover our debts. Infocom was sold to Activision, but never turned around their lost momentum and ultimately went bankrupt. We, on the other hand, received some very important visitors from Florida: IBM.
↑ Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_3_Number_3_Fall_1990 Oil's Well '82 Oil's Well was originally released by Sierra in 1982 and was available only for 8-bit cartridge based computers. It was a fast-paced arcade game in which the player guided a 'drill bit' through a maze, collecting oil pellets and various other use- ful objects for points. Alas. Oil's Well was born at the end of an era; 8-bit computers took a dive, and Oil's Well went with them. Sierra's Marketing Manager. John Wil- liams, says it was the victim of bad timing; "Oil's Well was a great game; everyone who saw it loved it. Unfortunately, few people had the opportunity to see it — it was the right game at the wrong time."
↑ Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_2_Number_2_Autumn_1989 SIERRA PRODUCTS ON GAME MACHINES???? This writer, and other employees at Sierra who lived through the devastating video game crash of "84 were put into shock with the recent arrival of King's Quest for none other than the Sega Video Game machine. Those of us who remember Sierra's last venture into video game cartridges about a half decade ago (a business venture that was anything but profitable for Sierra) found ourselves wor- ried about the future of our jobs here in Coarsegold. Could it be that the manage- ment hadn't learned that Sierra's future was in computers, not toys? For once. Sierra President Ken Williams was available for comment. "We are in the COMPUTER software business. We haven't seriously considered making cartridges here, and we won't till IBM starts shipping their PS2"s with a cartridge slot and a joystick." Williams added, "We're happy, though, to talk to any Nintendo, Sega or other potential licensee willing to do a good job of converting our products to fit on those machines." Williams went on to demonstrate the version of King's Quest produced by Sega under license. To this writer's amazement, although the Sega King's Quest doesn't have the text input interface, it was both easy and fun to play. Ken also confirmed rumors that other Sierra titles might be found on other game machines in the future, and pointed out that both Thexder and Silpheed were big hits in Japan on the Nintendo Game Machine. More on this to follow. Speaking of Thexder, Game Arts (the original producer of the Thexder game) just released new FIREHAWK: THEXDER II in Japan.
↑ Industry insiders, myself included, will always fondly remember 1989 as the year that Trip Hawkins, President of Electronic Arts, announced his willingness to produce videogame cartridges. For those who know Trip, he has been vehemently outspoken ever since his company was founded that EA would never produce a cartridge. I’ll not comment further on this topic other than to say that I’m starting to feel awfully alone as a publisher of ONLY computer software. Even Microprose has diversified into quarter arcade games these days. Am I missing something? I LIKE computer games.
↑ Top Ten Reasons Why My Sierra/Dynamix Dealer is one of the Top Ten Best in the World 10. Sales staff pretend not to recognize voice when calling for the 20th time that week to find out if the latest Sierra /Dynamix game has arrived. 9. Close proximity to Pentagon means military personnel have easy access to skill enhancing, coordination honing Dynamix simulations. 8. Absolutely NO subliminal advertising messages in store music system. 7. Sales staff willing to distract spouses while^ husbands/wives make Sierra/Dynarnix game purchases. 6. Coffee (whole bean and ground), filters, mugs, and machines available at shop next door for brewing those all-nite-gaming beverages. 5. Cartridge games kept out of the way on the "ether side" of the store. 4. Officials of governments in exile, former Eastern-bloc spies, and members of past presidential administrations all welcomed. ^v 3. Sierra/Dynarnix games displayed in mystical pyramid formations to channel the powers of nature. 2. Manager reported to be Ken Williams' evil twin. 1. Every day is "Larry Day."
↑ Sierra Newsletter, Volume 2, Number 1 Spring 1989, cover: "New! Silpheed demonstrates why Nintendo will never be a serious game machine!"
↑ Sierra Newsletter, The - Volume 2 Number 1 - Spring 1989 Mark: Ditto. In fact, they ask me for copies because their nephew has got a Nintendo and he just loves to play it. (Here he snickered.)
↑ InterAction Magazine - Vol. V Number 1 - Spring 1992 Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon Help! The Two Guys from Andromeda, designers of the Space Quest series, have been kidnapped! You and Roger must save them from the diabolical Scumsoft, before they're forced to sell out and start making second-rate cartridge arcade games. This space romp won awards tor its fantastic, logical puzzles, loopy humor, and excellent soundtrack. SQ III will cruise fast and smoothly through your drive.
↑ 1991 Spectrum Catalogue Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon Help the Two Guys from Andromeda defend their programming careers from the diabolical Scumsoft, a sleazy, money-hungry computer cartridge software company. The intrepid game designers have been kidnapped. They need your quick wits and probing mind to free them. Only you and Roger can achieve the know-how keep them from having to 'sell out' their talents and start churning out silly second-rate cartridge arcade games. Nasty pirates have kidnapped the Two Guys. Help!
↑ Sierra News Magazine, The - Volume 2 Number 2 - Autumn 1989
↑ Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Number 1 Spring 1990 Videogame sales will be flat or down from 1989, but Nintendo would continue to hold it's market share and dominance.
↑ https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/03/20/genesis-vs-snes-by-the-numbers
