[AMSTRAD CPC] Sultan's Maze - Longplay & Review

[@Xyphoe]

Can we give some love to "24:7" in reply here for the awesome background music he provided please guys 'n' gals! You can check out and buy some of his stuff here - 247retro.bandcamp.com/ 😀👍

[@247retromusic]

Thank you Xyphoe!

[@AnnathePiana]

Freebie. It used to frighten me so much when I was a kid. I'd deliberately get close to the ghost so all the scary noises would start and then I'd turn it off and get in bed with my parents lol.

[@Misel982001]

A female cpc player? I have never met one.

[@Xyphoe]

I love hearing these stories! The game that scared me as a kid was Roland On The Ropes believe it or not ... the first time I got to level 4 my heart was already pounding as I'd never got that far ever, but then the skeletons appeared and I was like NOPE! and immediately switched the Amstrad off slightly petrified! xD

[@ojbeez5260]

@@Misel982001 yes, freebie in certain places in the world means something totally different ..apparently... heard it form a friend .. apparently. :P

[@Misel982001]

@@ojbeez5260 happy new year!

[@ojbeez5260]

@@Misel982001 unfortunately, 2020 did not have a 'happy ending'. So here to 2021. :P

[@RobWoodhouse46]

I had this as a kid, from memory this one had the longest loading time out of all the games in that pack. I'm sure it was over 800 on the tach counter on the cassette reader.

[@Xyphoe]

Yea I keep hearing stories of this being a long loader! Must be all that amazing BASIC code! xD

[@jackarts6901]

Remember this cassette used to take 17 minutes to load and I used to wonder who would ever want to wait so long for a game to load. I think of it every time I try and play a game on the Playstation 4 and it takes 3 days to load via about 80Gb of updates

[@ravenhill-ofthe-pitchfork-1968]

thankyou xyphoe, i was also one who got this as a freebie with my amstrad green screen 464 back in the mid 80s.

[@rossgardner9412]

Same here, I won’t hear a word said against the green screen monitor.

[@Xyphoe]

Obviously has to be colour monitor all the way, however ... HOWEVER ... I do love that green screen. So 80's and so cool!

[@mrbedford]

40 minute video on sultan's maze, this is gonna be a fun ride!

[@Xyphoe]

I do my best to make it fun/interesting!!

[@Warlock_UK]

I expected the first 28mins to be loading :D :D

[@ChrisBeard]

Lordy I was so scard of this game and Gem's of stradas when I was a wippa. Good vid

[@Xyphoe]

Haha! Thanks Chris ... it was Roland On The Ropes that scared me! (See earlier comment)

[@rossgardner9412]

Classic Amsoft, the first “Survival Horror” game.

[@Xyphoe]

Haha yea, elsewhere in the comments Gaz called it a survival horror and it never crossed my mind... but yes! Yes it is!! ha!

[@thelonelyhaz]

Eat your heart out resident evil. Old schools back I town

[@ojbeez5260]

@@Xyphoe 3D Ghost (3D packman clone like Sultans Maze / 3D monster maze) on the scared me on my aunts c64, before I got my Amstrad. Turn the corner ...ahhh ghost...wheres that keyboard key...arhhhh...scary stuff to a 5 year old - trying not to get eaten by trying to find the right keys to press before ...awww...darn it! Teeth come down the screen - I start to cry!

[@lemonybiscuits4824]

Tension to the max. Agreed. 😁

[@Legion_Centurion]

Well this right here the ultimate classic for the Amstrad an was part of that awesome 12 pac games which i had that with my Amstrad when first got my Amstrad which was so smart of them to do it for its release 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎 Also want to acknowledge the amazing 24:7 an his amazing music for the background that is used on the videos an live Amstreams. This game was so well done all around its ultimate greatness classic impressive at Amstrads attempts att 3d environments gameplay it would usual gave me few jump scares at times 😂 With no in game music just spooky sound effects only added to the tension in the game, an you doing it on hardest difficulty aswell @Xyphoe 🎖🎖🎖🎖 great awesome longplay an review

[@mashk]

i started loading the tape back in 84, as far as i know it's still going.

