Game #167: The Wizard’s Tower (1982)

The Wizard’s Tower was published in 1982 for the TRS-80 Coco and a year later ported to the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. I played the Commodore 64 version using an emulator and it took me four hours to complete.

When the game begins you get to choose between three classes: elf, warrior, or wizard. The wizard has the ability to use spells but has limited combat options whereas the warrior is skilled at physical combat but has limited spell use. The elf is a mixture of the two. I chose the wizard option as depicted above. You begin play with a magic amulet and not much else.

When you enter C on the map which represents (C)ity you’ll then have the option to upgrade your armor as well as purchase magical weapons, spells, and rations. Better armor and more magical options present themselves as your character grows in skill and power.

Each time you defeat your opponent in battle you receive more hit points and your experience grows. The more experience you have the more powerful your character becomes.

The outdoor map is extremely simplified for a game released in 1982. It was especially shocking to experience a map of such minimal scale after having just completed Ring of Darkness. The woods are depicted at the bottom of the screen and the letter G which you see randomly scattered about represents (G)oblins. The goblins are quite challenging in the beginning of the game but as you gain experience and find yourself grinding in order to defeat the ‘big bad’ they are nothing more than cannon fodder. You will also encounter (T)rolls in the mountains above which, surprisingly, are even easier to beat than the goblins.

When you defeat an opponent, besides experience and hit points, you’ll also find gold pieces. The gold pieces are necessary to upgrade your equipment and to purchase magic items. The most expensive magic weapon I could purchase was the Axe of Aaron and it greatly improved my combat prowess.

This is a game where once again food is necessary for survival. Each step that you take subtracts from your supply of food so you’ll want to make sure that your rations are well stocked. Surviving in the beginning of the game was harder but nowhere near as challenging as it was in the previous Ring of Darkness.

Once you enter the castle icon on the overland map you enter a castle dungeon as depicted above. You move about and like in the overland map the letters represent either opponents or treasure. The letter T represents (T)reasure or chests which contain gold pieces. The letter G represents (G)oblins and these are the easiest creatures to beat. The letter B represents a Balrog and while it is possible to defeat these creatures at lower levels they can prove to be very deadly encounters. The letter W represents evil (W)izards and these dungeon denizens are extremely hard to beat. You will most likely lose your life and have to start all over again if you attempt to take them on too early. Once you gain in experience and hit points you can eventually beat them.

During combat each player can choose to (A)ttack, (R)un away, or (C)ast a spell. The player and opponent exchange blows until one of them has perished. When you choose to attack you will be given a choice of weapon or magic item that you would like to use. You can experiment with the different items to see which are more effective against certain creatures.

The # character represents stairs going down. The second level of the castle is a much smaller dungeon map but there are two dragons on the second level that you’ll have to defeat before you can continue lower.

In combat it is your experience points and level which help to decide the outcome in these battles and not so much the number of hit points that you have. If your opponent’s experience is higher than yours you’re likely to get walloped.

Once you defeat the two dragons you can continue down to the last level. Once you choose to take the stairs to this last level you cannot return from whence you came. You are trapped down there in this last level with the Mightly Maggdar and his minions. You’ll do battle with both a Goblin and a Wizard down here and the letter M represents the (M)ighty Maggdar. When you encounter Maggdar you’ll also see this message displayed:

The Mighty Maggdar is extremely difficult to beat. He deals a great amount of damage and is almost impossible to hit until you’ve effectively built your experience up higher than his. This required a lot of grinding and resulted in me having to begin the game all over again after I was killed by Maggdar in our first encounter. It took me four hours to beat the game and much of that time was grinding and gaining experience so that I could finally vanquish Maggdar.

In the screen depicted above I was yet no match for Maggdar despite my hit point total because his experience total was much greater than mine.

In the screen depicted above I was finally able to build up my experience point total so that it was greater than Maggdar’s total. This took me almost three additional hours of grinding to build up this amount. Completionism does have its faults. Once you defeat the Mighty Maggdar you receive the following message:

I struggled to find any kind of box art or manual which may have accompanied this game. You can find it advertised in Aardvark’s Catalog and in computer gaming magazines of the era but I found evidence of nothing else. It looks like Aardvark released it just before their Dungeons of Death release. I looked all about and was hoping to be able to uncover something more for you before I wrote this article but alas I’ve come up empty handed.

Another mystery is that in various accounts there are three talismans that you are supposed to find and bring back to the City in order to win the game: a Scepter of Speed, a Ring of Strength, and a Crown of Wisdom. However I encountered none of these items and in the game I played the end game or victory resulted in me being the new wizard of the tower after defeating Maggdar. I could find no official documentation to corroborate my version I played vs. any other descriptions. Perhaps the Commodore 64 version varied slightly from the TRS-80 CoCo version. I feel justified at this point at having played the game in its entirety and I am moving on.

This game seemed rather short compared to the epic Ring of Darkness which I just finished but it still took me four hours to beat. The game played like it was released in one of the type in magazines of the time but all evidence points to it begin published by Aardvark for the TRS-80 CoCo in 1982.

I started Dungeons of Daggorath after defeating The Wizard’s Tower and I am mightily stuck on the third level of the game. I will make a constitution check here and then get right back at it (takes a deep breath and readies himself). Until next time…