1992 Enigma Variations
Platform: Super Nintendo
Before Magician’s Apprentice was a thing for the PC and even the Konix, the game originally was going to be something quite different, and on the Super Nintendo too with a title of Chaos Drop. Developed by Joe Booth and with graphics by Alan Macfarlane back in 1992.
The protagonist appears as a noble warrior, combining visual elements reminiscent of ancient Asian traditions and carrying a pitch fork. However, the demo builds that we have managed to recover from the archives of Enigma Variations doesn’t give too much away unfortunately.
At this very early stage, the protagonist can jump around some basic platforms on a small Rainforest-themed level map, with no weapons or enemies present. There is even a purple diamond placed near the top, but you cannot collect it. We think there might be other maps tucked away in memory, but we were not able to activate them. If anyone manages to access any other parts – please let us know.
However, we found some mock-up graphics created by Alan which shows different uses of the pitch-fork that the protagonist carries – suggesting that it would allow you to fire as a grappling hook and fire different magical weapons at enemies such as skulls.
This unfortunately is it, apart from a lovely Mode 7 title logo. It seems the game was abandoned very early on to move onto other projects, with some of the graphics resurrected when Magician’s Apprentice was created. It is however a nice early glimpse at what would eventually morph into that game – hopefully we’ll learn more about it in the near future.
With a huge thank you to Mark Greenshields for allowing the game to be preserved in its final form.
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