QL Cavern

QL Cavern is the first of three QL games from Janko MrsicFlögel featuring the character BJ (the other two being BJ Returns and BJ In 3D Land).

This one was published by Sinclair Research Ltd, the other two by Eidersoft. Its original title appears to have been BJ in Space, but was changed before release (some early copies still had this title on a splash screen!)

The objective of the game is to guide the character BJ around 50 caverns collecting 395 diamonds from the various rooms, while avoiding death by one of the monsters and deadly obstacles. You move BJ using the cursor keys to move left and right, jump and crawl. Trampolines, lifts, jet-packs and teleports help you move between sections of the screen (and to hidden screens). Parachutes can be helpful if you have to fall a long distance, and there are plenty of extra lives on screen (if you can get to them!)

Featuring excellent graphics and background sound (which can be turned off) and the game is controlled by cursor keys or cursor emulating joystick. This was one of the early games which hinted that the QL could be a games machine when required.

Title: QL Cavern
Language: 68000 Machine Code
Author: Janko MrsicFlögel
Publisher: Sinclair Research Ltd
Platforms Suitable for: All Sinclair QLs and emulators (not QPC2)
Commercial Status: Commercial
Price as at May 1985: £12.95
Reviews: QL World (July/August 1985), Sinclair User (July 1985), QL User (July 1985), QL User (December 1985)
Sources Available from: n/a
Latest Version available from: Sinclair QL Homepage