Death Sword
Description official descriptions
The evil magician Drax is terrorizing the jeweled city and cast a spell over the beautiful princess Marina who is forced to obey him. From the lands to the north, a hero is sent to help the city and free the princess. He is Gorth, the strongest of the barbarian warriors. With his sword in hand, he has to beat eight of Drax's best warriors and at last the magician himself. He will fight them in the woods, on the mountaintop, in the dungeon... finally reaching Drax's palace itself.
This is essentially a one- or two-player fighting game where you control a big barbarian and fight another player or a computer AI. There are several kinds of hits, and some hits take off half a point while others take off a whole point. Each player has six of these "power points". They also have a special hard to perform "death sword" which decapitates your opponent, killing him with one fell swoop.
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Atari ST version)
5 People
Conceived and designed by | |
Atari ST programming by |
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Sound by | |
Assistant Artists |
Reviews
Trivia
Cover
Michael Van Wijk, the model in the (Barbarian) front cover photo later became Wolf in the UK TV version of Gladiators. His character was something of an overblown pantomime type who aimed to add some light relief to proceedings. The back cover features Maria Whittaker - a famous The Sun's Page 3 model in the 80s .
German index
On October 31, 1987, the German version of this game was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. Two months later, on December 31, 1987, followed the UK import. More information about this topic can be found in the game group.
Inspiration for the sword fighting
Designer Steve Brown wanted to do a sword fighting game. The inspiration for those fights came from the film Conan the Destroyer. He admits he watched the movie for hours to extract the sword fighting scenes. These fighting moves were then re-performed by himself and Gary Carr and also filmed. These short film cuts were then used as a base for the animations in game.
Awards
- Commodore Format
- March 1994 (Issue 42) Heaven – The Path to Righteousness: 20 Essential Games
- ST Format
- January 1993 (issue #42) - #46 in '50 finest Atari ST games of all time' list
Information also contributed by Xoleras
Related Sites +
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AtariMania (Kixx, UK, Atari ST)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (KlassiX, UK, Atari ST)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (LK Avalon, Poland, Atari 8-bit)
For Atari 8-bit: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (Palace Software, France and UK releases, Atari ST)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
CPC-Power (in French)
For Amstrad CPC: game database entry; game packaging; manual digitalizations; goodies; advertisement; magazine reviews; downloadable releases; additional material. -
CPCRrulez (in French)
For Amstrad CPC: game database entry; advertisement; game packaging; downloadable releases; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (BBC Micro)
For BBC Micro: exhibit reference ID CH31126; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Palace Software, Amiga)
For Commodore Amiga: exhibit reference ID CH11505; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Palace Software, Amstrad CPC)
For Amstrad CPC464: exhibit reference ID CH20289; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Palace Software, C64)
For Commodore 64: exhibit reference ID CH18258; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Palace Software, C64)
For Commodore 64: exhibit reference ID CH30216; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Superior Software, Acorn Electron)
For Electron: exhibit reference ID CH33290; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Superior Software, BBC Micro)
For BBC Micro: exhibit reference ID CH21651; additional material. -
Commodore 64 Boxed Sets
For C64: high quality game packaging digitalisations. Include box, manual, brochure, additional material. -
Commodore Plus/4 World
For Commodore 16, Plus/4: game packaging; online emulation of game; downloadable releases; additional material. -
DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOS
Statistics page of compatibility with original DOS version. -
Hall of Light
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Kio's home
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Lemon 64
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Lemon Amiga
For Amiga: game database entry; magazine reviews; music; manual; additional material. -
Luxgames
released a Flash-based Barbarian remake. -
Replacementdocs (Atari ST, ML1 Manual)
Documentation for Atari ST. -
The Tipshop
For ZX Spectrum: a central archive for all Spectrum and SAM games hints, tips, cheats, maps, hacks and pokes. -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Encyclopaedic entry for combined platforms. -
World of Spectrum
For ZX Spectrum: downloadable releases; additional material including – cassette inlay, advertisement, instructions; remakes links; player reviews; magazine references; magazine adverts. -
ZX Spectrum Reviews
For ZX Spectrum: magazine game reviews in HTML.
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 1033
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tomer Gabel.
Amiga added by EboMike. iPhone, iPad added by Sciere. Commodore 64 added by Der.Archivar. Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro added by Kabushi. Atari 8-bit added by Martin Smith. Atari ST added by ZZip. Electron added by Jack Lightbeard. Antstream added by lights out party. Apple II added by Servo. ZX Spectrum added by RodeoInTheGreatWhiteNorth.
Additional contributors: Trixter, Quapil, Martin Smith, formercontrib, Macs Black, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Monsieur B., Jo ST, FatherJack, ZeTomes.
Last modified February 27th, 2023.