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Pandemonium! for PlayStation 1
Pandemonium! for PlayStation 1 is a platform game in which acrobat Nikki and jester Fargus try to undo a spell that has gone badly wrong. You run and jump through a fantasy world of castles, forests and moving structures. The environment is three-dimensional, but you follow a fixed path that curves through the landscape. As the camera turns, well-timed jumps, avoiding traps and recognising safe landing places remain at the heart of the game.
On the world map, you choose Nikki or Fargus for each level. Nikki has a double jump that lets you extend a jump in mid-air. Fargus rolls through opponents with a tumbling attack. Both can bounce on enemies and use weapons they find. Special gates temporarily turn you into animals with their own movements: a dragon flies, a rhinoceros charges through obstacles and a frog jumps extra high. Hidden passages and bonus sections give you reasons to look beyond the most obvious route.
You play alone using the directional buttons of a standard PlayStation controller. Collecting coins and bouncing higher at the right moment helps you along the way, but a mistake can still cost a life. After completing a level, your character returns to the Mystic Map. Progress uses passwords rather than memory card saves. Press SELECT on the map to view your current password and write it down so you can continue later.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
Pandemonium! for PlayStation 1 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Pandemonium!
Pandemonium! was released for PlayStation by Crystal Dynamics in 1996. Toys for Bob developed the game, with Paul Reiche III as lead designer and Ken Ford and Fred Ford as lead programmers in the original credits. The adventure emerged at a time when platform games were seeking new ways to use three-dimensional graphics. Pandemonium kept movement largely along a fixed route and used the extra space mainly for winding paths, large structures and striking camera angles.
Crystal Dynamics later described the experience as a fast-moving roller coaster. In the company’s account of the development of Pandemonium 2, the first game’s lively camera was singled out as a starting point for the sequel. That explains much of the original design: the world turns around the player while the route itself provides direction. Nikki and Fargus add different movements to the same course, so choosing another character also changes how you tackle jumps and enemies.
The first game’s music was composed by Burke Trieschmann. The credits also list separate contributors for story animation, voices and level design. Pandemonium 2 followed in 1997, with a changed appearance and new elements. The Platinum edition offered here belongs to the original Pandemonium adventure. This reissue should therefore not be confused with the sequel or later adaptations for handheld devices. The combination of a fixed route and a three-dimensional presentation remained the distinctive foundation of this first instalment.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
Like Pandemonium, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile follows a fixed route through three-dimensional landscapes. In Klonoa, captured enemies become tools: you throw them or use them for a higher jump. Pandemonium divides special movements between Nikki and Fargus and makes the camera move noticeably with bends in the path. Both combine exploration and jumping, but Klonoa builds more small puzzles around carrying an opponent and using it at the right moment.
Rayman shares precise jumping, hidden routes and imaginative surroundings with Pandemonium. Its hand-drawn levels remain two-dimensional and gradually give you extra abilities, such as hovering with his hair. Pandemonium presents its paths as three-dimensional structures and lets you choose between two characters beforehand. Freeing imprisoned Electoons is an important exploration goal in Rayman; in Pandemonium, variety and discovery come partly from bonus areas, weapons and temporary animal transformations along the way.
Crash Bandicoot likewise has you follow a clear route, avoid enemies and discover hidden bonus sections. Its camera alternates between viewing the action from behind Crash and from the side. Pandemonium more often curves its route through a three-dimensional landscape while the view turns with it. Crash uses a spin attack and crates as familiar elements of its levels. Pandemonium also offers Nikki’s double jump, Fargus’ tumbling attack and animal forms that temporarily change how you tackle a section.
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos also combines jumping, defeating enemies and collecting hidden finds in three-dimensional environments. Croc can move more freely through individual spaces and uses his tail to hit opponents. Pandemonium keeps you on a predetermined path, so you mainly read the timing and height of jumps. While Croc searches for his Gobbo friends, Nikki and Fargus focus on reaching the next stage of their journey and exploring extra passages.
Spyro the Dragon also has a colourful fantasy world with secrets, enemies and collectibles. Spyro lets you explore open areas, free dragons and glide to out-of-the-way places. Pandemonium leads you much more clearly along a fixed course, with an automatically moving camera. Its challenge more often lies in a sequence of jumps. Spyro instead asks you to choose your own route through an area and discover how its different heights connect.
