Ranarama

Ranarama

Game No.	165
Voting	7.13 points, 15 votes
Developer	Steve Turner, Gary J. Foreman (C64 Conversion)
Company	Graftgold
Publisher	Hewson Consultants Ltd.
Musician	Steve Turner
HVSC-File	GAMES/M-R/Ranarama.sid
Release	1987
Platform	Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, C64, C64DTV, ZX Spectrum
Genre	Shoot'em Up, Gauntlet, Arcade
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	also: Rana Rama

Description[edit | edit source]

Mervyn, a sorcerer's apprentice was in one of his practice hours with his mentors. He was about to try a new spell for a better look, but this failed and turned him into a frog. While being in this state, evil warlocks appeared and killed all his mentors. He alone was saved, as he appeared only to be a frog. Now Mervyn is the only one left to take revenge on his attackers, by destroying all the warlocks.

So he heads off into the dungeons of the warlocks, consisting of 8 levels. He hasn’t lost his magic abilities and can use them to defeat the minions of the warlocks. The warlocks themselves need to be defeated in single fights, by putting together the word "RANARAMA", before his life energy is drained.

Mervyn can still do magic and possesses spells on a low level, which he can raise during the game. Equipped with this, he dares to go into the dungeons of the attackers – but for this he needs energy, which he uses up but which he can also refill.

The game RANARAMA reminds a bit of Paradroid (fights with warlocks, lifts, darkening of the level when all warlocks are defeated), but has also Gauntlet elements (exploring the map, nests with monsters).

Design[edit | edit source]

There is no scrolling, but the single screens build themselves up during the game and can be entered again and again. New rooms appear fluently. Unfortunately, some enemies cannot be defined clearly, as they are only shown in black (in the original spectrum version they are coloured). Therefore it might happen that you cannot see in all the confusion, how many enemies you are facing. The screen is well-arranged in the playing mode. Except for the main happening you can only see the energy bar. Points and facts about the currently used spells are stored in a separately available screen. One can also concentrate well on the “fight” as this is showed in a separate screen as soon as the player meets a warlock.

A fast melody is played in the title screen, while during the game appropriate sound effects for jumping, shooting, spells and during the fight are played.

When a level is finished, the minions that are left, patterns and symbols are displayed in black. Mervyn is then displayed in bright grey and energy crystals stand out in green.

Unfortunately, there is no highscore list in this game. The currently highest score is displayed on the title screen from time to time.

Mervyn in a room with a warlock.

A level free of all the warlocks gets dark.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Course of the game[edit | edit source]

At the start of the game you are placed in the easiest level (blue background) in a randomly chosen room.
After that you should explore every room and destroy all minions, monsters and above all the nests.
If you meet a warlock, a fight is started. Here you need to puzzle together the word RANARAMA before the energy counter has run out. If you win it, the warlock is defeated and you can pick up the runes. If you lose, you lose your current power spell (or a life).
With the collected runes you can cast spells on a higher level.
For Mervyn's movements and spells you need energy – the energy that is left is displayed on the right by a yellow bar. If it sinks under a certain level, the frog starts to flash. When the bar is empty the currently used energy spell is used up and the frog explodes. After that you are placed again in a randomly chosen room on the map.
To refill the energy, there are energy crystals spread on the map. They are practically drawn towards the frog.

Only when you’ve entered a room you see its size and what is in it. From that moment on the room will appear on the overview map. Enemies are only visible when you are in the same room as them.

There are altogether 8 levels, whereby the background colours differ (easens the orientation).

First level in blue – with some minions and nests.

The red level – here you will meet other minions.

Spells[edit | edit source]

There are four different types of spells:

Power Spells – they decide where the magician gets his power from. It is the only spell that can run out. It feeds all other spells – how much they need is shown behind the word "Drain". You lose the current chosen power spell when the energy bar is empty. If the status of the power spell is "Mortal" and all energy is gone, the game will be over.

Offence Spells – decides, what weapon is used.

Defence Spells – decides, what defence is used.

Effect Spells – here you can choose an additional spell, which can be a big help. A good example is the spell "Find", which is there at the beginning. With it you can make the hidden doors appear.

There are 8 different spells of each type with different levels. At the beginning you start with the weakest spells. Explanations for each type are given in the menu. You only see spells, which you can afford to cast with the runes you carry.

Currently used spells.

A power spell is used up.

Table of all spells, their required runes and their effect:

Spell type	Level	Name	Effect
Power	1 - Base Magic	Mortal	Uses your own life energy. When expired you are doomed.
Power	2 - Mysticism	Psychic	Second level energy spell. Uses energy of the mind.
Power	3 - Witchcraft	Symbyotic	Third level energy spell, uses life force of others.
Power	4 - Magecraft	Electra	Fourth level energy spell, uses electromagnetic force.
Power	5 - Runecraft	Elemental	Fifth level energy spell. High power from the elements.
Power	6 - Runelore	Ley	Sixth level energy spell. Syphons power from leylines.
Power	7 - High Magic	Entropy	Seventh level energy spell. High power from time.
Power	8 - Sorcery	Omnipotence	Power supreme, enough for all spells.
Offence	1 - Base Magic	Lap	Better than nothing.
Offence	2 - Mysticism	Missile	Improved firepower.
Offence	3 - Witchcraft	Plasma Bolt	Bane of mortals.
Offence	4 - Magecraft	Fireball	Deadly firepower.
Offence	5 - Runecraft	Bullball	Electric firepower.
Offence	6 - Runelore	Annihilate	Extreme firepower.
Offence	7 - High Magic	Disintegrate	Bane extreme, but uses high power.
Offence	8 - Sorcery	Vaporise	Magic supreme, if you have the power.
Defence	1 - Base Magic	Protect	Standard defence.
Defence	2 - Mysticism	Shield	Reduces hits.
Defence	3 - Witchcraft	Wall	Better defence against physical attack.
Defence	4 - Magecraft	Barrier	Muncher of mortals.
Defence	5 - Runecraft	Unseen	Mortals cannot see you.
Defence	6 - Runelore	Electrode	Defence against Electrocute.
Defence	7 - High Magic	Firebane	Defence against Conflegrate.
Defence	8 - Sorcery	Charm	Defence against black magic.
Effect	1 - Base Magic	Find	Will cause hidden doors to appear.
Effect	2 - Mysticism	See	Displays warlocks on map, if room has been explored.
Effect	3 - Witchcraft	Jump	Transfer through space when in real trouble.
Effect	4 - Magecraft	Demon	Unleashes an ally.
Effect	5 - Runecraft	Foolsbane	Will cause mortals blind panic.
Effect	6 - Runelore	Electrocute	Hits all vulnerable within active room.
Effect	7 - High Magic	Conflegrate	Red peril to all in range.
Effect	8 - Sorcery	Black Magic	Most deadly magic.

