Yet another missing Synapse Software title in the archives, with thanks to Bertrand/Atari Frog for highlighting.
The game was mentioned as an upcoming title in Protector 2’s scrolling text, but also listed in a Synapse Software price list from September 1983, with a slated release date of October 1983.
Thanks to an anonymous contributor (thanks as always!), in the US newsletter “The video game update” from Jan 1984, page 147, there’s a brief update on this game: https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-2-10
They stated that Synapse had dropped NEW YORK CITY and QUASIMODO for Atari computers and shelved MORGUL for the C64.
However, our anonymous contributor makes a very interesting theory and suggestion, which does seem to have legs. In the September 1983 list, although Morgol is mentioned – Necromancer (also released in 1983) is not!
Was perhaps Morgol a working title for Necromancer? In this Synapse catalogue, Morgol is spelt as Morgul with a “U”. The word “Morgul” according to our contributor, hails from Lord of the rings, and is an elven word for “black arts, sorcery, necromancy“. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Morgul
We’ll quote directly the contributed theory, as it sums things up perfectly:
“Morgol (Morgul) could have been the working title of the game which eventually became Necromancer. Perhaps the name Morgol got stuck in some PR material and started living its own life. Interestingly enough, Necromancer is actually mentioned in the Atari section of the price list, here with the proper name – and with the same cartridge release date (10/83) as C64 Morgol. One could easily imagine a secretary getting documents from the Atari and C64 departments separately and just typing them up verbatim.”
That could very well be the case. Perhaps there are remains of “Morgol” or “Morgul” still in the Necromancer code which could confirm this?
Do you know anything more?
Contributions: Bertrand / Atari Frog, Anonymous
