Bought out in 1984 and loosely based on the book of the same name, this game brings back really great memories of the 80s as it was one of the first games that I ever got. I originally had it for the Commodore 64s predecessor on cassette, and up until only a few years ago got rid of it and many other games which I still had in storage as the old girl just no longer worked.
When I got it I was like a kid in a candy shop I could not wait to get home to play it, and it never bothered me that it took about thirty minutes to load cause of it being on cassette.
The gameplay is pretty good and for its time it was one of those games that everyone wanted, the only thing that I disliked about this game was the music, even though it was catchy it did get a bit annoying after time(three to four hours)and the fact that when you ran into a pirate you would have to restart from the beginning of the screen.
The objective is to get to Long John Silvers treasure chest and make it back to your ship without
getting yourself killed by the pirates or the infamous Long John Silver himself.
You take on the role of Jim Hawkins and start off in what looks like a dead end equipped with nothing so you have to go and find yourself a sword which is basic enough as there is only one way to exit. You then you have to find your way through a maze like playing area filled with pirates who stayed in fixed positions and threw unlimited amounts of swords at you if you got to close, but if you avoided getting hit by one they would just fall onto the ground, and then you were able to utilize the sword that the pirate had just thrown to kill him or one of the other pirates. If you ended up getting up close and personal with a sword or pirate for that you would lose yourself a life.
Upon killing a pirate it would be removed form the screen allowing the character to move further into the level. Within the levels themselves there are swords positioned at various places and if you are fool hardy and pick them up and use them where they are not really needed then you will not have enough to last you for killing other pirates when needed within the level. So figuring out when and where to use the swords was essential in advancing around the island as well as an intricate part of the playing of the game.
I can not think of any games which have similar game play to Treasure Island, but if you liked this game then these are a few of my personal favourite Fire Ant, Icicle Works, Beach Head, Finders Keepers, Auriga, Fingers Malone, Moon Buggy, Return of Rockman, Terra Nova and Tomb of Terrabash
