Gremlins – The Adventure

Gremlins – The Adventure

Game No.	270
Voting	7.25 points, 12 votes
Developer	Coding: Brian Howarth Graphics: Teoman Irmak
Company	Adventure International
Publisher	Adventure International
Release	1985
Platform	C64, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C16 (only text)
Genre	Adventure - Graphic(Hi-Res)/Text
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

Our adventure starts here in the bedroom.

There were three mysterious warnings ...

"Keep them away from water!"
"Keep them away from light!"
"But the most important: No matter how much they beg! Never ever feed them after midnight - never!"

... but what happens then, we all know.

Gremlins - The Adventure is a licensed adventure game by Adventure Soft from 1985, which is based on the movie from 1984.
Mainly the game consists in the task to keep the Gremlins from terrifyingly devastating the town Kingstons Falls with all means and destroy them. On the foray through Kingston Falls the player gets to see again some settings from the movie.

Story & Aim of the game

From the original manual:
Kingston Falls is in danger of being over-run with Gremlins, Billy has been tricked by Gizmo's offsprings into feeding them after midnight. The Mogwai have already pupated and turned into the evil Gremlins, and, led by Stripe ^[1] (the evilist of them all) are now causing chaos all over Kingston Falls. By taking the part of Billy you are now about to embark on a most perilous adventure. Aided by Gizmo it is your task to save Kingston Falls from being over-run with Gremlins.

Design[edit | edit source]

This adventure's buildup is typical for the genre Hi-Res/text. At the top of the screen there is a graphic, which is even partially animated and shows the current place. In the lower part of the screen the player gets a description of the things he sees in the shape of text. From this one can derive items with which you can interact. As often in the C64 era, a two-word parser was used for this adventure and there is the possibility to visit altogether 37 locations.

Hints[edit | edit source]

At night in the streets of Kingston Falls ...

Where they sing, you can come to rest ...

We meet againg the 'Flasher Gremlin'^[2].

Tips for the game[edit | edit source]

It is always recommended to leave behind items that you do not need any more, as it may lead to death out of the blue.
After a certain number of given commands a "Gang of Gremlins" appears. You can provoke this with "WAIT".
If one of these gangs is on your heels (They make themselves felt by the text "Oh dear! I have company...."), you can shake them off later with "PRESS BUTTON" (camera) for a short time.
As long as the movie is shown in the cinema, you are not disturbed by the "Gang of Gremlins" for a certain time.

Commands (German version)[edit | edit source]

The manual only supplies the player "a few useful words" and therefore these are only a couple of commands.

ABDECKEN	ABDICHTEN	ABNEHMEN	ABSENDEN	ABSENDEN	ANBRINGEN
ANSTECKEN	ANZUENDEN	AUFMACHEN	BOHREN	DREHEN	DRUECKEN
DUCKEN	EINFUEGEN	ERGREIFEN	FALLEN	FOLGEN	GEHEN
HINLEGEN	HINSEHEN	HOLEN	LAUFEN	OEFFNEN	REPARIEREN
RUINIEREN	SCHIEBEN	SCHNEIDEN	SCHWEISSEN	SPEICHERN	STEHLEN
STEIGEN	TOETEN	TRINKEN	WERFEN	ZERBRECHEN	ZERSCHNEIDEN
ZERSTOEREN

Commands (English version)[edit | edit source]

Again only a choice of commands, but these are basically enough.

CUT	CLOSE	DRILL	DROP	ENTER	EXAMINE	GO	GET
INSERT	JOIN	KILL	LEAVE	LOOK	LIGHT	MAIL	OPEN
PLUG	PRESS	PUSH	SAVE	START	TAKE	WAIT	WELD

Short commands (English version)[edit | edit source]

N	Go North
S	Go South
E	Go East
W	Go West
U	Go Up
D	Go Down
I	Show Inventory
Q	Quit

Parser Features[edit | edit source]

1. It is possible to enter several commands after each other divided by a comma (,).
Example: GET THE BOX, OPEN THE BOX, TAKE THE KEY
2. You can write full sentences.
Example: GET THE MOGWAI FROM THE BOX
3. You have the possibility to pick up or put down all items at once with GET ALL and DROP ALL

Solution[edit | edit source]

When the Gremlins are watching a movie, you can walk through the town undisturbedly.

In the movie the Gremlins multiply in this pool.

It's over, you are dead. :(

Step by Step (English version)[edit | edit source]

We start in the bedroom where there is a Gremlin throwing darts.
First we go down and kill the Gremlin with the sword.

D, GET SWORD, GET REMOTE, KILL GREMLIN, DROP SWORD

Now we have to go to the kitchen, where there are several things to do.

GO KITCHEN, PRESS REMOTE (microwave on -> Gremlin gets cooked), PRESS REMOTE (microwave off), PRESS REMOTE (blender on -> Gremlin killed), PRESS REMOTE (blender off), PRESS REMOTE (open laundry chute), LOOK CHUTE (Gizmo can now be seen), PRESS REMOTE (close laundry chute), PRESS REMOTE (drawer open), LOOK DRAWER (found igniter), LOOK DRAWER (found knife), GET IGNITER, GET KNIFE, DROP REMOTE

If you want to take a look at GIZMO, you can do this with the command "LOOK GIZMO"
Now back again into the bedroom to kill the Gremlin with the knife and get the torch.

