|
The game started off as a basic sequel to Barbarian 2... following a simliar structure. This was a period when Steve Brown and Richard Leinfellner were involved in the development. Basically whilst the sequel was in development, Steve decided that the game would benefit being turned into a trilogy. So the once planned ending to number 2 was changed so Drax escaped through a mirror at the end.
The game was featuring similiar aspects to number 2, apart from the fact that the game would now scroll instead of being flick screen, and when an action sequence occurred, the game would switch to a larger fight view. Because the C64 wouldn't have been able to handle the fight scenes, the C64 was stuck with normal sized characters.
The game as a whole was to feature much more black humour, and some stunning animation throughout. However, things seemed to be stalling at Palace a bit, and so Steve decided to move on.
Simon Birrell later took over the development, and it was turned into more of a platform based affair in its later life.
Luckily Steve still had development sketches for the game, and thanks to Martyn Carroll for passing them on, we are able to show these design sketches for the first time (Sadly they were unpublished in Retro Gamer as intended).
GTW got in touch with Simon Birrell before Steve Brown, who used to work at Palace Software and it was confirmed about the game being developed, but with the title "Super Barbarian". A guy called Dave Chapman was apparently making all the game editors, and engines for the ST and Amiga, though it is still uncertain if he handled the C64 engine.
Simon tells GTW that he wanted the game to have more platform action, though he gave the project to Dave Chapman whom seemed to be doing a good job.
Thanks recently to Tobias Hultman, a Swedish magazine back in June 1992 mentioned Super Barbarian on the 16 bit systems, and so we get a few more details about what the game was to consist of (which we assume were part of the shift in direction for the game)...
The game content facts...
Part 1:
A tournament game placed in a Colloseum-like arena where the player fight against either 16 computer controlled enemies or up to 8 human players.
(*) There are several weapons to choose from: Sword, axe, mace
(*) The game also has a replay function which makes it possible to see sequences from the fights.
(*) You can see injuries on bodyparts.
Part 2:
A action adventure where the goal is to rescue the the good wizard's daughter which is held captive in Drax's tower.
(*) Solve puzzles, find secret rooms and relics.
(*) 6 levels, a forest, hell (the background for a possible third level can be seen in the Amiga b/w screenshot below, the settings for the other levels where not decided by the time the article was written)
The game was rumoured to be at a playable stage in 1991, and then Palace went bankrupt, and Titus bought them out. Where Blues Brothers was finished and released, Super Barbarian was not, and was only rumoured to be finished on the consoles. It seems to be that Titus did carry on the conversion, as the Swedish article dates mid 1992. Titus were not big C64 developers however, and they may have scrapped it as a result.
Just who did the conversion is still unknown, but some crucial information is uncovered on the title and there is confirmation that it was in development. Can we find anything of the code/graphics?
Awesome finale to the series?... Will we ever know?...
Frank.
(Additional
source credits - Jazzcat, Simon Birrell, Tobias Hultman, Martyn Carroll, Steve Brown)
|