↑ InterAction Magazine - Vol. VI Number 3 The techno-wizards at Dynamix surround you with the thunder of battle by taking full advantage of Sega's CD-ROM format. The vast storage capacity of the CD-ROM permits bigger games with CD quality stereo soundtracks and sound effects and enormous animations that arc simply not possible or feasible on other console based games. For instance, the average- cartridge game today contains about two megabytes of information, whereas a CD- ROM can hold 650 megabytes—over 300 times more than a cartridge.
↑ I have always attempted to have the latest in consumer electronics at home. Although Sierra doesn't make video game cartridges, we do plan to support Segas and Nintendo* with CD-ROM drives. Therefore we need to have at home the latest video game systems and the latest computers... What are today's standards? Most homes that have a computer also have a video game system. Essentially all households in America with children have a video game system, either a Sega or a Nintendo. The Sega 8-bit system is now obsolete and has been replaced by the Sega Genesis 16-bit system. Nintendo 8-bit cartridges can still be found but are fading away quickly. The Super NES is todays dominant Nintendo machine. A CD-ROM drive is now available for the Sega and is expected in the next year for the Super NES. The Super NES and the Sega Genesis are both great systems. I have favorite games on each of them. better than floppy or cartridge. One CD- ROM holds as much as 400 floppy disks or 1,200 typically sized cartridges. With this increased size the game can be better. Better graphics, better sound and better gameplay. For educational products, speech is critical to teaching many topics. There really isn't a way to do any large amount of speech on a cartridge or floppy.
↑ Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_2_Number_2_Autumn_1989
↑ By early 1992, Master System production had ceased in North America, having sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units, behind both Nintendo and Atari, which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of the market respectively. The last licensed Master System release in North America was Sonic the Hedgehog (1991).
↑ InterAction_Magazine_Vol. IV Number 3 Fall 1991 RECENT DYNAMIX RUMORS...Also, Dynamix recently made public their plans to enter the video game category next year. A Sega Genesis version of Rise of the Dragon recently appeared on their development schedule. (Special note: this product is being produced by Game Arts of Japan, developers of Thexder and Silpheed). Look for a release of King's Quest V on the 8-bit Nintendo sometime around Christmas.
↑ Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_2_Number_2_Autumn_1989
↑ Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Number 1 Spring 1990
↑ Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Number 1 Spring 1990
↑ 1991_Sierra_On-Line_US/Sierra-Dynamix_News_Magazine_Volume_4_Number_2_Summer_1991
↑ Sierra Newsletter, The - Volume 1 Number 3 - Spring 1988: In Japan, the #1 market presence belongs to Nintendo, which has sold literally millions of its Family Computer. The Japanese version of the Nintendo machine, offers an optional disk drive in addition to the cartridge slot. The "Famicom" (Nintendo's nickname), is a national obsession . Sierra's crew witnessed the extent of Japanese and American computers. The only similarity is in their looks. Japan's love affair with games when Dragon's Quest III for Nintendo was released. The night before it went on sale, lines formed around the block at stores where the game would be on sale in the morning. Inside of five days (the length of Sierra's trip to the country), Dragon's Quest III sold over 1.5 million units. Towards the end of the week, with the game in short supply, the normally sedate Japanese were pushing and shoving to get to the treasured Dragon's Quest III games before supplies were exhausted. Nintendo currently owns a "dominant" share of Japan's home computer market, but a battle for this market seems to be forthcoming. While Nintendo prepares a 16-bit version of their machine, other hardware makers are looking to make their own presence known there. Sega has already offered a new game machine to rival Nintendo, though it has placed a distant second (much like the Nintendo/Sega competition in the U.S.). A larger challenge for Nintendo lies ahead from NEC (the largest business computer maker in Japan) which has teamed with HudsonSoft (the largest software maker), to market a new machine called the PC Engine. The folks from Sierra had a chance to look at this new machine, and the graphics capabilities, in addition to its more computerlike capabilities, make it an exciting entry into the Japanese computer market. In the short time since it was introduced in Japan, it has sold an amazing 600,000 units. If this machine is released in the U.S., it will likely be a knockout in the video game arena.
↑ Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_3_Number_3_Fall_1990 Game Arts, located in Ikebukuro, in Northwest Tokyo, was founded in 1985 by Youichi Miyaji. At that time, the company was operated from a small garage, by Miyaji and 6 employees. Thexder was Game Arts' first product, and was a phenomenon in Japan, selling 500,000 units and winning Japan's BHS (Best Hit Software) award. Thexder debuted in U.S. computer stores just in time for Christmas 1986, and became Sierra's best seller for 1987. Sierra's next Japanese acquisition, Silpheed, was released in the U.S. in April of 1989. Game Arts has been called the 'Gung Ho' software company — and with good reason. Young and vibrant, the people at Game Arts are very company oriented, right down to the Game Arts insignia on every lapel. The company concentrates mostly on arcade/action type games, al- though they have been known to produce the occasional adventure. They've had tremendous success with Nintendo games, but as the Nintendo's popularity has declined of late, they're looking ahead to CD ROM for 16 bit systems.
↑ Sierra-Dynamix_News_Magazine_Volume_4_Number_2_Summer_1991 We're currently considering developing for the Sega Genesis with a CD-ROM, Super Nintendo (if they announce a CD-ROM) and Sony's Play Station. CDI is also being evaluated, as well as several others I can't talk about.

