History VideoGame / TheSacredArmourOfAntiriad

''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' is a {{Metroidvania}} by Palace Software. It was originally released in November of 1986 on the Platform/Commodore64, the Platform/ZXSpectrum, and Platform/AmstradCPC. Thereafter, the game was ported to Platform/AppleII and [[Platform/DOSBox DOS]] in 1987 and to [[Platform/ColorComputer TRS-80 CoCo]] and Sharp MZ-800 in 1988. In most countries, ''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' was released as such, as a direct translation of its original title, or simply as ''Antiriad''. The [[MarketBasedTitle outlier is the USA]], where Creator/{{Epyx}} published it under the title ''Rad Warrior''.

''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' is a {{Metroidvania}} by Palace Software. It was originally released in November of 1986 on the UsefulNotes/Commodore64, the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum, and UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC. Thereafter, the game was ported to UsefulNotes/AppleII and [[UsefulNotes/DOSBox DOS]] in 1987 and to [[UsefulNotes/ColorComputer TRS-80 CoCo]] and Sharp MZ-800 in 1988. In most countries, ''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' was released as such, as a direct translation of its original title, or simply as ''Antiriad''. The [[MarketBasedTitle outlier is the USA]], where Creator/{{Epyx}} published it under the title ''Rad Warrior''.

* InheritedIlliteracyTitle: The "Antiraid" of the title is not a proper name, but a misreading by the neo-humans' elders of "anti-rad". The blueprint they have in their possession has a tear in the paper between the "R" and the "A" that makes it look like there's an "I" there. So they read the description "anti-rad", short for "anti-radiation", as the name "Anti-riad".

''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' is the brainchild of Daniel Malone, who up until then had artistically been involved in the comic books industry only. Aside from the plot and the graphics, Malone also created the comic book included with the game that contains the backstory to the events of the game. In the year 2068, a hundred years in the future of the game's original release date, Earth has been politically united and divided in the North Sector and the South Sector. These two are in an arms race that escalates when both discover that both have been developing anti-radiation combat suits. Because these suits are meant to protect against all known weapons, they have the ability to make all weapons useless and so each sector's entire arsenal is deployed before the suits can be mass-scale produced. This causes a nuclear war and centuries for mankind to recover to the point of hunter-gatherer societies. At this point alien marauders discover Earth and launch an invasion. The neo-humans are enslaved, but the elders hide a few male babies to raise them into potential champions to defeat the aliens. Of them, Tal is selected to clear the job and sent out on a two-point mission: he is to find one of the suits of legend and use it to blow up the aliens' volcano stronghold.

The game map follows the outline of the volcano, at the foot of which are vast stretches of jungle. Once inside the volcano the path increasingly becomes a vertical experience. At the start of the game, Tal finds himself in either the lower left corner of the jungle or the lower right corner. In most versions, he's armed with rocks from the get-go, but in the ZX Spectrum version he first has to pick up a pile of rocks a few feet away from him.

Since the conceptualization of the Metroidvania genre in the early 2000s, ''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' has drawn renewed attention for being an early example and similar to ''VideoGame/Metroid1''. To be clear, the two games were released only months apart in their respective home countries and had no bearing on each other's developments.

* {{Loincloth}}: In the centuries after the nuclear winter, what little was left of humanity redeveloped itself into hunter-gatherer societies. High-ranking people wear fancy clothes, but the average worker wears simple clothing, such as a primitive loincloth. Tal is no exception. He starts his journey wearing nothing but a loincloth, starkly contrasting the hi-tech combat suit he ends his journey in.

* FantasticRadiationShielding: The particle negator is a component for the rad-suit that improves its protective qualities. Without it, high radiation near-instantly drains the rad-suit's energy. With, high radiation only rapidly drains the rad-suit's energy.

* AllThereInTheManual: The game itself gives no indication of who the protagonist is or what his goal is or what is going on. The rich backstory to the events of the game and even something as simple as the protagonist's name of can only be found in the comic book included with the game.

