CONVERSION CAPERS

A comparison of the various eidolon ports

C64

The C64 Eidolon was produced in-house, so unsurprisingly it plays just like the original. it has different rather than better sound effects than the Atari version, and its control panel isn’t as attractive when time is frozen, but the visual effect it renders when you find a dragon’s lair is more aesthetically pleasing.

APPLE II

Another Lucasfilm Games adaptation that faithfully translates the original’s design. The Apple ii’s less-powerful hardware restricts the port to lower-res, less colourful graphics, single-channel pregame music and less impressive sound effects, but more importantly it runs just as fast as its Atari counterpart.

AMSTRAD CPC

One of four conversions handled by uk developers

Tony Adams and Tony Porter, the Amstrad Eidolon is slower than its Atari inspiration, but on the plus side it’s rendered with a brighter palette. The

CPC adaptation plays a nice rendition of the original’s intro music, but its sound effects are far more basic.

ZX spectrum

Like the Amstrad iteration, the Spectrum Eidolon runs a little slower than the original. Also in keeping with the

CPC version, the Spectrum port retains the Atari game’s high-res visuals, although predictably it uses less colours. That aside, the ZX Eidolon’s only failing is that each level has to be loaded in separately.

msx2

Despite lacking speed, although no more than the CPC and Spectrum versions, the MSX2 Eidolon is a good translation of the original in terms of visuals and its opening tune. it’s shy of a few sound effects, which leads to spells of silence, but its gameplay is identical to the Atari original.

pc-88

Although not perfect, the PC-88 Eidolon is just as fast as the original. its drawbacks are that it lacks colour in certain places, doesn’t quite match the Atari version’s sound effects and suffers from flickery character animation. These minor quibbles aside, the PC-88 conversion feels and plays just like its inspiration.