''Questprobe'' is a trilogy of graphical adventure

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s featuring

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

. The three games are ''

Questprobe featuring The Hulk ''Questprobe featuring The Hulk'' is a 1984 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Adventure International in collaboration with Marvel Comics. It is the first entry in '' Questprobe'', an intended series of graphic adventure gam ...

'', ''

Questprobe featuring Spider-Man ''Questprobe: Featuring Spider-Man'' is the second video game in the '' Questprobe'' series. Gameplay The player takes the role of Spider-Man, with powers including super strength and the ability to climb walls. Unlike previous releases, this gam ...

'' and '' Questprobe featuring Human Torch and Thing''.

History

In 1983,

searched for a licensee for use of its characters in a home computer game, and approached

Adventure International Adventure International was an American video game publishing company that existed from 1979 until 1986. It was started by Scott and Alexis Adams. Their games were notable for being the first implementation of the adventure genre to run on a ...

; its founder and CEO

Scott Adams Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the syndicated ''Dilbert'' comic strip, and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, and business. ''Dilbert'' gained nation ...

was interested in the venture as an avid reader of Marvel since his childhood, and the two parties agreed to a contract on December 1, 1983. Marvel's ten-year license for Adventure's use of its characters was Marvel's first long-term license, as well as Adventure's first use of licensed characters. Adams, given unlimited freedom in creating the games, spent an afternoon coordinating a rough overview of the series with Marvel writer John Byrne, and

Bob Budiansky Bob Budiansky (; born March 15, 1954) is an American comic book writer, editor, and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel's ''Transformers'' comic. He also created the Marvel character Sleepwalker and wrote all 33 issues of that comic. E ...

would oversee the entire project. The series title came from Adams's attempt to formulate a title that would indicate the player's involvement in a search. The

Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk (comic book), The Incredible Hulk' ...

was selected as the star of the first installment because of his widespread recognition among general audiences, and the game would be the Hulk's first appearance within the medium. ''

'' was released on May 1, 1984, for the

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...

Apple II series The Apple II series (trademarked with square brackets as "Apple ] ''" and rendered on later models as "Apple //") is a family of home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primaril ...

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

Dragon 32 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before mov ...

IBM PC DOS IBM PC DOS, an acronym for IBM Personal Computer Disk Operating System, is a discontinued disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. It was manufactured and sold by IBM from the early 1980s into the 2000s. Developed by Microsoft, it was also ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

. The game's release was accompanied by a comic similarly titled ''Questprobe'', with the first issue centering on the Hulk being tricked into saving a doomed planet. Because

wholesaler Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In g ...

s had no provisions for distributing comics, Adventure International decided to reduce the size of subsequent issues in order to package the comics along with the games. In January 1985, Adams revealed that he was developing a second ''Questprobe'' game with

Al Milgrom Allen L. Milgrom (born March 6, 1950) is an American comic book writer, penciller, inker and editor, primarily for Marvel Comics. He is known for his 10-year run as editor of ''Marvel Fanfare''; his long involvement as writer, penciler, and inker ...

based on

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

, and disclosed plans to release a new game every three to five months, with a projected total of twelve or thirteen games. Subsequent games involving

Human Torch The Human Torch (Jonathan "Johnny" Storm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. He is writer Stan Lee's and artist Jack Kirby's reinvention of ...

and

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

were planned at the time, as were potential games showcasing

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

and a villain character.

Cancelled X-Men game

The fourth title in the series was to include the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

. This game was partly coded by Scott Adams but never saw the light of day as a published game, as Adventure International became bankrupt during its development in 1986.

Comic book tie-ins

A ''Questprobe'' comic book tie-in was also released. Originally intended as a 12-issue miniseries, this series was canceled after issue #3 (November 1985) due to

's bankruptcy. The story intended for issue #4, featuring the X-Men, was published in ''

Marvel Fanfare ''Marvel Fanfare'' was an anthology comic book series published by American company Marvel Comics. It was a showcase title featuring a variety of characters from the Marvel universe. Volume one ''Marvel Fanfare'' featured characters and settings ...

'' #33 (July 1987).''Marvel Fanfare #33
at the Grand Comics Database The events of the ''Questprobe'' comic book were later followed up on in the ''

Quasar A quasar is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is pronounced , and sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. This emission from a galaxy nucleus is powered by a supermassive black hole with a m ...

'' series.

References

External links

*
''Questprobe'' series
at Universal Videogame List
''Questprobe'' series
at the IFDB {{Adventure International 1980s interactive fiction Adventure International games Defunct American comics Interactive fiction based on works Marvel Comics storylines Single-player video games Video game franchises introduced in 1984 Video games based on Marvel Comics