The Story So Far
Winter Solstice. The shortest day of the year. The symbolic death and rebirth of nature. This year however, something sinister has occurred.
The Crow, a mysterious race of half-man, half-bird necromancers has stolen the sacred bough of mistletoe from the ancient stone triangle. It is the mystic key to keeping nature in balance. Without it there will be no new dawn and the world will remain in darkness, thus amplifying the power of the Crow.
How To Play
Your goal is to penetrate the Tower of the Crow, retrieve the sacred mistletoe and return it to the Grove of Megaliths. This is a turn-based game. Each move requires you to return the joystick to the home (unmoved) position before you can make a new move.
The top portion of the screen displays your current surroundings. The layout of the world is the same every game, but the locations of certain things within the world will be randomly set each time.
The center area of the screen displays your current inventory or text options when you encounter a monster. You may move the joystick left/right to cycle through the options. Again, you must return the joystick to home each time. Press the fire button to select an option.
The lower portion of the screen displays your Hit Points (HP) and Spell Points (SP). Hit Points are your health. If it goes to 0, you die and the game is over. Spell points are required for spell casting.
About
Dungeon II: Solstice is the sequel to Dungeon, the popular dungeon crawl game by David Weavil released in 2009. Dungeon II: Solstice features packaging designed by Dave Dries, who also created the artwork for the original Dungeon. Dave's artwork is featured on the label, manual, box, and the included 10" x 14" poster.
Features
- Three Character Classes: Play as a Wizard, Faerie, or Warrior
- Various enemies will try to thwart your quest!
- Collect mystical objects to aid you on your jouney
- Will you fight, cast magic, or run when encountering a foe?
- Several healing methods for when you find yourself wounded!
Dungeon II: Solstice Poster
Dave Dries' breathtaking artwork for Dungeon II: Solstice is featured on a 10" x 14" poster and including free with the game!
Additional Information
Dungeon II: Solstice includes game cartridge, beautifully illustrated 8-page manual, and a 10" x 14" poster featuring Dave Dries' Dungeon II: Solstice artwork! Available in NTSC and PAL60 television formats--please select above. If you do not select an option, you will receive an NTSC cartridge by default.
Get a Dungeon II: Solstice Box!
If you'd like a boxed copy of Dungeon II: Solstice, please select "Box Upgrade: Yes" at the top of the page before adding Dungeon II: Solstice to your cart. Our boxes are professionally printed and include a box insert to hold your Dungeon II: Solstice cartridge in place. We want you to play our games, so we have not sealed or shrinkwrapped the boxes in any way, allowing you easy access to the game cartridge and manual.
These boxes are the same size as boxes Atari produced for their games "back in the day". They look great sitting on a shelf with your other boxed homebrew games, or alongside games from the classic Atari 2600 library. We only have a limited number of boxes for each game, and there is no guarantee they will become available again once our supplies are exhausted. Click on the images to the right to see larger photos of the box.
| Number of Players | 1 |
| Controller | Joystick |
| Cartridge Size | 4K |
| Code and Design | David Weavil |
| Packaging Design | Dave Dries |
So do I love it as much as the first? No, but that isn't a bad thing. The first one blew me away and this one is more of the same goodness.
I feel like this one is a harder game to win, but also a much shorter playthrough than its predecessor. Dungeon 2 removes the leveling up of your character, but adds the ability to play as three different characters. The first game I really needed a map to help me beat it. This one is much easier to pick up on the layout. While items do spawn in random places I felt like I always knew where I was after a few plays.
So should you get Dungeon 2? If you liked Dungeon 1 it is an easy yes. If you like turn based RPGs then I think Dungeon 2 will be enjoyable for you.
If you didn't have either Dungeon but wanted to try one which should you try?
If you want a slightly quicker (albeit more difficult) play then Dungeon 2.
If you want to have a game that feels slightly more in depth I would say Dungeon 1.
You really can't go wrong with either and I hope to see a Dungeon 3!
Because the programmer wanted to stay within the 4k limit of early era Atari 2600 carts, D2 is obviously shorter than D1.
D2 is also harder than the original. I actually died a over half dozen times before I finally won one game.
D2 offers three characters rather than one-- A Knight, a Wizard, and a Faerie. Each starts with different parameters. You don't level up but you can return to the place you start and heal yourself once. (I beat the game with the Knight, in case anyone is curious.)
D2's map changes, like the location of the cave entrance, the key & Mistletoe location, and the maps within the cave and dungeons.
It was an amazing feat to capture the essence and gameplay of the original Dungeon game and shove it into a mere 4k cart.
Because all great series tend to at least be trilogies, there needs to be a Dungeon 3. I am loving this series so far and now I want more!
It is dark outside, wild winds are blowin'...This is to be known as....Solstice, the shortest day of the year. But this time, an evil crow has stolen the important sacred Mistletoe, and without this, there won't be a next sunrise, actually there won't be a sunrise never ever again and the crow will become even stronger.
Unless....
Thus starts the new RPG game from ace programmer David Weavil, Dungeon II Solstice.
First, a quick overview about the game itself and its packing. Dungeon II Solstice comes supplied with a professional printed box,an 8-page colour printed manual and a 4-fold poster, everything is of high quality as to be expected from Atariage,
And...reading the manual before game play is essential.
So, grab a friend (because mapping is a 'must'), bang the poster on the wall, insert the cart to boot the game and choose a hero at the beginning of your journey. You can choose from 3 different character classes, those are: Wizard, Faerie or Warrior, all three equipped with different attitudes regarding Hit Points and Spell Points, so choose wisely, because a Warrior can't have any Spell Points, for example.
The aim of the game is to travel along this quest, fight enemies, and infiltrate the Crows Tower where you must find the lost Mistletoe and therefore restoring the balance of nature.
During your journey you also have to find the 'Key of Mist', with which you can enter the Tower of the Crow to retrieve the Mistletoe for returning home to the Grove of Megaliths. Phew a big task lay ahead for sure.
Of course, along your journey you will encounter enemies, so make sure you fill up your Hit Points/Spell Points and, depending of character class, you have options like 'Fight', 'Cast' (a spell), 'Owl' (make sure you find the owl along your travels, he's a very competent fighter), or 'Run' (as in 'run away'). The manual gives you detailed information about Hit Points/Spell Points and how to use these options.
Enemies are: Wolf, Goblin, Dark Faerie and the worst of all horrors, the Crow. I won't go into detail here about their abilities and types of attack; the manual gives you excellent information about this.
Yes...you gotta read the manual.
There's also a 'Healing' option if you are low on Hit Points/Spell Points. Return to your Grove of Megaliths, and there the Gods of Old will restore both to maximum. Another option is that you can also use a 'healing spell' if your character is able to do so.
Inside the manual there's also a 'How to play' page, very good information about screen layout, joystick movement, and VCS 'Game Select Switch' usage.
Overall, as an RPG enthusiast I will say this; even better than the first 'Dungeon'. Played D2 quite a bit over the Christmas period, very enjoyable, excellent plot and execution of playability is top notch.
Now, where's that damn manual?
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