As you can see, you need different runes for the spells of a higher level as for the ones of a lower level. You will get these runes when defeating warlocks of a higher level.
But as many runes are needed for several spells, there will always be a shortage.

Glyphs[edit | edit source]

Glyph	Name	Description
	Glyph of Seeing	View map of the current level
	Glyph of Sorcery	View currently used spells and use different spell. The overview shows the status of the drain, available runes and the score. By scrolling you can change the currently used spells (depending on available runes).
	Glyph of Power	Releases a magic bolt of varying intensity. Disappears after use.
	Glyph of Travel	Access to other levels. It may not lead back to where you came from.

The map of the level is called up by the eye smybol.

Changing the level by the Glyph of Travel.

In the spell menu you can scroll through the choice of spells available.

Enemies and their points[edit | edit source]

Warlocks

Defeat wizard with the power of level 1 -4: 500 - 4000 points
Defeat necromancer with the power of level 5-8: 4500-8000 points

Minions

Dwarf Warrior – 1st level - 100 points
Fire Gollum – 2nd level - 200 points
Bisect – 3rd level - 300 points
Guardian – 4th level - 400 points
Death Serpent – 5th level - 500 points
Ghoul – 6th level - 600 points
Arachnae – 7th level - 700 points
Gargoyle – 8th level - 800 points

Destroy nests: 500 points

Controls[edit | edit source]

in the game
– Frog jumps into the corresponding direction
– cast effect spell
– shoot into the corresponding direction
while sitting on a glyph – function of the glyph is triggered

P pause game, to continue

A simple fight against a low level warlock.

in lift mode (Glpyh of Travel)
- back (before choosing a direction)
/ – go to the chosen direction

in map mode (Glpyh of Seeing)
– leave map

in spell mode (Glyph of Sorcery)
/ – leave mode
/ - scroll
when the desired spelll shows - "buy" spell, the required runes are removed

in fighting mode
/ – move the marking
– swap the highlighted letters

Solution[edit | edit source]

There is no solution as such, as the warlocks are spread randomly and the runes you get are different at every game.

Some tips:

First do the simple levels. You will recognize them by looking at the minions. If they are hard to shoot you are not prepared yet.
If you are unlucky, you get runes with which alone you cannot cast a spell, but you get lots of them.
Read the explanations for the spells carefully – “high level” does not always mean “very useful”.
Do not attack a warlock when having low energy. You might win the fight easily, but you would still want to be able to pick up the runes afterwards.
Try to enter a fight with a warlock when the room is apart from you two empty.
First destroy the nests, so no more monsters can form.
Monster from the nests approach you and you absorb them – this uses up a lot of energy, therefore try to shoot them.
Effect, attack and defence spells of a higher level need more energy. Only buy these spells if you can provide them with energy.
When you’ve won a fight, quickly pick up the four red runes. They often scatter in all corners of the room.
The runes disappear after a short time, so hurry!
As long as the runes are in the room you cannot shoot!

Cheats[edit | edit source]

None known.

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.13 points at 15 votes (rank 409). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	7	28th August 2010 - "very good" - 1879 downs
Lemon64	7,9	24th July 2010 - 37 votes
Kultboy.com	5,67	31st October 2010 - 3 votes
Happy Computer	63%	Happy Computer SH 21
Zzap!64	87%	Issue 25/18

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Camailleon: "If you occupy yourself with the game for a while, it is really fun. Although it reminds me a bit of Paradroid, it has further elements which give it its own charme. I could have imagined the minions to be a bit more detailed and coloured. In other respects, this game is really great!".

Robotron2084: "First I was thrilled by Ranarama: 'Ah, a fantasy type Paradroid? Great!' I thought. But after some time the defects at play came more and more to the fore – next to the obvious technical inadequateness as slowdowns and mean spectrum graphics. The game can be a long haul, a session can easily last half an hour or longer, of which you spend a good part with jumping through the already empty sections and the huge levels. For me this is just too little action in contrast to the comparable Paradroid. Furthermore, the collision query is rather moody, you often miss the hostile objects although you are standing directly next to them and enemies sneak up on you in the very broad blind angle. If you then lose your energy spell and are reborn as a mortal in a room full of enemies – far away from a Glyph of Sorcery – then you are frankly speaking gone to hell. For me the game was a flash in the pan. 6 out of 10 points."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Trivia[edit | edit source]

The game was originally developed for the Spectrum. On that platform it is designed more coloured and was very successful.
Rana is Latin for "frog", ramus means "branch".
There is a remake for Windows, Linux and Mac (s. section Links).