Many would swear *at* Superman 64.
Just in case you ever thought comments on old posts ever got past me…nope, they sure don’t! Here’s Reader Pete with a comment on my relatively recent video game post:
“I know I’m a few weeks late to comment on this post, but reading this reminded of the Questprobe game and tie-in comics from Marvel in the mid-80’s. I had the Hulk and Thing/Human Torch games for my Commodore 64 which I remember formatted like a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book. I bought the Hulk and Spider-Man comics as back issues later on, but could never find the Thing/Human Torch one. It seemed like comics & video games would have been a much more natural partnership but that didn’t seem to develop until years later.”
The Questprobe computer games were illustrated “interactive fiction,” where the player would read text and type in commands of the “GO NORTH” and “TAKE AXE” variety, accompanies with still digital drawings.
There were programmed by Scott Adams — no, not that one, but rather this gentleman. And I suggest looking at that Wikipedia page to see the pic of Mr. Adams from 1982, which is literally the greatest.
Now, despite my affinity for computer and video gaming and (surprise) comics in the mid-’80s, I didn’t acquire these games. I’m not even sure I ever saw them for sale in the wild, and I regularly haunted the game software shelves at any store that stocked this sort of thing.
I was aware of the games, absolutely, as I definitely bought at least the first issue of Marvel’s tie-in Questprobe comic book series. (And according to the Grand Comics Database entry linked there, the look of the antagonist in this series was designed after Adams himself — again, reference that photo from Adams’ Wikipedia page.
Adams worked with John Byrne to put together a plan for the overall series of games, and of course the related comics, for a run of about a dozen installments. Only three games came out, due to the game company shutting down, which also ended the related comic book series. However, a comic based on the unreleased fourth game was created, and eventually released in issue #33 of Marvel’s Island of Misfit Stories, Marvel Fanfare.
And because the late writer Mark Gruenwald forgot nothing, some of this Questprobe stuff would turn up in his run of Quasar.
A couple of additional points: despite missing the games during their initial release window, I did sample one or two of them via emulation decades later. Which, unfortunately, is probably not the way to try them out given how very dated they feel now. As I recall, even the text interface seemed relatively primitive compared to the more complex commands available in, say, the contemporary Infocom games.
The Questprobe games had the affectation of the user prompt being, like, “SPIDER-MAN I WANT YOU TO” after which you would type in the command, like you’re controlling the character from afar. Here’s a playthrough of the Spider-Man game to show you what I mean:
The other point I wanted to make is that reader Pete (remember Pete? This is a post about Pete) said he couldn’t find the third issue of the run, feaeturing the Thing and the Human Torch:
And this is an issue we fans probably shouldn’t miss, as it features the excellent artwork of noted Thing artist (from the self-titled series and from many Marvel Two-in-Ones) Ron Wilson. I just checked, and this issue is not included in the recent The Thing Omnibus, almost certainly due to licensing issues, so folks, keep your peepers peeled for that lost gem. EDIT: Ignore all that, it is in the Omnibus, somehow I missed it when scanning the covers on the book’s back cover.
In my more nostalgic moods I might say that superhero video games never got any better than the Atari 2600 Superman from 1979. The best games? Maybe the recent Spider-Man games…maybe the Batman Arkham series. Many would swear by, say, the X-Men arcade game, or the various LEGO games.
These Questprobe games were an interesting attempt at moving superheroes into the then-burgeoning home computer market, but producing them as essentially text adventures with some pictures seemed to miss the point a little. I mean, yes, comic books themselves are pictures with some text, but if you’re handed a game, when you think “superheroes” you probably don’t want to spend hours guessing what noun-verb combination is the correct one to get you to the next guessing of a noun-verb combination.
Superheroes imply action, and in a video game market that means directly moving characters onscreen as per your controller interface. And with the release of the recent Batman virtual reality game, the games are coming closer and closer to actually just straight up living out the world are presented in comic books, with fewer apparent steps of remove.
Thanks for the wiki link, Mike! Everyone should take a peek because “SCREW BEAR” as well!
Oh, man, I played that Questprobe Spider-Man game for hours as a 10-year-old and came so close to finishing it but never could crack it. The final puzzle involved making a scale hit a certain amount of weight to get the final item.
I saw a walk-through for it a few years ago and slapped myself on the head when I realized what the solution was. You were supposed to go through and collect all the unconscious bodies of the villains you’d defeated and put them on the scale. Of course!
It’s in my copy of the Thing omnibus. I just read it a little over a week ago!
