Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (video game)

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is dungeon crawl role-playing video game written by Stuart Smith for the Atari 8-bit family and released by Quality Software 1981. An Apple II version was published in 1982, followed by ports for the FM-7 and the NEC PC-8801 computers in 1985. It is the second of four role playing games written by Smith, following Fracas,[2] and preceding The Return of Heracles and Adventure Construction Set.

This article is about the computer role-playing game. For the arcade maze game, see Ali Baba and 40 Thieves (video game).
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Developer(s)Stuart Smith[1]
Publisher(s)Quality Software
Platform(s)Atari 8-bit, Apple II
Release1981: Atari
1982: Apple
Genre(s)Role-playing video game 
The game on an Apple II

Gameplay

The player plays as Ali Baba, and travels through a maze-like map of the city and surrounding wilderness in order to rescue a princess. The game involves interaction with shopkeepers and enemies throughout the game's extensive map. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves incorporates some Dungeons and Dragons conventions as well as various mythological and superstitious elements into the storyline and environment. These include the Western zodiac and ancient Arabic fairytales. The game is also notable for several features rarely seen in RPGs at the time: cooperative multi-player for up to 17 players (using a 'hot-seat'), player defined objectives, and the option to complete the game peacefully (without attacking enemies).[3]

Reception

Softline stated that "Ali Baba displays a sense of creative humor that lifts it above routine adventure games ... The text is fresh, the action fast-paced". The magazine called the graphics "simplistic", but praised "its sense of discovery".[4]

Legacy

Electronic Arts later combined Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and The Return of Heracles into Age of Adventure, which was ported to the Commodore 64.[5]

References
  1. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. "Computer Game Museum Display Case - Fracas". www.mocagh.org.
  3. "Computer Game Museum Display Case - Ali Baba". www.mocagh.org.
  4. Bang, Derrick (July 1982). "Ali Baba". Softline. p. 23. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  5. Age of Adventure at Lemon 64
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