Missed Classic – The Retro Gaming Treasury

Missed Classic 86: Moonmist (1986) – Introduction

On June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich As we close on Infocom’s final release of 1986, we turn the page on a new era. As best as I have been able to determine, Moonmist is the final game that was deep under development prior to the purchase by Activision, or at least the […]

Asylum II: Stubborn like a mule

On April 23, 2020April 24, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Will Moczarski Last time I thought I’d made a pretty good run through Asylum II – the game seemed as tedious but a lot easier than part one, that is until I was confronted by one of the guards who told me that my escape was not to […]

Missed Classic 85: Drive-In Adventure (1982)

On April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Sex sells. Whether you personally consume pornography or not, it is undeniable that whenever a new media technology came along, it quickly adapted for adult entertainment. Pornography influenced the rise of VHS in the 1970s, the early internet in the 1980s, and eventually the broadband push […]

Missed Classic 84: The Pesach Adventure (1993)

On April 8, 2020April 8, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Happy Passover! For the last five years, we have had an annual tradition of a Christmas adventure, a special one-off look at a festive game for the holiday season. I love playing and documenting these games, but the truth is that Christmas is not a holiday […]

Missed Classic: Trinity – When Soviet Time-Traveling Robot Armadillos Attack

On March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich In Trinity, we traveled to the dawn of the nuclear age and attempted to change history. We failed and became trapped in a time loop with our mischievous roadrunner friend. I suppose there are worse ways to go. In the words of one famous time traveler, […]

Missed Classic 83: Asylum II (1982) – Introduction

On March 12, 2020March 12, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Will Moczarski Introduction: Prelude to a Sequel Asylum must have been a major success for Med Systems Software, as the team of company president William F. Denman jr. and Frank L. Corr jr. teamed up once more about one year later to program its sequel, simply called Asylum […]

Missed Classic: Trinity – Won! (And Final Rating)

On March 5, 2020March 5, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich We finally made it to the end of Trinity, but the ending was a lot longer than I expected. The trip through New Mexico is the longest sequence in the game and it’s a lot of fun, even if I bit off more than I could […]

Missed Classic: Trinity – Fly Me to the Moon

On February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Trinity continues to impress and depress me. Last time out, we witnessed the unexpected destruction of New Mexico thanks to a more powerful than expected nuclear test at the Trinity site. My guess was that we had finally found the “plot” of this game: to find […]

Missed Classic: Trinity – Is This the 50s? Or 1999?

On February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Welcome back! Last time out, I explored the strange mushroom forest that I was dropped into after the end of the world. This “wabe”, as I think it is called, is a strange place set in the shadow of a gigantic sundial and includes giant bees, […]

Missed Classic: Trinity – Gyre and Gimble in the Wabe

On January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Welcome back! It was a bit slower going than I had hoped to get here, but we got here nonetheless. Last time around, we jumped into Trinity and an exploration of a near-future Kensington Gardens followed by total nuclear annihilation. Fortunately, we escaped just in the […]

Missed Classic 82: Trinity (1986) – Introduction

On January 16, 2020January 16, 2020 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich I should be at the beach and instead I am playing a game that is equal parts charming and deeply disturbing: Moriarty’s Trinity, a “fantasy” adventure game about inevitable nuclear armageddon. Much like A Mind Forever Voyaging, this is a game with a narrative purpose and […]

Missed Classic 81: The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole

On December 31, 2019December 31, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

By Ilmari Let the year 2020 begin! I considered saving my take on this game as an April’s Fool post. I would have pulled a trick on you readers and published my previous Adrian Mole -post second time, with just some necessary modifications. It would have been a faithful reflection […]

Missed Classic: The Price of Magik – Won! (With Final Rating)

On December 29, 2019December 29, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

By Ilmari Underground Last time, I had just explored a house from top to bottom and defeated a giant slug with some salt. Beyond the slug opened up a completely new playing field. It seemed the game was funneling me towards some direction, since there were so many one-way connections […]

Missed Classic 79: A Christmas Adventure (1983)

On December 25, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich Merry Christmas! Welcome back to another Christmas at “The Adventure Gamer” where we are looking at our sixth holiday adventure game! Time flies while we are having so much fun and I’m just amazed that we keep finding new holiday adventures to play. This time out […]

Missed Classic 80: The Price of Magik (1986) – Introduction

On December 21, 2019December 21, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

By Ilmari It’s again a time to celebrate the start of a new year with a round of Missed Classics. Just as 2010s are changing into 2020s I am about to come to an end in my own Level 9 marathon by playing, first, The Price of Magik, and then, The […]

Missed Classic 78: Crash Dive! (1984)

On December 17, 2019December 17, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

Written by Joe Pranevich For the era that we study, Brian Moriarty is one of the giants. He brought us three of Infocom’s classics, starting with Wishbringer, and jumped over to LucasArts to create Loom, one of my favorite adventure games of all time. Before we move on to Trinity […]

Intermission: Med Systems Marathon – That was 1981!

On December 6, 2019December 6, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

by Will Moczarski We’ve finished the second year of our Med Systems marathon now, and there are only four adventure games left. The company would exist for two more years, and in 1983 it was rechristened Screenplay. They would continue to operate under the new name until around 1986 but […]

Missed Classic: The Institute – WON! and Final Rating

On November 28, 2019November 28, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

by Will Moczarski Last time I explored the first of four dreams that make up the bulk of The Institute. I presented it as a streamlined narrative for your convenience, rather than describe all of my errancies. On my first run, for example, I examined the bronze statue from the […]

Missed Classic 76: Saigon: The Final Days (1981) – Introduction

On November 7, 2019November 7, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

by Will Moczarski The fourth and final game by Jyym and Robyn Pearson that was – albeit only sometimes – marketed as an “OtherVenture” by Adventure International, is Saigon: The Final Days. It was first released for the TRS-80 in 1981 and ported to the TRS-80 CoCo as well as […]

Missed Classic: Earthquake – San Francisco 1906 – WON! and Final Rating

On November 2, 2019November 2, 2019 By IndieRetroNews

by Will Moczarski The game’s own PISSED rating To get the most important fact out of the way first: You need the crowbar a lot. Last time I was stuck somewhere in earthquake-ridden San Francisco in the year of 1906 with nothing left to do. My only lead was the […]