Roland in the Caves is the Amstrad CPC conversion of the classic Bugaboo (The Flea).

Rather than it be a simple ‘rip-off’, Roland in the Caves was actually developed by Indescomp, the original developers of Bugaboo. So it is an ‘official’ conversion and plays pretty much the same as the original.

The ‘Roland‘ name change came about when Alan Sugar – who owned Amstrad – decided he wanted a ‘mascot’ game character for his range of home computers, so he re-branded a bunch of titles with the Roland name. This was one of them.

Compared to all the other versions of Bugaboo, Roland in the Caves has a bit more colour, and as a result: some depth to the background graphics. Roland is a purple blob but is well animated. The ubiquitous dragon is purple in this version too. Maybe Alan Sugar had a thing for purple?

One downside is that there is no ‘jump meter’ in this conversion. In my mind: an essential feature of Bugaboo. One upside is that Roland in the Caves is probably a little easier than the original Bugaboo – I actually managed to get out of the cave in this version!

More: Bugaboo (The Flea) on Wikipedia