Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe Review!!!

“Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe” is a homebrew game for the Intellivision released by Collectorvision in December 2016. I had previously reviewed the “Sacred Tribe” release for the Commodore 64, which may explain why some of this review might sound slightly familiar.

In “Sacred Tribe”, you return as the famous explorer “Sydney Hunter”. This time instead of making your way to the temple, you are trapped within the temple and must find your way out. The back of the box explains:

“You’re Sydney Hunter, a great adventurer. You’ve been traveling to South America seeking for treasures. During one night you’ve been captured and made a prisoner by a Sacred Tribe. Even if they don’t want to hurt you, they won’t let you free either.”

The graphics and sound on the Intellivision are well done. This game expands upon and improves upon its predecessor, “The Shrines of Peril”, in every way.

When the cartridge is first powered we are presented with a nice Exidy logo splash screen. Exidy was a successful video game manufacturer back in the ’70s and ’80s. According to Wikipedia, Exidy stands for “Excellence in Dynamics”. The rights to the Exidy name and logo were acquired by Collectorvision in 2015.

When the game begins you find yourself in a cavern. You’ll notice blue shaded graphics with five skulls etched into the stone.

Gameplay
You start the game by speaking to one of the village elders who is asking you to please help them find the way to the sacred doorway which leads to the ancient Mayan City. After accepting the challenge you will quickly realize you are at the top of a maze and must travel down at least 9 levels to make your way out. Doing so is not an easy task, being there are many obstacles standing in your way, including; spiders, bats, wasps, scorpions, snakes, rats, slugs, and entryways requiring Gems to pass through. There are a few chests in the game which require a key to open. There are even a few screens with quicksand lining the bottom of the screen. If you happen to fall in don’t worry you sink very slowly and can jump out to escape. You have to be a careful explorer, try not to miss any room that has Gems. You need all of them in order to bribe some of the tribe members to pass further into the game. In addition to Gems, you can collect Pineapples, which will grant you a spare Sydney Hunter.

Controls
Using the controller disc, you can move Sydney Hunter in all four directions, although to control him vertically you will have to be on a ladder. Pressing any side button will make him jump. When jumping, you’ll notice he always jumps forward in the direction he’s pointing, rather than jumping straight up and down. Pressing “1” on the keypad will display the game’s statistics, including the number of Gems & keys collected and lives remaining. Pressing the “5” key will skip past text screens. I noticed if you press “Enter“, “Clear“, or “Zero” on the keypad, this will nudge Sydney Hunter left a little while pressing “4” or “6” will nudge him to the right slightly.

Scoring
There is no score in “Sydney Hunter and the Sacred tribe”. One way to keep score might be to simply record how long it takes to complete the entire game in one sitting. The Gems are color-coded each one awarding you a different quantity of Gems. The blue one awards one Gem, the Red one is worth five, the Gold or Yellow one is worth ten and finally, the green is worth 30 Gems. There are Gems hidden in chests, which require a key to open.

Strategy
“Sydney Hunter and the Sacred tribe” is not that difficult a game, it’s more of a marathon than a sprint. You have to have patience and try to learn the game’s map. I found the most successful once I started mapping things with a pencil and paper. The key with the Intellivision version is learning the distance you jump and the timing required in order to successfully make a jump while avoiding obstacles. Learn where to find the pineapples which award you a spare Sydney Hunter, and be careful to avoid the enemies when possible. For example, there are a few screens where you do not have to risk jumping a Scorpion. You can simply climb down a ladder and wait for it to pass. When attempting to jump the slug, since they move so quickly, be sure to start your jump well in advance. On a few of the screens with the wasp, I’ve learned you can exit and re-enter the screen quickly and then run right past them. It seems to work every time. It’s all about the timing. On the final boss screen, you can use that same trick. Upon entering, If the fireballs are shooting directly toward you on the bottom, exit the screen quickly and re-enter until the fireballs are firing overhead, then head straight to the finish line.

Graphics
The graphics in “Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe”, which are credited to J-F Dupuis and Keith Erickson are amazing. There are a lot of visual elements in the game to take in, for example, the eerie windows, skulls etched into the concrete walls, fire, and even quicksand on some screens. There was a lot of detail and effort put into getting it right. Sydney Hunter himself is a nice multi-colored and animated sprite. You can tell he is wearing a hat and colorful clothing. You can even tell he is wearing blue shoes. There are random skeletons, spider webs, stone columns, ladders, and collapsing bridges. The imagery does evoke the feeling of being deep within the Mayan caverns.