E, U, KILL GREMLIN, GET FLASHLIGHT

Now out of the house and we head towards the tavern.

D, GO DOOR, N, E, E, GO TAVERN

Now go behind the bar to get the camera and the pipe.

GO BAR, GET CAMERA, PRESS BUTTON (to shoo away the Gremlins), CUT PIPE, DROP KNIFE, GET PIPE

At the latest since now there is a group of Gremlins waiting outside for us, to occupy them for a while wie go to the cinema and start the movie.

N, N, E, GO CINEMA, S, START PROJECTOR

Now go to the car workshop to get the gas bottle and the welding torch.

N, N, W, W, GO STATION, GO PIT, GET TORCH, GET BOTTLE

Now go home into the garage and destroy the snowplough so you cannot be rolled over.

U, N, W, S, S, OPEN VALVE, LIGHT TORCH, WELD SNOWPLOUGH, DROP IGNITER, GET LADDER

Next we have to let out the water in the swimming pool. HINT: If Gremlins appear you can put them to flight again with PRESS BUTTON.

N, N, W, GO DOOR, DROP ALL, GO POOL, GET PLUG, U, GET CAMERA, GET FLASHLIGHT, GET BOTTLE, GET PIPE, GET TORCH, GET LADDER

Now the movie is over and there are Gremlins lounging around in the streets again. Therefore: Again to the cinema ...

E, E, E, E, E, GO CINEMA, S, START PROJECTOR

... to then go to the store next door to get the hacksaw unhurriedly.

N, N, GO STORE, W, DROP LADDER, GET HACKSAW

With the hacksaw we now go to the mailbox and cut it.

E, S, W, W, W, N, LIGHT FLASHLIGHT, MAIL FLASHLIGHT, CUT BOX, GET PLATES

With the plates from he cut mail box we go back to the store and weld closed some of the outlet shafts.

S, E, E, E, GO STORE, N, WELD PLATE, W, WELD PLATE

Now we have to start the movie for the third time.

E, S, S, GO CINEMA, S, WAIT (until you get visited by the Gremlins), START PROJECTOR

Now we have won some time to close the rest of the shafts.

N, N, GO STORE, E, E, WELD PLATE, W, U, E, WELD PLATE, W, U, W, OPEN DOOR, GO DOOR, WELD PLATE, E, E, E, OPEN DOOR, GO DOOR, WELD PLATE

... to start the movie again in the cinema.

N, W, D, D, W, S, GO CINEMA, S, WAIT (until you get visited by the Gremlins), START PROJECTOR

Now get the ladder from the store ...

N, N, GO STORE, W, DROP HACKSAW, GET LADDER

... to close further shafts.

E, E, U, U, U, W, GO DOOR, WELD PLATE, E, E, GO TRAPDOOR, WELD PLATE

Now we wait in the room with the last open shaft to shoo them into the shaft with the flashlight.

D, D, D, D, W, W, WAIT (until you get visited by the Gremlins), PRESS BUTTON

Now we can kill the Gremlins with the gas.

WELD PLATE, PLUG DRILL, CLOSE VALVE, DROP TORCH, DROP PLATE, EXAMINE COUNTER, GET TAPE, GET DRILL, DRILL PLATE, GET HACKSAW, CUT PIPE, JOIN PIPE (with tape), INSERT PIPE, OPEN VALVE

Now we go outside and wait for the explosion.

E, S, W, W, W, W, WAIT (until the store explodes)

Stripe^[1] now starts running and jumps into the pool in which, fortunately, there is no water any more.

GO DOOR, DROP ALL, GO POOL, GET STRIPE, U, E

End!

'Easter Egg'? With LOOK GIZMO you can look at the peewee ...

End! We have finished the adventure ;-)

Map[edit | edit source]

A map with all settings and the correspoding legend (from c64games.de)

Manual[edit | edit source]

A complete manual als jpg for the game in and can be found under manual on C64Games.de

Cheats[edit | edit source]

On the internet circulates the "Cheat Mode" POKE 4298,84 SYS 4096. This could not be verified with the emulator and the cracked versions.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.25 points at 12 votes (rank 355). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	8	24th April 2012 - 2663 downs
Lemon64	7.2	24th April 2012 - 27 votes
Kultboy.com	7.2	24th April 2012 - 5 votes
Happy Computer 9/85	-	Test report without voting system!
ZZap64	80%	Issue 6/85

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Wecky: "I was a Gremlins fan a that time (and I am still one :D) and jubilant to be able to get hold of this game. But it was and is damn hard to play. I never really got very far. However, each newly reached setting was a small success for me. I found the graphics for those times very successful and the mood of the movie was also there. Objectively speaking, the puzzles are not really done well and you often only proceed by "try and error", which can be frustrating very quickly. E.g. if I do not leave the sword in the house I will always be killed in the bar (and you only think, huuuuuhh?) Unfortunately, the end is also unimaginative, I would have wished for more here :-( I give the game 7 out of 10 points (due to the graphics and the Gremlins factor)".

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Bugs[edit | edit source]

The English C64 version has a bug but can be played to the end. If you simply type "GO" you arrive at the corridor of the store.
The German versions of the game by "The Syndicate" and "Dynamic-Duo" cannot be played to the end.