[@Xyphoe]

Ha! I heard it was a long loader, god knows WHAT it was loading!! There's hardly much to the game!

[@lemonybiscuits4824]

Why hasnt your kettle finished boiling for the tea you went off to make?

[@Mark-pr7ug]

Which Way Now? Out of the house and down to the pub.

[@Warlock_UK]

My favourite thing about this game was that it took 28 minutes to load, but if you break after loading and save back out to another tape that save will reload in under 3 minutes. WAT.

[@ATheV]

Everything about this game feels like a game show. Enter the maze, collect the jewels, avoid the ghost, guess the word jumble, Cliff Richards! All that it's really missing is a host and a live audience.

[@Xyphoe]

I should have presented it as such, like a cheesey gameshow host seeing as I'm appearing on camera here! Missed a trick! Damnit!!

[@gezzarandom]

@@Xyphoe Maybe you still could

[@gazsloane5975]

Haha, yes! Had this with the Amsoft pack back in the day, and it's probably the game that stuck in my head the most. Loved it, despite it legitimately terrifying me. Feels like one of the earliest attempts at survival horror, particularly with the energy management element. Though how weak is our hero? They literally lose energy from looking at a map!

[@Xyphoe]

You're right! it's Doom meets SURVIVAL HORROR! A real trend setter!! xD

[@lemonybiscuits4824]

Pyramid head is less scary :)

[@thelonelyhaz]

I loved this game, it was so hard for a kid to beat even with hedge jumps. Turning a corner and running in to the ghost was terrifying 😨 There was another maze game I've always thought was called dragon's maze but it's called dragona maze, published by Cascade Games in 1986. That gives the heeby jeebies too

[@Xyphoe]

Oh blimey, I think that came on the legendary Cassette 50 compilation right?

[@thelonelyhaz]

Yeah that's right, I've no idea where our tape of it went. I do still have it copied to disc tho.

[@James-fo8rf]

My copy of sultans maze stopped working. I did play a couple of times. Thought it was pretty amazing at the time being my first 3D game. But it’s not aged well.

[@Xyphoe]

It was definitely exciting stuff back in 1984!! Blimey, I got excited just seeing the sodding loading screen on the demo cassette! xD

[@8-BitRach]

As a kid, I didn't realise that when you turned left, you didn't actually move left, just turned to face left. I must have spent quite a long time just turning around on the spot. Once I was old enough to realise how to play it properly, I didn't actually mind it. I don't think I'd have the patience now though lol

[@Xyphoe]

No kid could be arsed reading through page after page of wall of text could they!! But if playing today in an emulator - top tip... put the emu speed up to 200% at least! Will make it bearable! But easy to get lost where you are!

[@MOXIEchannel]

Great gameplay my friend!!

[@Xyphoe]

Thank you Moxie!!

[@Bippystopper]

This takes me back, crikey !!!!

[@Xyphoe]

Yea lots of people getting nostalgic in the comments! I knew it! xD

[@Robahue]

For some reason, I always loved that game. Maybe because I could see the code and change it. :) And the first thing to do, was to remove the wall fill graphics, so drawing the screen was faster :D Haha, I made my own remake, but based on egypt :P Man, I really enjoy watching you playing the game so enthusiastic as is not really that exciting :)

[@Xyphoe]

How did you break into the code? I noted that if you press ESC you get the cursor appear but hitting ESC again just takes you back to the game! I imagine a large part of it is written in BASIC!

[@Robahue]

@@Xyphoe The tape version is not protected (I think disk version is different). So hitting double ESC can bring you to Basic. Now if you type LIST you will see the entire code, written in full BASIC. The same can be said with Admiral Graf Spee. So I you can imagine being a 10 years brat, trying to manipulate the code, how fun it was! But the game I really wanted to mess wiht it, was Roland In Time (my fav game from Amsoft). But that game probably was done mostly in Assembler in part.