Sound
I like the simple music in the game and appreciate how it changes as you progress. This helps keep it interesting.

The various sound effects in the game include a sound for moving Sydney Hunter, a separate sound for jumping, a sound for opening a chest, picking up a pineapple, a sound for dying, sound for the text being displayed in the game. The sacred soul which can shoot arrows at you has a sound when you enter the screen and a separate sound for shooting the arrows. The snakes, wasps, bats, and rats each have their own unique sounds. There is a different sound effect for each color of Gem you collect. Even the fireballs which shoot up from below have their own sound effect. When you lose a Sydney Hunter a tune is played. When your mission fails a different tune is played and of course another tune plays when the game is completed.

Notable differences between the Commodore 64 and Intellivision versions:
I decided to do a quick comparison between the Commodore 64 version and Intellivision since I own both and have recently posted my review of the Commodore 64 version.

On the Commodore 64, there’s enough horizontal resolution to display a few of the game’s statistics, such as the number of remaining Sydney Hunters, Gems, and Keys. On the Intellivision in order to see this information you have to press “1” on the keypad.

On the Commodore 64, the background Windows are Multi-colored and the game is more generous with the number of Pineapples spread throughout the game. There is also one additional method of navigating up and down through some of the screens, a green vine.

I will say there is one graphical element that actually looks better on the Intellivision version, in my opinion, and that is the quicksand.

On The Commodore 64 version, you have the option to display an interactive map that displays your progress through the game. This option is not present on the Intellivision version.

On the Commodore 64, version, there are many screens with a nice graphical effect of a torch lighting up the room. This effect is absent here.

On the Commodore 64 version, there is a temporary invincibility mode which can be activated by grabbing the floating skull looking object. There is no such temporary invincibility power upon the Intellivision version.

On the Commodore 64 version, I counted eleven baddies while on the Intellivision, I counted nine. Notably missing are the “Fast Spider” and “Black Mamba” which was essentially a red snake that could be jumped.

While on the subject of Baddies, on the Commodore 64 version there are often times more than one baddie on the same screen, or there will be an enemy plus an additional obstacle to deal with. While on the Intellivision, I don’t recall ever seeing more than one baddie or obstacle on the same screen. I contacted the game’s developer Oscar Toledo G. regarding this. He offered a great explanation:

“Sydney Hunter is composed by 6 Intellivision sprites, the enemies are composed by 2 Intellivision sprites, 6 + 2 = 8 that is the maximum sprites visible on the screen. Of course, more can be done using flickering.”

Also on the C64 version, there’s a rolling skull screen, not present on the Intellivision version.

And finally, on the Intellivision final boss screen there is a vertically moving snake-like skeleton shooting fireballs at you, after which if you pass, the game immediately ends. On the Commodore 64 version, there is a similar boss screen, only it shoots rolling skulls at you and the game does not immediately end. Instead, there are two more scenic screens to navigate through with no obstacles before the end scenes.

Packaging
There were two versions of this game released by Collectorvision for the Intellivision. The “Limited edition” version and the “Standard” or “Game of the year” versions.

There are a few differences between the two versions in addition to separate box art images. The “Limited edition” features two overlays as opposed to one. It includes a nice 8.5 x 11 bonus map which was not included in the “Standard edition“. The “Limited edition” purchase also offered a chance to win a free Colecovision multi-cart.

The packaging for this game is fantastic. The box artwork was credited to Jeramie Griffor. In fact, along with “Game of the year”, it was also voted best packaging of the year by the Atariage Intellivision community. The limited-edition artwork looks like a scene right out of the game where Sydney is swinging over lava while reaching out for a Gem with a bat and tribesman in pursuit. Mayan architecture is represented.

The “Standard edition” artwork depicts a slightly different scene with Sydney Hunter holding a torch in his left hand and a whip in his right hand. He appears to be deep within a temple with skulls etched in stone in the background. The word “Exidy” has also been injected into the image.

The “Limited edition” image is also used on the games printed manual although it’s monochrome. I love that the game’s manual includes color photos of the development team, something you don’t see very often. An authentic looking 8.5 x 11 map of the Mayan temple is also included. What clues can be gleaned from it? I did find a typo in the manual on page three where it says to make sure the “Super Mine-Field” cartridge is placed in the slot, firmly engaged. Oops. Collectorvision also published Super Mine-Field for the Intellivision, back in 2016.

