# Ivanhoe, a game for the Amiga. (1990) Any other books which got turned into games? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234 "2005-04-20T14:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/1 "2005-04-20T14:56:57Z")
The 90s sucked. I see no use in denying it. However, the Amiga was cool. I was just looking for some info on the system, when I found that this title was made by Ocean. > [@Mr Creosote](#): > > You walk from left to right and kill a few enemies. Sounds like Super Mario World? Maybe, but it’s not! And it’s not even something similar! It’s Ivanhoe! > > The ‘story’ is quite simple: King Richard has been captured by the French and you have to rescue him. Alone. You start your quest in England. There you have to get to the port. Unfortunately, a forest full of villains lies in the way. So you have no other choice but to fight your way through. You draw your sword and show them what you’re made of! These weak peasants are no match for you! Some hits with your blade and they fall to the ground dead. Also those cowards hiding in the trees won’t escape you! > Arriving at the coast, the only ship available seems to be owned by vicious pirates! And they don’t want to help you crossing the Channel! Well, they wanted it like that! You have to slaughter them all and take control of their ship. > When you step onto French ground, you’re lucky! A horse is waiting just for you there. Just the right thing to take you to the city (Paris?). Only two enemies try to stop you. But there’s another danger: You have to avoid hitting all the stuff lying and flying around! So you just jump over the trunks and hit the bombs and shields out of your way with your lance. > Surprisingly, the French city is full of French soldiers! And they won’t let you (their enemy) pass! What a waste of life… > And the guards in the castle where the King is imprisoned are not at all smarter. They can’t even think of another solution. Sigh… > The game ends when you find the King. The journey back won’t be a problem anyway, because if you count how many people you’ve killed so far, you’ll notice that France can’t have much of a population left. P.S. The hero “Ivanhoe” is a short, long-haired blonde guy wearing armor, and he looks kinda European-style cartoonish. Interesting interpretation of a classic piece of literature. So, anyone else know of games based on novels? ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/2 "2005-04-20T15:29:37Z")
Douglas Adams created a text-adventure based on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I think it was just for the Mac. This was in the 80’s sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/3 "2005-04-20T15:32:46Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > Douglas Adams created a text-adventure based on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I think it was just for the Mac. This was in the 80’s sometime. I played that one on an Apple IIc. I’m pretty sure Infocom did their stuff on multiple platforms, so there would have been a DOS version. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/4 "2005-04-20T15:38:28Z")
Philip K Dick’s work has popped up here and there. Blade Runner and UBIK were both released on PC. Although Bladerunner was accurate to the movie and not the book “Do Androids Dream” and I’ve not played UBIK, but it seems to include elements of Dick’s work such as telepaths IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/5 "2005-04-20T15:51:06Z")
Tom Clancy’s _Hunt for Red October_ Stephen Coonts’ _Flight of the Intruder_ Dale Brown’s \*Flight of the Old Dog \* as the game _Megafortress_ ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/6 "2005-04-20T15:51:27Z")
Rainbow Six, and all the team-based tactical shooters that came out thereafter - I guess this would include even the Splinter Cell series. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/7 "2005-04-20T15:58:28Z")
There were two games made based on Feist’s Midkemia universe, _Betrayal at Krondor_ and _Return to Krondor_ . The first one in particular was quite a good game for the time it was released. Feist later wrote the events of the two games into (lackluster, by his standards) novels. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/8 "2005-04-20T16:01:21Z")
Wasn’t DeathTrap Dungeon a Choose-your-own-adventure type book? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/9 "2005-04-20T16:05:33Z")
Lord of the Rings. Dune. ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/10 "2005-04-20T16:12:43Z")
_Neuromancer_, by William Gibson, was made into a game for DOS, Apple _IIe_ and C64. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/11 "2005-04-20T16:15:57Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Lord of the Rings. > > Dune. I think it would be more accurate to say that these, along with the Harry Potter games, are adaptations of the movies that are adaptations of the books. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/12 "2005-04-20T16:35:33Z")
Hey, if somebody can say Blade Runner, I can _certainly_ say Dune and LOTR. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/13 "2005-04-20T16:35:40Z")
They made a Wheel of Time first person shooter game. If we’re going to include comic books we’ve got Spider-Man, Superman, X-Men, and a bunch of others that came out way before their movie counterparts. Eg. Spider-Man appeared on the Atari 2600 and the X-Men appeared on the NES, Game Gear, and the arcades. Marc ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/14 "2005-04-20T16:46:55Z")
There was a Xanth PC game based on the Piers Anthony novels (and tied in with one of the books). It was fairly amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/15 "2005-04-20T16:52:18Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I think it would be more accurate to say that these, along with the Harry Potter games, are adaptations of the movies that are adaptations of the books. Now wait just a nit-pickin’ minute! If you are referring to current games, yes. But there have been quite a lot of games (over a hundred?), made before the movie that take place in middle earth. [http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/chronology.html](http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/chronology.html) ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/16 "2005-04-20T16:58:58Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > I played that one on an Apple IIc. I’m pretty sure Infocom did their stuff on multiple platforms, so there would have been a DOS version. Infocom games used an interpreter that read game files to make games more easily ported from system to system. All you had to do was program a system-specific version of the z-file interpreter and you could run pretty much any Infocom game on that system. I can’t recall any system or OS off-hand (within limits–you can’t really squeeze Planetfall on a vic-20) that doesn’t have some form of the z-interpreter ported to it. Anyway. I’ve used a disk image utility to extract the Hitch-hiker’s game from an Apple II disk image (I actually own that version, so it’s perfectly legal for me) and run that game on my PC (using WinFrotz). Hm. Back to topic. Fred Pohl’s Gateway novels were made into a couple of reasonable neat text adventures (with graphics). ---
**Author:** ![LindyHopper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/17 "2005-04-20T17:15:18Z")
I once had an Infocom graphic adventure (still pictures with text, not animation) based on James Clavell’s _Shogun_. It was pretty cool, if really hard. Especially when you have to navigate through the storm to reach the shore of Japan. That part was tough. Probably if I’d read the book beforehand, or even seen all of the mini-series, it would have been easier. But it was a pretty cool game. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/18 "2005-04-20T17:45:03Z")
There are some books called “Death Gate” which was made into a rather cool adventure game. Probably a strench but there were a couple games based off Wagner’s Ring Cycle, which in Turn were based off various ancient Germaniac works. There are a number of games based off the works of HP Lovecraft. “Alone in the Dark” and “Shadow of the Comet” are perhaps the best of the commerically released ones. “Anchorhead” was a great fan text-game. “Prisoner of Ice” was inspired by “At the Mountains of Madness”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/19 "2005-04-20T18:16:37Z")
> [@Scott\_plaid](#): > > Now wait just a nit-pickin’ minute! If you are referring to current games, yes. But there have been quite a lot of games (over a hundred?), made before the movie that take place in middle earth. But not before the animated movies. [The Hobbit (1977) (TV)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077687/combined) [The Lord of the Rings (1978)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077869/combined) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234/20 "2005-04-20T18:19:00Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Hey, if somebody can say Blade Runner, I can _certainly_ say Dune and LOTR. I must admit I missed that but scrolling up I see **Pushkin** acknolwedged that the game owed more to the movie than the book. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ivanhoe-a-game-for-the-amiga-1990-any-other-books-which-got-turned-into-games/300234.md?page=2)