Advertised in various magazines and mentioned at CES in 1989, Trails of Honor was a Commodore 64 game which would never see the light of day, with an Amiga version also planned.
The game would be part of the latest releases in the Epyx Masters Collection for advanced game players. This medieval adventure challenges the player in a series of contests of physical strength and strategy to determine who will avenge the fallen monarch. Among the contests are sword fighting, arm wrestling, a dice game and slaying demons.
Nothing more seems to have surfaced of the game, and it completely disappeared. How far did it get, and can anything of the game be found?
Thanks to Anonymous Contributor, it seems that this was just to be a US version of Ubi-Soft’s Iron Lord. I’ll hand over to them:
“An article in Commodore Magazine, May 1989, page 84, mentions the game, but calls it Trials of honor‘
“Trials of Honor, another spring release, takes place during the dark ages of Europe. Your beloved monarch has been slain, and his killer now sits upon the throne. You are a brave young hero, setting off on a quest to unseat this false ruler. Along the way you’ll encounter evil kings, brave knights, powerful wizards and the local peasants. Players participate in realistic swordplay, arm wrestling with powerful opponents, and gambling for gold. You can even try your hand at military strategy. After slaying the demons that protect the Labyrinth, it’s time to face the man with the crown. Trials of Honor is a true test of one’s strength, wisdom and ability to deal with the unexpected.”
Assuming it went under a different name in Europe, and assuming that UBI Soft was behind it (like with Curse Buster), is there a game that fits? Yes, there is – Iron Lord, released by UBI Soft in 1990.
The GTW description runs like this: ‘This medieval adventure challenges the player in a series of contests of physical strength and strategy to determine who will avenge the fallen monarch. Among the contests are sword fighting, arm wrestling, a dice game and slaying demons.’
The official description for Iron Lord is this (See MobyGames entry):
“In a once serene Kingdom, your father has been overthrown as King. As a true crusader of justice your only desire is to recover the throne amidst traitors, spies and assassins. Demonstrate your skills at archery, arm wrestling and sword fighting in your preparation to fight for your Kingdom and prove you are the Iron Lord!”
Medieval times. Avenge a fallen king. Compete in arm wrestling, sword fighting and other events. The two do match up fairly well.
Any more direct evidence? Yes, French magazine Tilt, March 1989, reported from CES 1989 – and contains a tantalizing passage:
“EPYX: Any news at Epyx? Yes, there are…for the Americans! Judge for yourself: we saw Skate Wars (Skateball) and Trials of Honor (Iron Lord), two titles in eternal preview mode, Death Sword (Barbarian from Palace Software), Undersea Commando (Bob Morane Ocean), Space Station Oblivion (Driller from Incentive) and Curse Buster (Puffy’s Saga).”
This all but confirms that the games are connected and are American and European editions. Trials of Honor with Iron Lord, Curse Buster with Puffy’s saga and Undersea Commando with Bob Morane Ocean – the French name for the game Operation Neptune. See comments section on this Lemon Amiga page.
All in all, this implies that Epyx went shopping abroad, licensing some promising French games from their European associates instead of developing original titles of their own. The C64 market was still alive and Epyx had a good name to it. After some NTSC fixing, the games would be released under new names. So what happened to the American originals? Ever released under the new names? According to Wikipedia, Epyx went bankrupt in 1989, which could very well mean that all new releases stayed in a warehouse somewhere, if ever manufactured.”
As with Puffy’s Saga and Curse Buster, and so another case closed! But can a US edition with the name change be recovered some day?
Contributions: Ross Sillifant, Archive.org, Anonymous Contributor, Stone Oakvalley (Scans)
