Barbarian (1987 video game)

Barbarian
Artwork by Roger Dean.
Developer(s)	Psygnosis
Publisher(s)	Psygnosis
Series	Barbarian
Platform(s)	Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum
Release	1987: Atari ST, Amiga 1988: Amstrad, C64, MS-DOS, Spectrum
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Barbarian is a 1987 platform game by Psygnosis. It was first developed for the Atari ST, and was ported to the Amiga, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. The Amiga port was released in 1987; the others were released in 1988. The cover artwork (part of "Red Dragon" figure/landscape) is by fantasy artist Roger Dean.

The game spawned a 1991 sequel, Barbarian II.

The game opens with a striking—for the era—animation of a muscle-bound barbarian cutting a chain with a sword. On the Amiga and Atari ST versions, the animation is accompanied by a loud, digital sound effect.

In the game, the player is Hegor, a barbarian who must traverse several dungeons and underground habitats to defeat his brother, the evil sorcerer Necron. He has a sword, a shield and bow in his arsenal of weapons. Running and jumping, as with many platform games, comprises a large part of the gameplay of this title.

The game used a unique control system to make up for lack of more than one joystick button on many systems. The player would first press the one button after which a "menu" of actions would appear along the bottom of the screen. The player then selected the desired action by cycling through the choices with the joystick and then pressing the button again when the desired action was highlighted.

In the original versions, this game tried to emulate the visual style of the game cover and opening animation. The game used very detailed and colorful sprites and a variety of thoughtful sound effects to accompany the onscreen action. The IBM PC version plays digitized speech in the opening sequence and other sound effects using the speaker.

David Plotkin of STart praised Barbarian's graphics and sound as "the most impressive I've ever seen in an ST game". He hesitated to recommend the game, however, because the lack of savegame forced restarts after the frequent unavoidable deaths.^[1] The game was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon #150 by Courtney Harrington in "The Role of Computers" column. Harrington gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.^[2] A review in Amstrad Action issue 40 gave the game 81%, stating it was "fun, but lacking in the long term".^[3]

• Computer and Video Games (Sep, 1987)^[4]
• ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) (Jul, 1987)^[5]
• The Games Machine (Dec, 1987)^[6]
• Crash! (Sep, 1988)^[7]
• Zzap! (Dec, 1987)^[8]
• The Games Machine (Sep, 1988)^[9]
• ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) (Sep, 1987)^[10]
• Computer and Video Games (Oct, 1987)^[11]
• ATARImagazin (Jun, 1987)^[12]
• Amiga Joker (Mar, 1991)^[13]
• ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) (Oct, 1987)^[14]
• Info (Nov, 1988)^[15]
• Computer and Video Games (Sep, 1989)^[16]
• Your Sinclair (Nov, 1988)^[17]
• Happy Computer (Jul, 1987)^[18]
• Commodore User (Aug, 1987)^[19]
• The Games Machine (Oct, 1988)^[20]
• ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) (Oct, 1988)^[21]
• Power Play (Oct, 1988)^[22]
• Zzap! (Nov, 1988)^[23]
• Commodore User (Oct, 1988)^[24]

• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.^[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".^[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.^[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.^[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.^[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.^[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.^[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.^[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.^[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.^[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).^[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,^[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.^[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.^[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.^[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.^[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.^[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.^[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.^[17]

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

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• Barbarian at SpectrumComputing.co.uk

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