A-J 3

A-J 3

Release type: Retail
Release date: March 19, 1995
Levels: 77
Author: A-J Games
Retail price: $40
Related games: A-J's Quest, The Return of A-J, Zoom the Super Bear

As with the original A-J's Quest, A-J 3 is based on the Andrew-Jonathan comic strip. With a beta of Game-Maker 3.0 in hand, I set about making the biggest, most convoluted game possible with the tools. I meant to incorporate every possible character from the comic, each of whom would have distinct abilities and a different path through the game. The game would be a huge, branching adventure full of big decisions. For this event, I redrew the Andrew-Jonathan sprite (using the Zoom sprite as a basis) with smoother animation and more sympathy to Game-Maker’s quirks.

A-J 3 exhibits many interstitial animations and titles, secret passages, and secret characters. All of the dressings and added graphical elements drive up the file size considerably. The idea at the time was to somehow offer A-J 3 on CD-ROM as a commercial title, perhaps with the aid of Recreational Software Designs. This never quite happened. Instead the game, far too large to distribute by dial-up modem, has until now remained mostly undistributed.

As originally designed, the game is far more difficult than it should be. More recently I have adjusted the difficulty in a few places to make the game a bit more welcoming.

Story

A-J explores the cemetery in A-J 3

One dark night, a storm was brewing. Lightning struck the Bearton prison, making all the cells' electric locks fail. Among the escapees was Ostro. Yes, Ostro the Prince, Ostro the Mad; Ostro the Evil. The only thing on his mind was revenge . . .revenge on the ones who put him there, those darn bears!

That night, five bears were reported missing in Bearton alone. In the next town over, another three vanished without a trace. Yet Andrew-Jonathan was still not among them. Then, an idea came upon Ostro one night. Why not just use the bear's friends as bait? So Ostro hid Andrew's friends far and wide in his kingdom and stepped back to wait. A-J came, of course, and was thrown into the dungeons.

Now, A-J is alone. He's cold, hungry, and frightened, but must find his way out and save his friends. With them away, Ostro is probably ravaging Bearton right now. A-J gets up, shivers, and begins to look for a way out.

Instructions

Level 5-2 of A-J 3

Along his journeys, A-J will find his other companions. When he touches one, a screen will appear from which one can select either the character you have been using or the one you just found. Press right to select the new character or left to continue with your current one. Here are some of the rest of the group:

Round 2: Freeport Grizzly

Round 3: Arthur Bruin

Round 4: Sasha Medvyed

Credits

Game Testers:

M.O.S.H.

Buddha (T.H.)

Annoying Me Into Finishing:

OmegAkira

Silverhawk

Strahd

Morphio

Providing Metamorf:

Ollie

Game Engine:

RSD

All graphics were done with Deluxe Paint ][ Enhanced. Sounds were mastered with Goldwave. Menu animations were done with Metamorf and DTA.

Links

• The History of A-J Games, Part One
• Play A-J 3 online

Downloads

• A-J 3 (8.0 MB)
• Level 1-1 map (24.9 kB)
  • Level 1-2 map (71.1 kB)
• Level 2-1 map (62.8 kB)
  • Bonus Level 1 map (26.3 kB)
  • Level 2-2 map (45.8 kB)
• Level 3-1 map (41.5 kB)
  • Bonus Level 2 map (15.4 kB)
  • Level 3-2 map (52.2 kB)
• Level 4-1 map (81.8 kB)
  • Bonus Level 3 map (11.9 kB)
  • Level 4-2 map (64.5 kB)
• Level 5-1 map (70.3 kB)
  • Level 5-2 map (52.2 kB)
  • Boss map (14.9 kB)