Archon

Now here's a game that stands the test of time better than most: Freefall's 1983 classic Archon. I'm not very familiar with its sequels but they all seemed different than the original.

http://www.blafasel.de/~et/64er/archon-screenshot.gif

For those that don't know, Archon is an Action/Strategy game where two sides compete against each other on a chess-like board. When two opposing characters land on the same square the game switches to a battle mode where the characters duel each other, launching projectiles and dodging.

People who aren't into strategy or board games shouldn't be turned off; this game is mostly an action game and is not complicated at all.

Archon came out on most home computers of its time. The only console version I know of is the NES remake which has improved graphics over the original. I think the original plays better though.

Any Archon fans here?

Archon is a really fun game.

I used to play it with my buddy a lot on his old Commodore 64.

I also own the Atari 400/800/XE version.

I never played the NES version though. What has changed?

I honestly don't remember the NES version well. I bought it for my younger cousin since he was a huge fan of the C64 version. He said it was good but it didn't feel the same. I tried it briefly. Something was lost in the porting but I can't really say what. I would have to play it again to find out what. The gameplay is essentially the same though and the graphics are much more detailed.

Played it quite a bit on NES.

Definantly has some type of intangible "charm" to it.

Archon was an amazing game. I loved playing the Dark side. The Dragon ruled! All the 'pawn' type characters were so hard to win with against the computer, though. I played it all the time on my Commodore 64. Nice cover art, too. I still have it around somewhere. The two sequels completely sucked ass, though.

The character I remember the most was the Shapeshifter (Dark)- he would become whatever character he was fighting against. Great if you fought one of the higher characters, but ass if you had to fight a pawn, since they suck...

I remember that, on the PSX, there was a game that was a 'remake' of sorts called The Unholy War. Same premise, but in 3D. Wasn't that good, though, sadly.

One of the best C64 games out there! My friends and I played constantly. There was always a rush when you killed a "bigger" character with a "pawn". Didn't happen much tho'. :p

Good call. Archon was one of the best games of the early 80s. I had the Atari 800 rev, and played it TO DEATH. Incredibly smooth animation for its time. Oh yeah, my unicorn (white side) obliterated all in its path. For the dark side, a little life-sapping with careful use of the banshee (c'mon, you all HATED her, right?), and then move in with the basilisk. Even better, some spastic use of the "knight" (pawn) would occasionally yield a kill of a powerful opponent -- much trash talking would ensue.

Glad some folks remember these classics. Maybe I'll start a Seven Cities of Gold thread. Anyone...?

I never really played it, I couldent I was not old enough. I was born around the time it came out. I remember growing up and that being one of the games I'd sit and watch my father play.

I think the sorceress was the best character to use. She had all that magic and she could attack with speed.

The unicorn was my favorite "non-leader" character.

I'd use my pawns/knights to chip away at the stronger characters like the Unicorn, and Banshee. I would then use my stronger characters to wipe out the competition. I have this game on my C-64, along with it's sequel.


Has anyone played Mail Order Monsters? It was a spin-off of Archon. It's hard to believe that EA published some of the greatest games on the C-64, including Archon?