OLLI AND LISSA
(Firebird, 1986)
Roger Danison did all the Olli and Lissa games, and no others it seems. The first title was a huge hit, selling mega numbers for B.T.'s lot. But the sequel and further sequel seemed to be relatively low profile releases for some reason. Let's throw 'em against the wall anyway and see what sticks.
In the first game, Shilmoore Castle in Scooootland is home to Sir Humphrey the ghost. It's in danger of being bought by an American billionaire (he gave up with Chelsea) and moved to the U.S.A. brick by brick. The ghost doesn't fancy a move abroad, so decides he needs to knock up a potion to make himself invisible, so he can scare away the big noise and keep his rightful home. Who makes this stuff up?
Olli and Lissa are Sir Humphrey's mates, so are helping him find 8 ingredients for said potion. Well Olli does, Lissa just mixes them up in the cauldon (bit sexist). He has to avoid the less friendly ghosts in the castle who are out to get him. Why can't they spook the American guy instead? Oh I don't know.
Anyway, this is platform country. The graphics are brilliant and characterful, but boy do they flicker, which is a shame. What's more of a shame though is the collision detection, which is off-puttingly harsh. Jumping over enemies is far too difficult, so back in the day I couldn't get past the second ingredient. These days, saving game state got me to about number 5 or 6 eventually, but boy what a struggle. It kinda ruins this great looking game sadly.
HALLOWEEN: OLLI AND LISSA II
(Silverbird, 1987)
A year later came this sequel, although the box just says 'Halloween'. Surely if you've had a hit game, you want to at least mention it in the title of the sequel? Come on Firebird/Silverbird, whatever you're called, it's Marketing 101. To be fair, it looks like the Olli and Lissa connection might have been an afterthought as they don't feature that much in this game.
The storyline is so twee I can't bring myself to repeat it. Just suffice it to say you play Arabella the fairy, who has to return 16 magical objects to their rightful places in the castle. In which Olli and Lissa are also knocking about somewhere. It's all very unpromising.
But wait! There's an actually playable game here. It's quite different from the original and not a platformer, thank gawd. You fly around instead, trying to locate them objects and avoid them ghoulies. It's still hard as nails - it's a Spectrum game after all - but the refreshing twist is that your fairy seems well able to explore the castle quite extensively before she carks. It's an enjoyably colourful jaunt, so that's good.
OLLI AND LISSA III: THE CANDLELIGHT ADVENTURE
(Cartoon Time, 1990)
Some time later, once B.T. had departed the Speccy scene, Code Masters took up the cudgel, whatever that may be. They 'dropped' (urgh) O&L3:TCA in 1990 on their Cartoon Time label. But would it turn out to be "absolutely unbelievable"?
Well they stuck with a similar set-up to the second game, but this time you're controlling good old Olli again (Lissa's around...somewhere). Some absolute bar steward has taken Olli's car apart and spread the pieces around the castle, like this is Automania or something! Random I know. Maybe Lissa did it to pi** him off.
Not often is the third entry in a series the best of the lot, but that's certainly the case here. It looks great, with some lovely cute graphics (which no longer flicker) and it's retained the playability of the second game. It's good fun to play but not to map, since Mr. Danison clearly loves it when you go through a door, then go back again, and you wind up somewhere totally different. Most disorientating.
THE VERDICT
So in conclusion sportsfans, this is a series which has gotten better as it's gone along, even though the rock-hard original was the most high profile game of the three. Budget titles often seemed to spawn many series of games with star characters, like Magic Knight and yes, Dizzy. Amongst these Olli and Lissa hold their own quite nicely thanks.
SCORING
OLLI AND LISSA 71%
HALLOWEEN: OLLI & LISSA II 78%
OLLI & LISSA 3: CANDLELIGHT ADVENTURE 86%
I only originally played #3 in the series. Really good game but my child brain never really comprehended the doors seeming to work in 3s and just ran around randomly. I rarely made it past 2 or 3 car pieces.
I briefly tried #1 and #2 recently, quite nice but never got into them. The witch one is odd as it's so different.
(FB) Simon O'Gorman: "Another great blog, thanks for sharing. So many unknown games to me, this is certainly giving inspiration to play new gems!"