* EarlyGameHell: To emphasize Tal's primitivity compared to humanity before the nuclear winter, the heads-up display is inactive until he's worn the anti-rad suit. This means that until then, the player cannot keep track of Tal's health.
%%* FantasticRadiationShielding:
* FastKillingRadiation: There are three levels of radiation that get worse the closer Tal gets to the aliens' power supply system at the top of the volcano. The lowest four floors are without radiation. The next three floors have enough radiation that Tal's health steadily decreases if he's not in the anti-rad suit. The four floors above these have radiation so bad that Tal instantly dies if he leaves the suit. And the top two levels instantly destroy the suit itself if it isn't equipped with the particle negator. Even then, the suit loses charge at Level 3 radiation faster than an unsuited Tal loses health at Level 1 radiation.
%%* ForceFieldDoor: At various points inside the volcano are magno-fields. These let organic matter through, but prevent.

%%* HollywoodAcid:

%%* OurGhostsAreDifferent:

* PoweredArmor: The eponymous Sacred Armour of Antiriad is a combat suit capable of resisting extreme environments and not only protects its pilot but also heals them. With the right parts, it can fly (gravity displacers), shoot lasers from an arm cannon (pulsar beam), dispatch a bomb (implosion mine), and further improve on its protective capacity (particle negator). Tragically, the combat suit played a key role in the destruction of mankind in 2086, because its development could eventually make all weapons ineffective. So before that could happen, the parties in power went at each other with all they'd got, causing a nuclear winter few survived. Centuries later, the remnants of mankind have reformed themselves into hunter-gatherer societies of which only the elders are taught what is still known about the cataclysm. Among others, they keep a blueprint of the "ANTI-RAD combat suit", but a tear in the paper between the "R" and the "A" causes them to read it as "ANTI-RIAD". When aliens enslave them, the elders send out the warrior Tal to locate the Antiriad armour and defeat the aliens. He successfully retrieves the suit and the extra components, eventually using the suit's implosion mine to do away with the alien occupation.
* SacredScripture: Any and all texts left over from 2086 and prior are considered sacred and carefully curated by the elders of neo-human society. One such text is the blueprint for the anti-rad combat suit 00. Because of a tear in the paper between the "R" and the "A", the elders read it not as "anti-rad", but as "anti-riad". They understand enough of the blueprint to know that the anti-rad suit exists somewhere in the vicinity of the nearby volcano and is a valuable weapon would ever the need arise.

* ShoutOut: Most releases of the game render the "Antiriad" portion of the title in the Music/IronMaiden font.

* {{Teleportation}}: In the right half of the jungle, there is a teleportation gate that leads directly to the anti-rad suit. It is the only such gate in the game and it's located pretty close to where the suit is waiting.

The game map is pyramid-shaped. At the foot of the volcano, there are vast stretches of jungle, but once inside the volcano the path becomes more and more a vertical experience. At the start of the game, Tal finds himself in either in the lower left corner of the jungle or the lower right corner. In most versions, he's armed with rocks from the get-go, but in the ZX Spectrum version he first has to pick up a pile of rocks a few feet away from him. The primary goal is to retrieve the anti-rad suit and its four missing components.

%%* HandBlast:

* NoGearLevel: The anti-rad suit is incapable of two things: picking stuff up and passing magno-fields. In either scenario, Tal has to step out of the suit. This comes to a head when fetching the implosion mine. It is behind a magno-field, so Tal cannot reach it in his suit and it is in an area with radiation, so Tal not only has enemies and visible environmental dangers against him, but also time because he's slowly being poisoned without his suit.

