Barbarian At The Gates–Barbarian C64 Game (Nostalgia Review)
Barbarian (C64 Version) Box Art, Image Source: Moby Games
So this is one of those games that I didn’t really play a whole lot growing up. I got it based on the strength of reviews and screenshots from a Computer Magazine, but it was based on the Amiga version and back in the early days of computers, there could be a whole world of difference between one system’s game and another (not like today where most games produced by companies other than Sony or Microsoft have virtual parity with their counterparts), Barbarian (Commodore 64/C64) was a game that was essentially a side-scroller. As I recall, you moved right or left and tried to defeat enemies on the way to a specific objective. I don’t really recall all that much about it–except that I remember being disappointed that the game didn’t have more depth to it.
Compare the Differences
This is the Commodore Amiga Version:
and this is the Commodore 64 version:
You’ll notice that the title of the C64 video is Bad Conversions. This is very accurate as the game does not stay true to the original and was poorly executed. I remember that this game was released not too long after the original Conan The Barbarian movies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and while the Amiga version recreated the experience of the movies as faithfully as possible at the time, the C64 version did not. I can’t recall if this was a Christmas present or a Birthday present–like most children, I got my games as gifts as presents and I remember the potential of this game being so great (I was, of course, into He-Man, Conan, and even Red Sonja along with all things warrior related at the time).
This is why I now rely on Reviews rather than screenshots–I learned early that media, especially advertisements can be manipulative and that it is up to the buyer to beware.
Caveat Emptor!
