Reviews

1984 Bug-Byte (UK)
by Albert Ball

Distinctively different in looks, Rapscallion is in fact a complex and difficult game.
Some may not like the half resolution chunky looking graphics, but in my opinion this makes the game quite original and unique.
You play the part of a king who has had his crown and castle stolen by Rapscallion the rogue, and as been incarcerated in his own dungeon. But a friendly Fairy Princess came on to help and gave him the ability to transform into a bird or a fly, quite useful along the game, as you are able to see.
You also turn into a ghost when you lose a life and can wander unharmed around a section until you find a body.
The game has a save and load option, which helps a lot in completing the game.
For later Spectrum players, the game may be uninteresting at first glance, the chunky graphics or the character inability to move diagonally, which is by itself an honest complaint I'm sure, may detract some, but give it a fair go and you'll see you will be surprised by the imaginative screens you will encounter.
All in all I find Rapscallion very interesting, different from the rest, and very fun to play.

My sister and I played this a lot as kids, it just had a certain charm to it that hooked us both.

We worked together having goes and turns trying to figure out how to "do" the game, we figured it out eventually and went back to it again and again, until the tape got lost or damaged, I can't remember, I wasn't that old.

Anyway, the things I remember most were A, the sound effects, i remember them being quite entertaining for some reason and B, the rooms you had to navigate through. I can remember thinking what a bizarre world it was. Graphics quality didn't matter with games like this, you can see what things are supposed to be and that's all you need.

A true classic game in my eyes, I have no idea if it was viewed as being good at the time or made much money and I'm sure I'm only raving over it because I played it as a kid but I did, so I am.

I didn´t know this game and I must say that it is kinda nice ! Full of chambers to explore and with many things to offer . Some of the chambers are provided with a touch of surreal humor ...

The graphic aspect of Rapscallion is not so remarkable although the game doesn´t need great graphics to catch your atention .


The maze is wide and the actions are varied so not to get bored . The colors are also bright and inspiring . It is easy to get lost ...

It is fun to play Rapscallion although the keys/controls are not so intuitive as I often find myself puzzled about them .

Rapscallion is an above-average game , but not much ... :(

Ps - I didin´t play this game as a kid .

I remember getting this rather unusual arcade adventure from a bargain bin in about 1987 or 1988, along with a handful of Bug-Bytes other 1984 titles namely Antics, Star Trader, and Stay Kool. The nice thing is they were all 50p each!

I vaguely remember thinking that the game looked bloody awful when I first loaded it up, and was ready for disappointment to say the least. What a pleasant surprise it was to me that even though looking like somebody had swallowed a Commodore 64 game and a bottle of castor oil, and projectile sprayed the imminent chunky aftermath onto my screen it was a joy to play. Yep definitely a 100% substance over style game.

The story goes that there has been a rather heinous usurpation by none other than the rather 'orrible Rapscallion the Rogue. You as the newly but unwillingly abdicated king have been somewhat ironically imprisoned in your own dungeon. Help is at hand though as the stickle brick fairy super model is here to turn you into a bird, and also give you the ability to turn into a fly. This although rather silly sounding brings an element of strategy to the game. The bird can pass objects that the fly can not, and vice versa. Add to this element that is costs you one of your lives to transform, and you may find that some careful planning is key to your success.

The game itself is quite impressive, as pretty much each screen contains a new trick, trap, or puzzle for you to interact with or overcome. There is definitely enough variation to keep you busy, and enough enemies to keep you on your toes. Impacts with enemies doesn't necessarily mean death though, for instance cats will kill the bird, but not the fly. Frogs tongues will catch the fly but not the bird. Some enemies even though not lethal may cause some ill effects to the form they can't kill, and this is true of several projectiles in the game. These range mainly from power down type effects like slo-mo, and inverted or mixed up controls. Occasionally you may find you get speeded up, this can be helpful, but also quite hazardous depending on your location.

The game sounds daunting, but the pixies are here to help, no not the band, (although a cameo from Frank Black, Kim Deal, or Joey Santiago would put a smile on my face) but actual magical little pixies. They jump about all happy on their little toadstools, and give you things if you touch them (No not like that you dirty buggers!). The pixies can give you items to overcome puzzles or extra lives. There are also magic gems to collect and upon collecting a gem a hint will be given as to where you can find a pixie, and what he will have for you. For instance "Prolong your life in the Danger Maze", pretty much means hot foot (or fly in this case) over to the danger maze and the pixie will have a number of extra lives for you, yup you read it right lives, sometimes they give you more than 1. Which is nice, but there's a good chance you'll need them so don't waste them.

One nice feature is if you do happen to meet an unfortunate end you become a ghost, you can then fly around all the available screens and just look about, this is useful for mapping or taking notes of the whereabouts of items. Which as far as I can tell are randomly generated each game.

The game is split into 3 parts the wilderness, the labyrinth, and the castle.

To exit the wilderness you must find a key to the labyrinth, to exit the labyrinth you must find 2 genies who will tell you the secret to solving the labyrinth, and to reclaim your throne in the castle you must get a magic wand. When you get the wand Rapscallion will be stripped of his powers and run away from you instead of colliding head on with you. If you catch him you win.

So anyway the game plays very well, even if it does look like it was built out of Duplo. The sounds are functional, some are actually quite nice, but unfortunately some are a little grating in places, and some are so bad they'll make you want to ram knitting needles in your ears.

Rapscallion is an unusual and enjoyable puzzley, arcade adventure, that is quite digest, but can still be devilishly tricky at times. The story is quite clichéd but I can forgive that, as most game stories are even nowadays. If you can find yourself able to get past the chunk o' vision, there's an enjoyable game to be had under the crudely square appearance. Worth firing an emu up for a quick play every now and then, and if you are finding it a bit easy there are multiple difficulty levels to set it to.

I'll give it 4/5 as it's fun to play, and for it's sheer creativity at the time. Who needs good graphics?

Lots of LSD.

Your arch-enemy RAPSCALLION THE ROGUE threw you in jail and stole your castle, your crown, your power and your rolled oats. A fairy and some other magic friends try to help you transforming you into a bird, probably so that you can be a proper jailbird. Isn't it helpful? Anyway, now you can try to fly away from the dungeons.
In short, this is a maze game, with adventure elements, and lots of bizarre screens and dangers, drawn with peculiar big and blocky graphics. Did I say that you're now a bird? Well, that's not entirely correct: in fact, you're bird AND a fly too. You can change between these two, and it's necessary to cross safely or more easily certain screens or, for example, enter certain narrow passages, too small for the bird, but wide enough for the fly.
Unluckily, this change costs you a life each time, so it's something to do with parsimony. Anyway, through the maze you will find diamonds, and pixies too, which, once touched or taken, could help you to survive longer specific perils in specific screens - which one is communicated to you by the appearing of a message -, they could also give you useful informations, spells, keys, shields or even some extra lives. One of the weird touches of the game: when you're killed, a ghost leaves your body, and you can wander through the maze in this ectoplasmic form, but you can't touch anything, so to go on with the game you must go back and re-enter you own body. Once escaped from the dungeon, it's time to enter the castle and defeat RAPSCALLION THE ROGUE, and probably get back your rolled oat. Graphics are a bit rough, and in spite of being a simple 2D game, there are frequent slow-downs, but its quirkiness and inventiveness, added to the good playability, keep the score high.
Nice ancient crap.

Chunky but funky with a side order of strange.