Questprobe
Questprobe | |
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Developer(s) | Adventure International |
Publisher(s) | Adventure International |
Designer(s) | Scott Adams |
Programmer(s) | Scott Adams |
Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, DOS, Acorn Electron, ZX Spectrum, MSX, TRS-80 CoCo |
Release | 1984, 1985 |
Genre(s) | Text adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Questprobe is a trilogy of graphical adventure video games featuring Marvel Comics characters. The three games are Questprobe featuring The Hulk, Questprobe featuring Spider-Man and Questprobe featuring Human Torch and Thing.
History
In 1983, Marvel Comics searched for a licensee for use of its characters in a home computer game, and approached Adventure International; its founder and CEO Scott Adams was interested in the venture as an avid reader of Marvel since his childhood, and the two parties agreed to a contract on December 1, 1983.[1] Marvel's ten-year license for Adventure's use of its characters was Marvel's first long-term license,[2] as well as Adventure's first use of licensed characters. Adams, given unlimited freedom in creating the games, spent an afternoon coordinating a rough overview of the series with Marvel writer John Byrne, and Bob Budiansky would oversee the entire project. The series title came from Adams's attempt to formulate a title that would indicate the player's involvement in a search. The Hulk was selected as the star of the first installment because of his widespread recognition among general audiences,[1] and the game would be the Hulk's first appearance within the medium.[3] Questprobe featuring The Hulk was released on May 1, 1984, for the Acorn Electron, Apple II series, Atari 8-bit family, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, IBM PC DOS, and ZX Spectrum.[4][5] The game's release was accompanied by a comic similarly titled Questprobe, with the first issue centering on the Hulk being tricked into saving a doomed planet.[6] Because wholesalers had no provisions for distributing comics, Adventure International decided to reduce the size of subsequent issues in order to package the comics along with the games.[7]
In January 1985, Adams revealed that he was developing a second Questprobe game with Allan Milgrom based on Spider-Man, and disclosed plans to release a new game every three to five months, with a projected total of twelve or thirteen games. Subsequent games involving Human Torch and Captain America were planned at the time, as were potential games showcasing Iron Man and a villain character.[1]
Cancelled X-Men game
The fourth title in the series was to include the X-Men. This game was partly coded by Scott Adams but never saw the light of day as a published game, as Adventure International became bankrupt during its development in 1986.[8]
Comic book tie-ins
A Questprobe comic book tie-in was also released. Originally intended as a 12-issue miniseries, this series was canceled after issue #3 (November 1985) due to Adventure International's bankruptcy.[9] The story intended for issue #4, featuring the X-Men, was published in Marvel Fanfare #33 (July 1987).[10] The events of the Questprobe comic book were later followed up on in the Quasar series.
References
- ^ a b c Jermaine, John (March 1985). "Probing Questprobe". Commodore Power/Play. Contemporary Marketing. pp. 74–77. ISSN 0739-8018.
- ^ Gould, Steve (August 1984). "Scott Adams Interview". Page 6. No. 10. p. 19.
- ^ Walden, Matthew (May 4, 2015). "17 Super Fun Times the Hulk Showed Up in Video games". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 24, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
- ^ Kalata, Kurt (July 14, 2019). "Questprobe Featuring The Hulk". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
- ^ "Questprobe featuring The Hulk advertisement". Page 6. No. 10. August 1984. p. 18.
- ^ Jermaine, John (January 1985). "Software Gallery: Questprobe: The Hulk". Run. No. 13. IDG Communications. p. 14.
- ^ Williams, Noel (September 1984). "Adventure International: The Incredible Hulk". Micro Adventurer. No. 11. Sunshine Books. pp. 8–9.
- ^ GamesTM Staff (2010). "Great Scott". GamesTM. The Ultimate Retro Companion. 3. Imagine Publishing: 40–41. ISBN 978-1-906078-56-0.
- ^ Questprobe at the Grand Comics Database
- ^ Marvel Fanfare #33 at the Grand Comics Database