''The Adventures of Captain Comic'' is a

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

written by Michael Denio for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

compatible operating systems and released as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer ...

in 1988. It was one of the first side-scrolling games for

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones. ...

s reminiscent of games for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

, and it presaged a trend of shareware platform games in the early 1990s. A version for the NES was later published by

Color Dreams Wisdom Tree, Inc. is an American developer of Christian video games. Originally founded in 1988 as Color Dreams, one of the first companies to work around Nintendo's lockout chip technology for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the company cha ...

as an unlicensed title. A sequel, '' Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality'', was released in 1990.

Plot

Captain Comic is on a mission to the

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

Tambi Tambi is a village in the far east of Ivory Coast. It is in the sub-prefecture of Sorobango, Bondoukou Department, Gontougo Region, Zanzan District. Eight kilometres east of the village is a border crossing with Ghana. Tambi was a commune A commu ...

, where the quest begins. Comic must find three artifacts: the Mystical Gems of Lascorbanos, the Thousand Coins of Tenure, and the Crown of the Ages. To find them, he must travel through many varied environments. The game is completed when Comic is in possession of all three treasures.

Gameplay

The game is divided into major areas, and each contains three smaller zones. Transitioning between zones plays a short tune, all enemies are removed from the screen, and Comic's position is saved. Comic has twelve "shield" points which act as

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. Each time an enemy hits him, two points are removed. When at zero, Comic dies on the next hit. Occasionally, shields can be found which instantly replenish the health to full, or if it is already full, give an extra life. Comic starts with four lives, and an extra life is given for each 50,000 points earned if Comic isn't already at the maximum of five extras. If Comic is killed by either falling off the bottom of the screen, or hit with no shield points remaining, a life is lost and he is returned to the point where he last entered this zone. Enemies have different behaviors, from simply bouncing off walls and following preset paths to seeking Comic as he passes by. After picking up a Blastola Cola, Comic can shoot at and destroy enemies for points.

Development

Michael Denio previously wrote an interactive demo of a platform game called ''The Adventures of Captain Pixel of the Galactic Security Patrol in 34010 AD'' for a

TMS34010 The TMS34010, developed by Texas Instruments and released in 1986, was the first programmable graphics processor integrated circuit. While specialized graphics hardware existed earlier, such as blitters, the TMS34010 chip is a microprocessor wh ...

coprocessor board. The credits screen has a 1987 copyright notice for the graphics. The TMS34010 is a CPU with graphics-oriented instructions which was later used in arcade video games such as '' Narc'' and ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

''. Denio wrote in the introduction to the ''Captain Comic'' manual:

Music

The original theme song for ''Captain Comic'' was a rendition of the United States Marine Corps Hymn. The song was replaced in the final revision of the game, released in 1991, by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

's Harpsichord Suite in D Minor, HWV 428, Air. The NES version of the soundtrack is composed entirely of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

Reception

Legacy

A sequel from the same author was published in 1990 as '' Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality''. In 2012, ''

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...

'' called ''Captain Comic'' the twelfth greatest shareware game of all time, writing that "it inspired many other shareware authors, including the folks who would later create ''

Commander Keen ''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were originally released for MS-DOS in ...

''." The original game was cloned for the

SAM Coupé Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

. It was also cloned as ' in 1990 by a team of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

programmers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Captain Comic, The 1988 video games Platform games DOS games Nintendo Entertainment System games Unauthorized video games SAM Coupé games Video games developed in the United States Color Dreams games Metroidvania games Science fiction video games Shareware Single-player video games Video games set on fictional planets