Sabre Wulf

Sabre Wulf
Developer(s)	Tim and Chris Stamper
Publisher(s)	Ultimate Play The Game
Platform(s)	ZX Spectrum BBC Micro Amstrad CPC Commodore 64 Mobile phone
Release date	July 1984(Spectrum) October 1985 (Amstrad CPC)
Genre(s)	Arcade adventure; Maze
Mode(s)	Single player Two player (Spectrum and Commodore 64 only)
Rating(s)	N/A
Media	Cassette
System requirements	48K RAM (Spectrum) 32K RAM (BBC) 64K RAM (Amstrad CPC)
Input methods	Keyboard, joystick

Sabre Wulf is a ZX Spectrum video game developed and released by Ultimate Play The Game in 1984. The game is the first in the Sabreman series. It was written originally by Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper, and later ported to many other computer platforms. In 2004 a new Sabre Wulf game, with completely different gameplay, was released for the Game Boy Advance.

Introduction

Typically for an Ultimate release, players are given a tantalising and cryptic introduction :

Gameplay

Taking on the role of Sabreman, players must navigate a flip-screen jungle maze (256 screens) to recover four pieces of a lost amulet (which depicts the titular Wulf). Once all four have been collected, the Keeper guarding the maze exit can be safely passed. However, between the entrance and exit, Sabreman must fend off a large number of tropical foes with his trusty sabre. Some enemies such as scorpions, snakes and spiders are easily dispatched, but larger adversaries such as hippos, rhinos and natives can only be intimidated by fencing. Furthermore, if the player remains in one screen for too long, an invincible bushfire appears and stalks Sabreman until he leaves. Along the way, the player also encounters the Wulf itself (albeit rarely). An invincible and persistent foe, it is better avoided than confronted.

As well as searching for the amulet, players can collect treasure for bonus points and extra lives to prolong their jungle adventure. Also available for the player to collect are jungle orchids that periodically grow and flower in forest glades. There are several varieties of these, each in a different colour and with a different effect on the player. Some confer immunity or increase movement speed, while others cause negative effects such as paralysis or disorientation (reversed controls). Collected wisely, they can make progress through the jungle much more easy.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The title music is a primitive realization of a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Prelude in C major from book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

• The colourful, stylised vegetation making up Sabre Wulf's maze bears a strong resemblance to the many jungle landscapes painted by the French post-impressionist artist, Henri Rousseau.

• Sabre Wulf is referenced in Rare's fighting game Killer Instinct which includes a werewolf character named Sabrewulf.

• The tape loading noise of Sabre Wulf was used on Aphex Twin's Corn Mouth.

• Sabreman makes a cameo in the game Banjo-Tooie in the level Hailfire Peaks, where he can be seen frozen holding the lost amulet right outside the train station on the icy side. Also, the combination for Superstash's safe is 1984, the year Sabre Wulf was released.

• There is a common glitch in Spectrum emulators where the hippos in the game appear to run backwards.

References

1. ^ Sabre Wulf at Eurogamer.net. Retrieved on 30 October 2007.
2. ^ Matthew Westcott. Forensic criminology, the ZX Spectrum way. Retrieved on 2006-07-29.

External links

• Sabre Wulf at Ultimate Wurlde
• Sabre Wulf at World of Spectrum
• Sabre Wulf at MobyGames
• Sabre Wulf map
• Sabre Wulf review at CRASH magazine
• A walkthrough video of Sabre Wulf on the ZX Spectrum at Google Video
• Sabre Wulf at the Open Directory Project