From HandWiki - Reading time: 5 min
| Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Color Dreams |
| Publisher(s) | Wisdom Tree |
| Engine | Crystal Mines |
| Platform(s) | NES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, MS-DOS |
| Release | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle/Christian |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Exodus is a video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Color Dreams through its Wisdom Tree label in 1991. Like all Wisdom Tree games, Exodus was not officially licensed by Nintendo. It was ported to the Game Boy. Exodus is based on Crystal Mines, an earlier game from the company when it was known as Color Dreams.
According to the instruction manual, the player controls the biblical figure Moses as he leads the Israelites to the Promised Land, meaning he goes through a labyrinth. Moses has the ability to shoot glowing "W"s, which signify the word of God, to defeat enemies and remove obstacles. To finish each level, Moses must acquire five question marks as well as a certain amount of manna while avoiding enemies such as magicians and soldiers. After a level is completed, the player must answer five multiple choice Bible-related questions before advancing to the next level. After answering enough questions correctly, the player is rewarded with an extra life. The final 50 levels are a mirror of the first 50 with tougher enemies. At the intro screen, players can skip ahead in intervals of five levels until level 81.
The background music of the Exodus levels is to the theme of "Father Abraham" (a popular Christian children's song named after an iconic figure of the Old Testament).
Wisdom Tree later released a sequel to Exodus, titled Joshua, with slightly improved graphics and gameplay.
Joshua is based on the Biblical figure Joshua, who was Moses's apprentice in the Old Testament. He later became the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses. Joshua's most popular biblical story is about the taking back of the "promised land", where Joshua sent his men to march around the walls of the city of Jericho for seven days. After God saw his people's loyalty, he destroyed the city walls.
Similar to Moses shooting W's (to symbolize the word of God) in Exodus, Joshua shoots music notes which symbolize the music for the priest's trumpets.
Unlike its predecessor, Joshua has no level background music.
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]
Wikidata has the property:
|