Tomarc the Barbarian (1983)

 

Tomarc the Barbarian was released by Xonox for the Atari 2600, Colecovision, and Commodore computers in 1983. Xonox wasn't an acclaimed studio and is arguably the kind of lame outfit that contributed to the 1983 console gaming crash in the U.S. with its awkward, buggy releases.

Tomarc was actually supposed to be a Thundarr the Barbarian game, but Xonox was unable to secure the license before release, possibly because the Thundarr people didn't like what they were seeing from the game...

As the cover helpfully explains, Tomarc is a barbarian hero who needs to rescue his girlfriend, Senta. Tomarc is stuck in a cavern and has to find his sword while avoiding killer rats, before ascending to the dungeon, while Senta is trapped in a cage and has to cast energy bolts (see, this all makes sense if the characters were to be Thundarr and his sorceress companion, Princess Ariel) to ward off vampire bats. The most interesting thing about the game is that you have to handle these goals simultaneously. By pulling down on the joystick, you switch characters when you hear a danger signal go off.

Unfortunately, that's just about all the game has going for it. Senta's side isn't much of an issue since you're just aiming and shooting at enemies from a stationary position, but Tomarc's section is a platforming game and the platforming simply isn't fun. You have to master the angle at which he leaps because if he bangs his head on a surface, he falls and is stunned for a few seconds. It results in a game in which you feel less like a dynamic fantasy hero and more like a clumsy dork. 

On the whole, the Colecovision version is probably the one to play. The Atari 2600 version to its credit plays faster, and Tomarc better resembles a barbarian hero than the stocky green/blue/red-clad guy in the CV version, but the CV version has an exclusive second level in which Senta is imprisoned by a giant spider and Tomarc has to scale the spider's web while avoiding the spider's smaller offspring. Senta's role is much the same as the first level except she's now blasting spiders instead of bats. The CV version also has superior graphics, although the tradeoff is its slightly slower pace and the spider level seems to be buggy in that Tomarc can get stuck on certain strands of the web, unable to grab another or sometimes even forced to remain on invisible strands. Regardless, though, it's a very missable game and flunked its part in advancing the sword-and-sorcery concept in video gaming. Probably for the best that Thundarr never got a video game adaptation back then. A Thundarr game now, with graphics that could faithfully adapt Alex Toth and Jack Kirby's designs for the show, could be fun...