I also completely missed the games, and have wondered about them for years. I also missed the comics, somehow, and that was the first time I’d read any of them.
Spider-Man on the PlayStation 1 brilliantly adapted Tony Hawk pro skater mechanics to make web swinging feel real and blew my mind
And then the first Batman Arkham game, where I was hiding among gargoyles and instilling fear in in superstitious henchmen was just WOW changes in how video games worked
I did have the Hulk questprobe game but I remember it being pretty terrible in comparison to other text adventures of the day
The best super-hero video games are probably either the better Arkham games or the better Spider-Man games, but my favorite is Marvel Ultimate Alliance. You played as 4 characters on a team, switching between them as needed. There were dozens of Marvel characters to choose from, most characters had at least 2 unique powers, the levels covering a huge array of Marvel locales, and the alternate skins you could earn were awesome (e.g. Thor could be Beta Ray Bill). I played through the whole thing twice, and wish the first sequel had been as good, even as it included characters who weren’t in the first game.
I remember the games and comics coming out just as I was forming my comics addiction. I was so confused by the villain; I couldn’t figure out if he was supposed to be an updated Mysterio. I never read or played the games, but damn, I LOVED me some Zork I & II! I know it sounds like a cliche, but the text only aspect really did a lot for fueling the imagination. I can see how that would be less successful for a comics character.
@ Mike Loughlin, glad you mentioned M.U.A. Of the superhero games I have played that was the one I enjoyed the most! I tried different combos, but always came back to my beloved FF. It felt so awesome to finally level up and put them in their original outfits and see them work as a team. The Invisible Woman was VERY powerful (as befits Sue) and it was a thrill to just plow through enemies using her! Seeing Reed swing those big goofy fists or ping pong around was a treat as well.
I also really enjoyed the Justice League game on the original X-Box, which was very similar. The Ultimate Spiderman game’s sense of web-slinging was also pretty incredible, the game itself was a bit of a bore though.
I’ve never played any of the Arkham games, they look depressing as hell to me.
Not that there is any reason to doubt Cassandra, but it is in the omnibus.
But I am curious what led to think it wasn’t.
The First Arkham game is for my money the best superhero video game I’ve played. There were some good mechanical updates in City, but the writing is significantly worse, ditto the third one (which I couldn’t finish). I’ve played the first two of the Insomniac Spidey games, but they lose points for basically being a reskinned version of the Arkham games… and for calling Betty Brant Mary Jane.
Ultimate Alliance 1+2 were just pure geeky fun that showed up so much of the Marvel U. The story was better in the second game, which was loosely based on the original, better version of Civil War, before it was cutoff from Annihilation and Planet Hulk. The JL X-Box game was very similar, but didn’t have as much stuff.
Sunsoft’s 1989 Batman game was super hard (I certainly never beat it), but the graphics and sound were outstanding for the time, as was how deep it went into villains like Deadshot, KGBeast, Electrocutioner, and Killer Moth.
Cassandra/Daniel T – I just missed it when checking the Omnibus’s back cover because it was late and my eyes weren’t up to the task. I’ve edited the post to correct my error.
@LouReedRichards: Mr. Fantastic rolling up in a ball was one of my two favorite powers in the game. The other was Dr. Strange randomly turning people into boxes. I don’t think I had a specific favorite team (although I did use the full FF fairly often), but I know I put Dr. Strange with Moon Knight, Colossus (who had some funny dialogue/ voice acting) and Thor/Beta Ray Bill more than once.
@Joe Gualtieri: the 2nd MUA could have been so much better if they kept the alternate skins, had a better unlockable final boss (possessed/cyborg Nick Fury was a letdown), and some better level designs. That said, I liked the mechanics for Songbird, Phoenix, Green Goblin, and Hulk. The story was definitely less sprawling, and some of the bosses and mini-bosses were fun.
Wow Mike that’s some Defenders level non-team team you put together! I don’t think I ever played with Dr. Strange, it has been quite a while though. I tried an Avengers lineup a few times and maybe the X-Men once or twice. It was just impossible to resist using all 4 members of the FF together. I wish the game worked on the X-Box One, I’d love to replay it.
” Ignore all that, it is in the Omnibus”.
Well, Good! I want it right next to work by John Bryne, Jim Starlin, & Barry Windsor Smith!
BUT SERIOUSLY It’s good it’s in there, completion counts.
“the Hulk questprobe game but I remember it being pretty terrible in comparison to other text adventures of the day”
HULK NOT LIKE TEXT!