From yesterday’s detailed space adventure of Dark Star we turn to Number #80 in the Your Sinclair Top 100 and it’s very much a depart from the scenes we witnessed yesterday. In another game which could easily be labelled as a Manic Miner clone, we open the portcullis on Sir Lancelot.
Sir Lancelot was published back in 1984 by Melbourne House, the people behind such games as Horace Goes Skiing, Chess and of course Double Dragon. In Sir Lancelot we see our brave knight dropped into a bizarre world consisting of 24 rooms filled with guardians and creatures. It’s his task to gather the flashing items within each room, before the time expires, and get the heck out of there fast.
Simple, easy and fun! Well not for me. Everyone else so far seems to like Sir Lancelot, praising its creators – Stephen Cargill & Arnie with the music [listen here] composed by Ian Piumarta – for building the game under 16K, which I freely admit is an amazing achievement.
However I’m still not enjoying it. My main dislike is that Sir Lancelot is exceptionally twitchy, making the play of the game – for me – not the most fun. This being said I did appreciate the little pieces added, especially the character animation for the remaining lives, though I’m sure we’ve seen that in another game somewhere.
Sir Lancelot clearly scores points for being created under 16K, but should it get classic status just for this in my book? Not really.
Originally published June 9, 2016. Updated June 24, 2023.