[1] Sierra News Magazine, The - Volume 3 Number 2 - Summer 1990 At the time Sierra took its first venture capital, the idea of a computer in every home was not just a goal or dream for those of us in the business, it was the actual sales forecast for the industry. Apple introduced the portable and sleek Apple He. Commodore had the VIC -20 and the industry leading Commodore 64, Atari had the Atari 400 and 800. Texas Instruments looked like it might take over the market with its 7799. and even Coleco (makers of the astoundinglypopular ColecoVision game machine) was taken seriously with tape drive based Coleco Adam. ...And Reality Comes Crashing In Sierra, with its eager new "Fortune 500" style management team and its wealth of venture capital, managed to invest in each and every one of these ill-fated computers. We made software products on cassette for the VIC-20 and the Atari 400, cartridges for the Coleco Adam and the Commodore 64, we even spent hundreds of thousands of dollars developing product for the Texas In- struments TI99, which wasn't even out of development yet when the "con- sumer computer market" collapse hap- pened at the end of 1984. By the end of the year, we were in a tight jam. We had tens of thousands of game cartridges for can- celled and bankrupt computers like the VIC-20 and the Coleco Adam. We had cassette programs for the VIC-20 and the Atari 400 and 800) that we couldn't sell. All told, it was a few million dol- lars worth of inventory that we might be able to sell for 3 cents on the dollar.

