Adventure A: Planet of Death is an Adventure Game by Artic Computing released in 1981 for the ZX81, in 1982 for the ZX Spectrum, in 1984 for the Commodore 64, and in 1985 for the Amstrad CPC as part one of an eight-game series, which had its first three installments remastered for smartphones in 2020.
In this game, you're stranded on an alien planet and have to find your spaceship to go back home, but the dangers along to way will make it a difficult task.
This game provides examples of:
- Beware the Skull Base: The boxart of the 1982 release depicts a part of the planet as skull-shaped.
- Game-Breaking Bug: If you enter the lake while already holding the gold coin, the number of items you can carry decreases (a common bug in games derived from Ken Reed's Adventure II
engine). - Inventory Management Puzzle: You can only carry five items at a time. It's necessary to drop what you don't need at some points, like at the computer.
- Little Green Man: The first alien you meet is described as a small green man.
- The Maze: The damp cave leads to a maze, in which passages are everywhere.
- Press Start to Game Over: Taking the plant in the very first screen makes you die.
- Useless Item: The stones near the edge of a deep pit don't have any function.
- Video Game Remake: The game was remade in Unity for smartphones in 2020, with all text commands removed and replaced with simpler buttons.
- A Winner Is You: Beat the game and you get the line "Congratulations, you managed to complete this adventure without getting killed."
