I would have to say that David Lubar‘s Pastfinder is one of my favourite games of all-time. Not only does it have an interesting player craft, but there’s also a compelling game buried within this seemingly impenetrable shooter.
On the face of it: Pastfinder seems too weird to understand, but the aim is simple: use the map to decide which direction to travel, and keep searching until you find all the historical artifacts.
When you complete a level (by travelling upwards), you are then given a choice of directions to go on the map screen. Pressing left and right will move the arrow, showing your chosen direction. Hit fire and you will then go in that direction. Keep searching for artifacts (they look like big, golden boxes). You’ll know when you collect one because your score will rocket up and the game will fart out an audio warning letting you know you did good.
The MSX version of Pastfinder was published by Pony Canyon in Japan, and by Activision everywhere else, in 1984. This is a great conversion of a classic game, although it’s a shame the colours don’t vary much. The best way to play Pastfinder, IMHO, is on either the C64 or Atari. Because they’re more colourful. 🙂
More: Pastfinder on Wikipedia