* PoweredArmor: The eponymous Sacred Armour of Antiriad is a combat suit capable of resisting extreme environments and not only protects its pilot but also heals them. With the right parts, it can fly (gravity displacers), shoot lasers from an arm cannon (pulser beam), dispatch a bomb (implosion mine), and further improve on its protective capacity (particle negator). Tragically, the combat suit played a key role in the destruction of mankind in 2086, because its development could eventually make all weapons ineffective. So before that could happen, the parties in power went at each other with all they'd got, causing a nuclear winter few survived. Centuries later, the remnants of mankind have reformed themselves into hunter-gatherer societies of which only the elders are taught what is still known about the cataclysm. Among others, they keep a blueprint of the "ANTI-RAD combat suit", but a tear in the paper between the "R" and the "A" causes them to read it as "ANTI-RIAD". When aliens enslave them, the elders send out the warrior Tal to locate the Antiriad armour and defeat the aliens. He successfully retrieves the suit and the extra components, eventually using the suit's implosion mine to do away with the alien occupation.

''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' is the brainchild of Daniel Malone, who took inspiration from comic books. Aside from the plot and the graphics, Malone also is the creator of the comic book included with the game that contains the backstory to the events of the game. In the year 2068, a hundred years in the future of the game's original release date, Earth has been politically united and divided in the North Sector and the South Sector. These two are in an arms race that escalates when both discover that both have been developing anti-radiation combat suits. Because these suits are meant to protect against all known weapons, they have the ability to make all weapons useless and so each sector's entire arsenal is deployed before the suits can be mass-scale produced. This causes a nuclear war and centuries for mankind to recover to the point of hunter-gatherer societies. At this point alien marauders discover Earth and launch an invasion. The neo-humans are enslaved, but the elders hide a few male babies to raise them into potential champions to defeat the aliens. Of them, Tal is selected to clear the job and sent out on a two-point mission: he is to find one of the suits of legend and use it to blow up the aliens' volcano stronghold.

The game map is pyramid-shaped. At the foot of the volcano, there are vast stretches of jungle, but once inside the volcano the path becomes more and more a vertical experience.

%%* AllThereInTheManual:

%%* LostTechnology: Earth suffers a nuclear winter in 2086 and it takes centuries for the descendants of mankind to reform into societies.

* PoweredArmor: The eponymous Sacred Armour of Antiriad is a combat suit capable of resisting extreme environments and not only protects its pilot but also heals them. With the right parts, it can fly (gravity displacers), shoot lasers from an arm cannon (pulser beam), dispatch a bomb (implosion mine), and further improve on its protective capacity (particle negator). Tragically, the combat suit played a key role in the destruction of mankind in 2086. At the time, Earth is divided in the North Sector and the South Sector, which are locked in an arms race that escalates when both sides develop anti-rad combat suits. They go at each other with all they've got, causing a nuclear winter few survive. Centuries later, the remnants of mankind have reformed themselves into hunter-gatherer societies of which only the elders are taught what is still known about the cataclysm. Among others, they keep a blueprint of the "ANTI-RAD combat suit", but a tear in the paper between the "R" and the "A" causes them to read it as "ANTI-RIAD". When aliens enslave them, the elders keep a few male babies hidden in hopes of raising a champion that can find the Antiriad armour and defeat the aliens. Tal is decided to be that champion. Once ready, he sets out to find the Antiriad armour and use it to destroy the alien generator at the top of the volcano. He successfully finds the suit and the extra components, eventually using the suit's implosion mine to do away with the alien occupation.

[[caption-width-right:350:Why couldn't it be an Anti-Ryan Combat Suit? He's got it coming!]]