OSTs

A gentleman on Atariage who goes by “Nyuundere” was selling original soundtrack copies for Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe and Mecha for the MSX systems. I picked up a copy and can tell you it is good but quite short, only about 7 minutes long in total. However, it includes all of the soundtracks from the Intellivision version, borrowing artwork from the “Limited edition” and a gameplay screenshot on the backside of the sleeve.

Ports
Sydney Hunter has sort of becoming its own Mayan themed franchise. The “The Sacred Tribe” was ported to the Commodore 64 and is the third game released in this product line, the first being “Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death” and second, “Sydney Hunter and the Shrines of Peril“.

The Commodore 64 version of “Sacred Tribe” was released in a disk and digital formats as well as a limited Cartridge release. In addition to the Commodore 64 the “Sacred Tribe” was also ported to the following systems:

The Intellivision saw two releases, Limited, and Game of the year editions.
Colecovision and MSX systems and The Sega Master System versions were also recently released.

Bugs
Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe for the Intellivision is an extremely well-polished game. You can tell a lot of effort went into getting it just right. I don’t think you can classify the following as bugs, more just minor knit picks. On one of the screens where you retrieve the key (11:50), Sydney’s sprite can temporarily be seen behind the window graphic in the background. Also, there are few screens where (1:14) there is a ladder in the middle of the quicksand, and it is sometimes difficult to jump from the quicksand onto the platform to go up the ladder without jumping past it. Like I said, minor knit picks, overall, well done.

Suggestions for improvement
As with the Commodore 64 version, I believe this version could have benefited from changing the color of the stone background images once and while the further you progress into the game. Although there are a lot of baddies, it always could have used a few more. I would have liked to have seen some puzzle elements thrown in. I would have liked the ability to toggle the music on or off. Throwing in a game save feature or at least checkpoints also would have been welcomed.

Easter Eggs
The one Easter egg I know about is just a “secret” room that leads you to a stash of Gems. It’s pretty simple to find. I’ll give a hint, it can be found 6 levels down from where you start. I have discovered two-game cheats which are not Easter eggs but I’ll cover them here. If you wish to figure them out yourself, skip ahead 31 seconds into this video. The first cheat is enemy invincibility. You will no longer be killed by any of the baddies but can still die in other ways, such as sinking in the quicksand or falling into the flames for example. To activate this cheat, from the title screen, on your keypad type in 1, 4, 7, and start the game. The border will rapidly flash twice. The second cheat will grant you 200 spare Sydney Hunters. You can activate it from the title screen by keying in 8, 5, 2, and start the game. The border will rapidly flash twice.

Purchasing Information:
I picked up my boxed copy for $60 from Collectorvision way back in July 2017. It is currently listed as sold out on their website.

https://collectorvision.com/product-category/intellivision/

The ROM is available to download from the following link. All they ask is that if you do not previously own the game, to make a small donation:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258942-sacred-tribe-reservation-list/page-23#entry4017254

Conclusion
Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe for the Intellivision significantly expands upon the playing field over its predecessor, with over a hundred unique screens, nine unique songs, and at least nine different types of enemies. This expansion was a step in the right direction. Frankly, I was amazed the Intellivision version had just as many screens as the Commodore 64 port, the assumption being the Commodore has newer, superior hardware. I think I assumed it would have a smaller scope. The fact that’s it’s even close is quite impressive. Collectorvision has boldly brought this game not only to the Intellivision but to several other gaming systems, which is rare in the retro gaming community. That was no easy task, which I commend them for. The game is well polished, and more importantly, fun to play. It leaves me yearning for more Sydney Hunter.

This is my third delve into the Sydney Hunter universe. I enjoyed playing the “Sacred Tribe“, I am looking forward to playing more of these games.

Highly Recommended.

Youtube Description:

This is my review of Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe for the Intellivision. I also do a little comparison between the INTY and C64 versions. Enjoy!

My Complete playthrough:
https://youtu.be/0Acysfju0wo

ROM Download (donation required):
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258942-sacred-tribe-reservation-list/page-23#entry4017254

Official Atariage Thread:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/250154-sydney-hunter-the-sacred-tribe/

Sydney Hunter Merch:
https://collectorvision.com/product-category/merchandise/

OST purchase link:
https://nyuundere.bandcamp.com/album/sydney-hunter-and-the-sacred-tribe-ost

Youtube Original Post Date: 08/04/2018