ULTIMATE GUIDE PASTAN
WELCOME TO THE DANGEROUS REALM OF RASTAN, BRAVE WARRIOR, THIEF AND... MURDERER? IT’S AN UNCONVENTIONAL BEGINNING FOR THIS TALE OF EPIC BRAVERY AND SWORDSMANSHIP, AS THE MIGHTY BARBARIAN TAKES ON A HORDE OF CLASSIC MONSTERS, DRESSED IN JUST A FUR-LINED LOINCLOTH. TREASURE, GLORY – AND HOPEFULLY NOT TOO MUCH COLD WEATHER – AWAIT
WORDS BY GRAHAM MASON
[Arcade] These bubbling acid pits are just another hazard for
Rastan to leap over.
Chanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan films, barbarians were hot property in the mid-Eighties.
By 1987, Tecmo had already released Rygar, and Palace Software was busy on its homecomputer slash-’em-up, Barbarian. Clearly, loincloth-clad, hyper-muscular warriors were in fashion, and arcade fans soon had the ultimate slash-’em-up to sate their bloodlust.
Taito’s Rastan has two different plots depending on which version you play. In the Japanese game, having obtained the consent of the Princess Of Ceim, Rastan is on a mission to bring back the severed head of a dragon. Should he succeed, all the treasures of the empire will be his. The rest of the world got a somewhat more bizarre tale: having admitted to surviving his younger days by thieving and murdering – yes, murdering – Rastan is now king of his realm and looking back wistfully on his days of adventure. Sitting Conan-like on his throne, the king justifies his past endeavours as surviving in ‘difficult times’. And now he wants to tell us all about it, inviting us to sit beside him as he divulges an adventure of danger and wonder. Don’t fidget – remember his past.