189: Heimdall

Number 189
(11 points)
Heimdall
1992: 46

Yeah, we know you've all seen the girl in pigtails being assaulted with axes, but that's an extremely minor part of this attractive game from Core Design.

Taking inspiration from Norse mythology, you are Heimdall on a quest to recover the Gods' weapons: Thor's Hammer, Frey's Spear and Odin's Sword. To find them, you must travel throughout Midgard, Utgard and Asgard with a band of fellow warriors. The game follows a similar pattern to JRPGs of the time: enter dungeons, fight battles, collect items. There is no system of levelling up, and the battle mechanic involves careful timing, but in other ways it is like a European take on the JRPG formula. The game is notable for its character attribute test, where you must throw axes to cut a girl's braid, chase and catch a pig, and steal some gold from a boat.

One big downside to playing this back in the day is the relentless disk swapping - sometimes you need to swap disks TWICE between areas - but playing on hard disk removes this problem. For all its visual splendour, it's a little bit slow. It reminds me of Shadowlands but a bit more simplistic, and if you're an RPG novice then it might be a gentle entry into the genre.

Recommended TOSEC disk(s):
Heimdall (1991)(Core)(Disk 1 of 5)(Boot)[cr CSL]
Heimdall (1991)(Core)(Disk 2 of 5)(1)
Heimdall (1991)(Core)(Disk 3 of 5)(2)
Heimdall (1991)(Core)(Disk 4 of 5)(3)
Heimdall (1991)(Core)(Disk 5 of 5)(4)