Flimbo's Quest

Flimbo's Quest

Game No.	370
Voting	7.52 points, 21 votes
Developer	Laurens van Der Donk, Dave Hogendorf, Patrick Witteman
Company	Euphoria
Publisher	System 3
Musician	Reyn Ouwehand, Johannes Bjerregård
HVSC-File	/MUSICIANS/O/Ouwehand_Reyn/Flimbos_Quest.sid
Release	1990
Platform	C64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Antstream
Genre	Jump & Run
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	There are three more games on the 512kB cartridge that was enclosed to the C64 Games System.

Description[edit | edit source]

Storyboard

The crazy scientist Franz Dandruff has constructed a machine with which he can suck out the life from his victims and raise his own life energy. Dandruff kidnaps Flimbo's girlfriend, the beautiful Pearly, Queen of Dewdropland. Flimbo sets off to rescue her.

Course of the game

The player steers Flimbo through 7 levels. On his way, Flimbo looks for hidden scrolls, which he hands out to the wizard Dazz Bazian. With the help of these scrolls he develops a spell which carries Flimbo into the next level. For this spell several scrolls need to be searched and given to the wizard. To get to the scrolls you need to attack the enemies. After several hits, the enemies disappear and leave behind an extra, e.g. a scroll, several powerups, improved shooting power or the possibility to stay under water for up to 30 seconds. Furthermore, the player finds in the same way 5 hearts of different colours through which he gets an extra life.

The 7 levels of the game

a flat rural landscape
a fishing village
a mountain landscape
a strange world
a forest
a cemetery
and finally the lab of Franz Dandruff.

Design[edit | edit source]

... Many things can be bought in the shop, but the prices ...

... Flimbo must survive many perils before he can save his Pearly ...

Soft horizontal parallax-scrolling and pleasant graphics, but a music that gets a bit monotonous after some time (two melodies that rotate with every start of a new level). In return the end sequence is worth seeing. The highscore list cannot be saved in the original, but see section "Cheats".

Hints[edit | edit source]

In the bonus room always collect the more valuable magenta coloured stone.

Controls in the title screen

F1 Music on/off
F3 Sound effects on/off
start the game

Controls in the game

Run/Stop Pause
move character horizontally
shoot into viewing direction
enter/leave a room
+ duck
jump into the corresponding direction
one platform lower

Controls in the shop

choose item
buy (if enough money available)

Tips

After loading the game a small tutorial is shown in which all the items are explained.
If five hearts of different colours are brought into the shop, you will get an extra life.
The colour of the hearts can be changed by shooting at them before collecting them.
The game is over when the timer has run out or all lives are used up.

Solution[edit | edit source]

There is only one entrance to Dazz Bazian's shop per level, which is most of the time marked by a different type of entrance. You should remember the position of the entrance.
If you have enough money, it is no mistake to buy the super scroll, to instantly get into the next level, as with this you save lots of time and this is scarce.
Creatures that carry a scroll can be recognized by flashing more strongly.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

The version by Lurid & Tricycle offers next to a saveable highscore list and the manual also different trainers.
There are some "inbound" cheats in the game, e.g., in levels 2, 4 and 6 you can collect level skipper.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.52 points at 21 votes (rank 247). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	10	10th October 2010 - "highlight" - 5942 downs
Lemon64	7,8	10th October 2010 - 90 votes
Kultboy.com	6.20	10th October 2010 - 5 votes
ASM	9/12	Issue 5/90
Powerplay	59%	Issue 10/90
ZZap64	80 %	Issue 90/10

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Michael Boettger: "Nice game, that is why I have written this missing article."

H.T.W: "Despite the very good technical execution the spark does not ignite for me. Firstly, the levels are only one screen high, by which you are very limited, and secondly, the course of the game is kept very simple: Look for the monster that looks like the image in the middle of the display and flashes differently, take the scroll from it and bring it to the wizard. And this more often the higher the level. The shops and treasure chests bring in a bit of diversification, however, only good average for me."

Shmendric: "A nice jump&run with nice graphics (unfortunately a bit too suitable for children), nice sound and nice features. However, the right motivation to play it is missing, everything is only "nice", but nothing is "special". Furthermore I had the tape version at that time and the long loading times before the game and between the levels were a relative turn-off. Therefore I have taken it out only seldom and never played to the end, although I remember the difficulty grade as not exaggerated."