[2] InterAction Magazine - Vol. VI Number 2 - Summer 1993 Then, IBM invented the PC jr. Infocom's success in 1983 and some dumb mistakes at our end (making video game cartridges) almost sent us the way of Scott and Alexis' company. Two things saved us. Infocom decided to enter the business software market with a database program called Corner Stone. They lost so much money on it that everyone I knew took to referring to it as Tomb Stone. Infocom and Sierra were in such deep financial trouble that both of our companies were for sale to just about anyone who could cover our debts. Infocom was sold to Activision, but never turned around their lost momentum and ultimately went bankrupt. We, on the other hand, received some very important visitors from Florida: IBM.

[3] Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_3_Number_3_Fall_1990 Oil's Well '82 Oil's Well was originally released by Sierra in 1982 and was available only for 8-bit cartridge based computers. It was a fast-paced arcade game in which the player guided a 'drill bit' through a maze, collecting oil pellets and various other use- ful objects for points. Alas. Oil's Well was born at the end of an era; 8-bit computers took a dive, and Oil's Well went with them. Sierra's Marketing Manager. John Wil- liams, says it was the victim of bad timing; "Oil's Well was a great game; everyone who saw it loved it. Unfortunately, few people had the opportunity to see it — it was the right game at the wrong time."

[4] Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_2_Number_2_Autumn_1989 SIERRA PRODUCTS ON GAME MACHINES???? This writer, and other employees at Sierra who lived through the devastating video game crash of "84 were put into shock with the recent arrival of King's Quest for none other than the Sega Video Game machine. Those of us who remember Sierra's last venture into video game cartridges about a half decade ago (a business venture that was anything but profitable for Sierra) found ourselves wor- ried about the future of our jobs here in Coarsegold. Could it be that the manage- ment hadn't learned that Sierra's future was in computers, not toys? For once. Sierra President Ken Williams was available for comment. "We are in the COMPUTER software business. We haven't seriously considered making cartridges here, and we won't till IBM starts shipping their PS2"s with a cartridge slot and a joystick." Williams added, "We're happy, though, to talk to any Nintendo, Sega or other potential licensee willing to do a good job of converting our products to fit on those machines." Williams went on to demonstrate the version of King's Quest produced by Sega under license. To this writer's amazement, although the Sega King's Quest doesn't have the text input interface, it was both easy and fun to play. Ken also confirmed rumors that other Sierra titles might be found on other game machines in the future, and pointed out that both Thexder and Silpheed were big hits in Japan on the Nintendo Game Machine. More on this to follow. Speaking of Thexder, Game Arts (the original producer of the Thexder game) just released new FIREHAWK: THEXDER II in Japan.

[5] Industry insiders, myself included, will always fondly remember 1989 as the year that Trip Hawkins, President of Electronic Arts, announced his willingness to produce videogame cartridges. For those who know Trip, he has been vehemently outspoken ever since his company was founded that EA would never produce a cartridge. I’ll not comment further on this topic other than to say that I’m starting to feel awfully alone as a publisher of ONLY computer software. Even Microprose has diversified into quarter arcade games these days. Am I missing something? I LIKE computer games.