[@Mark-pr7ug]

You could also list the code for The Galactic Plague. Once you worked out which variable represented the number of ships, you could give yourself 255 lifes. Still almost impossible to complete though.

[@Robahue]

@@Mark-pr7ug it is possible? Dammit, not the version I had (spanish tape)

[@Mark-pr7ug]

@@Robahue yes :). There was lots of handy programming tips/routines inside the listing for that game. One of the first routines I managed to back engineer was a small text in mode 0 routine. A string is read and then via the Tag command a series of redefined characters are placed (very closely) side by side.

[@tdawg135]

Awesome review

[@Xyphoe]

Cheers dude!

[@ojbeez5260]

Sultana's - can help thinking of raisins when In think of this. I didn't get this in my 12 game pack!!

[@Xyphoe]

Neither did I, I got a totally different selection of (loose) Amsoft games. Roland On The Ropes, Space Hawks, Spannerman, Galactic Plague, Quack-A-Jack, Jammin', Admiral Graff Spee, and I think a few others!

[@ojbeez5260]

@@Xyphoe me too, got time man 1 & 2 and word processor , bridge it, etc only goodish one was harrier attack with my 6128. Guy at WH smith chucked it in for free when we bought a tape deck with it...was not part of the amstrad pack for 6128. Got 2 free disc games too, Nemesis and op wolf Yippeee!! BTW fix your joystick yet?

[@gezzarandom]

Got this as a freebie as well, pain in the ass trying to complete it 🤣

[@Xyphoe]

Weirdly, I did this on my first go having thought previously when I did some test runs a few weeks ago that it was near impossible. I think I got lucky with the maze layout and the ghost movement here!

[@gamblor7151]

This is more complex than Calvinball. But my main point is ... how about a video about Gems of Stradus?

[@Xyphoe]

Yea pages after pages of rules and scoring! I've never really played Gems Of Stradus, I'll give it a go if there's enough call for a vid :)

[@stevena3244]

Ok this is a real long shot. Can you help me with the name of this 80s game. It was available on the Amstrad CPC 464 and probably other computers. If I remember correctly, it was a free giveaway tape from a magazine but could have been bought normally for all I know. Ok premise: There was this futuristic roller skater (you are behind him and he is heading forward in a simulated 3D setting. There were lots of polygons etc coming towards him on the floor which you have to jump, and the occasional spinning coin or eagle approaching him at head level which you had to duck to avoid. Any help would be appreciated.

[@Xyphoe]

I believe you're looking for a game called "Number One" or "No. 1" -> www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=1541

[@stevena3244]

@@Xyphoe Oh my god. Yes! I could sit here and tell you what it feels like to finally solve a nostalgic mystery of 40 years but I am sure you know. Thank you so much 😁

[@Xyphoe]

@@stevena3244 hehe! My pleasure!

[@gryz0r]

Wait, someone actually played this? I thought the most action you got from this was from the CPC demo-tape... Ok, sitting down to watch.

[@Misel982001]

The early cpc years..... When did u buy your cpc sir xyphoe?

[@Xyphoe]

Oooh good question, because my long term memory is sadly terrible and I asked my parents but they didn't really remember either. I think it was either 1986 or 1987.

[@Misel982001]

@@Xyphoe wow you are an early user. I bought mine on Christmas 1991.

[@TheIPGCorporations]

I played this a long time ago as a lad.

[@Misel982001]

How old are you today?

[@Xyphoe]

Hope it brought back nice nostalgic memories for you :)

[@lemonybiscuits4824]

This game: pacman but you have nightmares. 😁

[@honestreview1043]

I never liked this game and it took ages to load!

[@Xyphoe]

That was indeed an honest review! I guess it's all that complicated 3D it had to load! xD

[@iapetusmccool]

I had to watch this video at 1.75x speed.

[@andymountain130]

You say The famous 12 pack like oh mummy harrier attack rolland on the ropes yes ,but no mention of bridge it!!!!! Why ?got to the the best one . nevermind will be 1st of April Soon

[@Xyphoe]

WE SHALL NEVER SPEAK OF SUCH EVIL EVER AGAIN