%%* AlienInvasion:

* PoweredArmor: The eponymous Sacred Armour of Antiriad is a combat suit capable of resisting extreme environments and not only protects its pilot but also heals them. With the right parts, it can fly (gravity displacers), shoot lasers from an arm cannon (pulser beam), dispatch a bomb (implosion mine), and further improve on its protective capacity (particle negator). Tragically, the combat suit played a key role in the destruction of mankind in 2086. At the time, Earth is divided in the North Sector and the South Sector, which are locked in an arms race that escalates when both sides develop anti-rad combat suits. They go at each other with all they've got, causing a nuclear winter few survive. Centuries later, the remnants of mankind have reformed themselves into hunter-gatherer societies of which only the elders are taught what is still known about the cataclysm. Among others, they keep a blueprint of the ANTI-RAD combat suit, but a tear in the paper between the "R" and the "A" causes them to read it as "ANTI-RIAD". When aliens enslave them, the elders keep a few male babies hidden in hopes of raising a champion that can find the Antiriad armour and defeat the aliens. Tal is decided to be that champion. Once ready, he sets out to find the Antiriad armour and use it to destroy the alien generator at the top of the volcano. He successfully finds the suit and the extra components, eventually using the suit's implosion mine to do away with the alien occupation.

[[caption-width-right:350:Why couldn't it be an Anti-Ryan Combat Suit? I hate Ryan!]]

* {{Loincloth}}: In the centuries after the nuclear winter, what little was left of humanity redeveloped itself into hunter-gatherer societies. High-ranking people wear fancy clothes, but the average worker wears simple clothing, such as a loincloth. Tal is no exception. He starts his journey wearing nothing but a loincloth and only upgrades to the sacred armour itself.

* FastKillingRadiation: There are three levels of radiation that get worse the closer Tal gets to the aliens' power supply system. The lowest four floors are without radiation. The next three floors have enough radiation that Tal's health steadily decreases if he's not in the anti-rad suit. The four floors above these have radiation so bad that Tal instantly dies if he leaves the suit. And the top two levels instantly destroy the suit itself if it isn't equipped with the particle negator. Even then, the suit loses charge even faster than an unsuited Tal loses health at Level 1 radiation.
* HumanSubspecies: At least three variations of "humans" have developed from the survivors of the nuclear war. Firstly, there's the recognizably human species that the protagonist belongs to. Then there are the subtains, "totally mindless sub-humans." They're hunched creatures that are hostile towards the protagonists' species. The third species isn't a fan of the protagonists' species either. When the aliens attacked, they allied with them and have since helped suppress and enslave the other human
%%* LostTechnology:
* NoGearLevel: The anti-rad suit is not capable of two things: picking stuff up and passing magno-fields. In either scenario, Tal has to step out of the suit. This comes to a head when fetching the implosion mine. It is behind a magno-field, so Tal cannot reach it in his suit and it is in an area with radiation, so Tal not only has enemies and environmental dangers against him, but also time as he's slowly being poisoned without his suit.
%%* PaintingTheMedium:
%%* PoweredArmor:

* UnwinnableByDesign: Should the anti-rad suit be drained too much from damage negation, it comes to a standstill and Tal will have to leave it behind to look for a recharge cell. A number of things can make this situation unwinnable. For one, there is a limited supply of recharge cells to be found across the map, so once they're gone the suit is on its last life. For two, Tal himself can't fly and may just not be able to travel very far without flight. And if he can, he may not be able to return to the anti-rad suit. And for three, the closer to the core of the aliens' power system, the higher the radiation. If the anti-rad suit stops working near it, Tal will die of radiation poisoning seconds after he leaves the suit's protection.

''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' is a {{Metroidvania}} by Palace Software. It was originally released in November of 1986 on the UsefulNotes/Commodore64, the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum, and UsefulNotes/AmstradCPC. Thereafter, the game was ported to UsefulNotes/AppleII and [[UsefulNotes/DOSBox DOS]] in 1987 and to [[UsefulNotes/ColorComputer TRS-80 CoCo]] and Sharp MZ-800 in 1988. In most countries, ''The Sacred Armour of Antiriad'' was released as such, as a direct translation of its original title, or simply as ''Antiriad''. The [[MarketBasedTitle outlier is the USA]], where it is known as ''Rad Warrior''.

[[caption-width-right:350:]]

[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sacredarmourantiriad_suitblueprint.png]]