[6] Top Ten Reasons Why My Sierra/Dynamix Dealer is one of the Top Ten Best in the World 10. Sales staff pretend not to recognize voice when calling for the 20th time that week to find out if the latest Sierra /Dynamix game has arrived. 9. Close proximity to Pentagon means military personnel have easy access to skill enhancing, coordination honing Dynamix simulations. 8. Absolutely NO subliminal advertising messages in store music system. 7. Sales staff willing to distract spouses while^ husbands/wives make Sierra/Dynarnix game purchases. 6. Coffee (whole bean and ground), filters, mugs, and machines available at shop next door for brewing those all-nite-gaming beverages. 5. Cartridge games kept out of the way on the "ether side" of the store. 4. Officials of governments in exile, former Eastern-bloc spies, and members of past presidential administrations all welcomed. ^v 3. Sierra/Dynarnix games displayed in mystical pyramid formations to channel the powers of nature. 2. Manager reported to be Ken Williams' evil twin. 1. Every day is "Larry Day."

[7] Sierra Newsletter, Volume 2, Number 1 Spring 1989, cover: "New! Silpheed demonstrates why Nintendo will never be a serious game machine!"

[8] Sierra Newsletter, The - Volume 2 Number 1 - Spring 1989 Mark: Ditto. In fact, they ask me for copies because their nephew has got a Nintendo and he just loves to play it. (Here he snickered.)

[9] InterAction Magazine - Vol. V Number 1 - Spring 1992 Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon Help! The Two Guys from Andromeda, designers of the Space Quest series, have been kidnapped! You and Roger must save them from the diabolical Scumsoft, before they're forced to sell out and start making second-rate cartridge arcade games. This space romp won awards tor its fantastic, logical puzzles, loopy humor, and excellent soundtrack. SQ III will cruise fast and smoothly through your drive.

[10] 1991 Spectrum Catalogue Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon Help the Two Guys from Andromeda defend their programming careers from the diabolical Scumsoft, a sleazy, money-hungry computer cartridge software company. The intrepid game designers have been kidnapped. They need your quick wits and probing mind to free them. Only you and Roger can achieve the know-how keep them from having to 'sell out' their talents and start churning out silly second-rate cartridge arcade games. Nasty pirates have kidnapped the Two Guys. Help!

[11] Sierra News Magazine, The - Volume 2 Number 2 - Autumn 1989

[12] Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Number 1 Spring 1990 Videogame sales will be flat or down from 1989, but Nintendo would continue to hold it's market share and dominance.

[13] ttps://www.ign.com/articles/2009/03/20/genesis-vs-snes-by-the-numbers

[14] InterAction Magazine - Vol. VI Number 3 The techno-wizards at Dynamix surround you with the thunder of battle by taking full advantage of Sega's CD-ROM format. The vast storage capacity of the CD-ROM permits bigger games with CD quality stereo soundtracks and sound effects and enormous animations that arc simply not possible or feasible on other console based games. For instance, the average- cartridge game today contains about two megabytes of information, whereas a CD- ROM can hold 650 megabytes—over 300 times more than a cartridge.

[15] I have always attempted to have the latest in consumer electronics at home. Although Sierra doesn't make video game cartridges, we do plan to support Segas and Nintendo* with CD-ROM drives. Therefore we need to have at home the latest video game systems and the latest computers... What are today's standards? Most homes that have a computer also have a video game system. Essentially all households in America with children have a video game system, either a Sega or a Nintendo. The Sega 8-bit system is now obsolete and has been replaced by the Sega Genesis 16-bit system. Nintendo 8-bit cartridges can still be found but are fading away quickly. The Super NES is todays dominant Nintendo machine. A CD-ROM drive is now available for the Sega and is expected in the next year for the Super NES. The Super NES and the Sega Genesis are both great systems. I have favorite games on each of them. better than floppy or cartridge. One CD- ROM holds as much as 400 floppy disks or 1,200 typically sized cartridges. With this increased size the game can be better. Better graphics, better sound and better gameplay. For educational products, speech is critical to teaching many topics. There really isn't a way to do any large amount of speech on a cartridge or floppy.

[16] Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_2_Number_2_Autumn_1989

[17] By early 1992, Master System production had ceased in North America, having sold between 1.5 million and 2 million units, behind both Nintendo and Atari, which controlled 80 percent and 12 percent of the market respectively. The last licensed Master System release in North America was Sonic the Hedgehog (1991).

