Defender of the Crown
1986 · Strategy · Amiga
Overview
Defender of the Crown (1986) is Cinemaware's Amiga strategy game set in 12th-century England, where Saxon lords fight Normans for territory through sieges, jousts and raids, with art by James D. Sachs.
Deep Dive
England in 1149 is without a king, and rival factions fight over its territory. The player picks one of four Saxon lords — Wilfred of Ivanhoe, Cedric of Rotherwood, Geoffrey Longsword or Wolfric the Wild — and wages a war of attrition against the Normans by building armies, besieging castles, jousting in tournaments, rescuing damsels and calling on Robin Hood for help.
Developer Story
Kellyn Beeck designed the game, James D. Sachs drew its graphics and Jim Cuomo wrote the music. It came out for the Amiga on 1 November 1986, followed in 1987 by versions for MS-DOS, the Atari ST, Macintosh and Commodore 64. By 2001 it had sold more than a million copies.
Did You Know?
- Computer Gaming World gave it an award for Artistic Achievement in a Computer Game in 1987.
- In 1989 it became the second game to ship on CD-ROM, after The Manhole.
- Some planned features were cut partly because of Cinemaware's financial strain.
Sources & further reading
- Defender of the Crown — Wikipedia
