Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2016 October 11

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October 11

Video game from mid 90s

Hey all, around 1993 or 1994 there was a video game about a young man who had to do some kind of quest on an island. It was a puzzle type game where you were presented with a set landscape and had to look for clues by clicking on items, picking them up, and then merging them with other items to form more tools or other needed objects. The plot was some evil character was on this island and the player had to go stop them. It was fantasy-magical, if I recall correctly, and most of the first part of the game led up to getting a boat to go over the island. Items could be saved in a "haversack" which was later stolen once the player got to the island and he had to get it back. There was also this evil mosquito creature who would say "I'm going to STING you and give you SPOTS!". I've looked everywhere with various google searches but can't find the name of this game. Does anyone remember?? -O.R.^Comms 17:32, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Myst?--188.218.117.245 (talk) 19:20, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

My first guess also, but no. It was a different game. it had a hint 900 number line also where you could call for help in solving the puzzles. -O.R.^Comms 19:27, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Maybe one of the Monkey Island series? I don't know them, however, and found nothing about the evil mosquito. ---Sluzzelin talk 19:50, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

The 900-number thing is really no clue, unfortunately. Many (most, perhaps) adventure games of that era had 900 numbers (including LucasArts and Sierra, and I think Infocom and Adventure International) which provided tips for stuck players. There was a suspicion that games contained puzzles which were so intentionally obtuse that one needed to call the number. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 20:24, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

My first thought was that it sounds like a "King's Quest" kind of game. There's something in the King's Quest family called "Evil Island". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:52, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

I thought you losts your inventory in one of The Legend of Kyrandia games, but I can't seem to find mention of this from a search so perhaps I'm remembering wrong. Also the rest of your description only seems to fit book 1 if that. (I can't remember or find any mosquito, although I wonder if you're certain you have the right insect.) 1993 was still somewhat the hey day of P&C games, so there would be many possibilities some of them obscure. (Mind you, presuming you aren't sure it's a commercial release, if it was possibly more modern things are probably worse since e.g. it could be a free AGS or Flash game. Plus there are plenty of commercial releases even if many are a lot less known.) BTW, your description suggests to me a more classic P&C adventure that the Myst type which generally have minimal inventory (or HO games which largely predate 1993 anyway). Nil Einne (talk) 11:57, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

Yes, I haven't been able to figure out what game this was and even found a website last night listing the majority of adventure games from 1985 through 1993 and it wasn't on there. But, as a bonus, I purchased Wizardry 6 last night for only $4 on Steam. Such memories! -O.R.^Comms 13:34, 12 October 2016 (UTC)