[18] InterAction_Magazine_Vol. IV Number 3 Fall 1991 RECENT DYNAMIX RUMORS...Also, Dynamix recently made public their plans to enter the video game category next year. A Sega Genesis version of Rise of the Dragon recently appeared on their development schedule. (Special note: this product is being produced by Game Arts of Japan, developers of Thexder and Silpheed). Look for a release of King's Quest V on the 8-bit Nintendo sometime around Christmas.

[19] Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_2_Number_2_Autumn_1989

[20] Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Number 1 Spring 1990

[21] Sierra News Magazine Volume 3 Number 1 Spring 1990

[22] 1991_Sierra_On-Line_US/Sierra-Dynamix_News_Magazine_Volume_4_Number_2_Summer_1991

[23] Sierra Newsletter, The - Volume 1 Number 3 - Spring 1988: In Japan, the #1 market presence belongs to Nintendo, which has sold literally millions of its Family Computer. The Japanese version of the Nintendo machine, offers an optional disk drive in addition to the cartridge slot. The "Famicom" (Nintendo's nickname), is a national obsession . Sierra's crew witnessed the extent of Japanese and American computers. The only similarity is in their looks. Japan's love affair with games when Dragon's Quest III for Nintendo was released. The night before it went on sale, lines formed around the block at stores where the game would be on sale in the morning. Inside of five days (the length of Sierra's trip to the country), Dragon's Quest III sold over 1.5 million units. Towards the end of the week, with the game in short supply, the normally sedate Japanese were pushing and shoving to get to the treasured Dragon's Quest III games before supplies were exhausted. Nintendo currently owns a "dominant" share of Japan's home computer market, but a battle for this market seems to be forthcoming. While Nintendo prepares a 16-bit version of their machine, other hardware makers are looking to make their own presence known there. Sega has already offered a new game machine to rival Nintendo, though it has placed a distant second (much like the Nintendo/Sega competition in the U.S.). A larger challenge for Nintendo lies ahead from NEC (the largest business computer maker in Japan) which has teamed with HudsonSoft (the largest software maker), to market a new machine called the PC Engine. The folks from Sierra had a chance to look at this new machine, and the graphics capabilities, in addition to its more computerlike capabilities, make it an exciting entry into the Japanese computer market. In the short time since it was introduced in Japan, it has sold an amazing 600,000 units. If this machine is released in the U.S., it will likely be a knockout in the video game arena.

[24] Sierra_News_Magazine_The_Volume_3_Number_3_Fall_1990 Game Arts, located in Ikebukuro, in Northwest Tokyo, was founded in 1985 by Youichi Miyaji. At that time, the company was operated from a small garage, by Miyaji and 6 employees. Thexder was Game Arts' first product, and was a phenomenon in Japan, selling 500,000 units and winning Japan's BHS (Best Hit Software) award. Thexder debuted in U.S. computer stores just in time for Christmas 1986, and became Sierra's best seller for 1987. Sierra's next Japanese acquisition, Silpheed, was released in the U.S. in April of 1989. Game Arts has been called the 'Gung Ho' software company — and with good reason. Young and vibrant, the people at Game Arts are very company oriented, right down to the Game Arts insignia on every lapel. The company concentrates mostly on arcade/action type games, al- though they have been known to produce the occasional adventure. They've had tremendous success with Nintendo games, but as the Nintendo's popularity has declined of late, they're looking ahead to CD ROM for 16 bit systems.

[25] Sierra-Dynamix_News_Magazine_Volume_4_Number_2_Summer_1991 We're currently considering developing for the Sega Genesis with a CD-ROM, Super Nintendo (if they announce a CD-ROM) and Sony's Play Station. CDI is also being evaluated, as well as several others I can't talk about.

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