 Legend Entertainment Company
Legend Entertainment Company was started in 1989 by Bob Bates and
Mike Verdu and is located in northern Virginia, USA. Their early
games were illustrated text adventures. In 1993, they broke from
the text tradition with Companions of Xanth which was their first
game to feature a point-and-click interface.
Since around 1993-1994 they have used different distributors for
each game. If nothing else is noted below, they have distributed
the game themselves.
In spite of their relative success up to fall 1995, they decided
to stop publishing games themselves but instead focus on doing
development work for other companies.
Legend Entertainment Company has a homepage at http://www.legendent.com/.
There are inofficial sites about Legend Entertainment Company: They are or have been distributed by MicroProse, Accolade and Mindscape, Inc.
Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls
Type: BG (can play text-only)
Written 1990 by Steve Meretzky.
Runs on:
Notes: The games comes on six 3.5" disks and contains an errata card,
a Class of '41 orientation guide, man, and a Sorcerer
University registration form. There was a hint book available
separately for this game.
Package blurb: Sorcerer University
Dangerously Close to a Real Education
So you want to be a sorcerer, eh? Want to wave that wand of
yours in front of beautiful women and watch 'em swoon, don't
you? Well, you're definitely going to need magic. And
Sorcerer University is the place to get it. Sorcerer U.
offers everything an apprentice wizard needs to make it big
in the real world.
Social Clubs. Join the famous Tappa Kegga Bru or I
Phelta Thi fraternities. Make friendships that last the rest
of your life, whether you want them to or not. Attend
fun-filled frat parties where the brew is cold, but the women
aren't.
Interesting People. Sorcerer University is famous for
its friendly and robust student body (quite a few of them,
actually) eager to help freshmen find their way around and
get the most out of those late night cramming sessions.
Field Trips. Visit the most fascinating places in
Peloria, from the Island of Horny Women to the
Island Where Time Runs Backwards to the Restaurant
at the End of the Ocean. No, you can't skip right to the
Island of Horny Women.
Intellectual Challenge. Learn the art of sorcery from
the masters themselves. Refine your skills in the Simulation
Lab, where you'll challenge a ferocious dragon and rescue an
imprisoned damsel. Of course, which skills you choose to
refine is entirely up to you.
Adventure. You've got a mission to accomplish, and
it's not some cheapo, Find-The-Missing-Magic Sword quest,
either. We're talking END OF THE WORLD-type stuff, here ---
and if you blow it, you can forget that frat party next week.
Sorcerers Get All The Girls can be played in either
"naughty" or "nice" mode. With its obvious satirical content,
the game is intended for the amusement of adults, or at least
those old enough to see an R-rated movie (or sneak into one).
It contains language and a general moral attitude that may
offend some. It is recommended that these people buy the
game, and then throw it away as a form of protest.
Award-winning game designer Steve Meretzky's latest graphic
adventure contains the same wicked sense of humor, devilish
puzzles and bawdy satire found in his other works, notably
The Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Leather Goddesses
of Phobos, Planetfall and Zork Zero. Steve
profoundly apologizes and promises never to do it again.
Honest.
Timequest
Type: Bitmap graphics
Written 1991 by Bob Bates.
Runs on:
Notes: The package contains at least disks (5 1/4"), registration
card, and a product catalog.
Comments: A rogue agent from the Temporal Corps has stolen a time machine
and used it to the alter the past. You must undo what he has done
and track him down.
Timequest demands you save the world, ten times over. Time
travel used intelligently, puzzles that don't feel like
puzzles, and an actual villain you can loathe (unlike, say,
the Thief). It's open-ended almost to a fault, while still
maintaining an urgent pace throughout the game. Although it
doesn't aspire to the literary qualities of Trinity or A Mind
Forever Voyaging, the text still succeeds in evoking people,
places, and times far different from the norm.
Timequest is a game I am truly saddened to finish every time I
play it, compared to the satisfaction at victory, or the
relief to be done that I feel upon completing most text
adventures. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Package blurb: EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO 3,000 YEARS OF HISTORY REPORTED ON FOUR
CONTINENTS -- REPORT FOR DUTY IMMEDIATELY.
The unthinkable has happened -- a renegade from the Temporal
Corps has traveled back in time and altered critical events
in history. Only you can prevent this madman from shattering
the timestream and destroying current civilization.
Your mission will take you to four continents and across
three thousand years -- from Stonehenge, the Circus Maximum
and the Hanging Gardens in Babylon; to the Aztec Temple of
the Sun, the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid on
Cheops. You will face mystery, intrigue, danger and death as
you untangle the masterful web of deceipt.
The villain's targets include Julius Caesar, Attila the Hun,
Charlemagne, Harun al-Rashid, Genghis Khan, Montezuma,
Napoleon Bonaparte and many others. Your orders are to repair
the timestream, track this criminal down, and bring him to
justice.
Good luck.
TIMEQUEST is a classic adventure game of breathtaking scope
and astonishing depth. The player travels to 80 locations,
seeing the effects of his actions unfold over 3 millennia. A
treat for science-fiction fans and adventure enthusiasts
alike, TIMEQUEST includes classic time-travel puzzles and
these Legend features:
- Superb musical score featuring Roland and AdLib support
- digitized sound effects
- unique Legend screen design with pushbutton options
- menu driven parser
Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance
Type: BG (can play text-only)
Written 1991 by Steve Meretzky.
Runs on:
Notes: The game comes on five 3.5" disks and a manual, Beginning
Moonhood, and a Sorcerer University registration form.
Frederik Pohl's Gateway
Type: Bitmap graphics
Written 1992 by Mike Verdu, Michael Lindner and Glen Dahlgren.
Runs on:
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break
Type: BG (can play text-only)
Written 1992 by Steve Meretzky.
Runs on:
Comments: It's spring break of Ernie Eaglebeak's junior year, and this time
he's battling a rival fraternity for control of the beach at Fort
Naughtytail.
Eric the Unready
Type: Bitmap graphics
Written 1993 by Bob Bates.
Runs on:
Package blurb: "I laughed till my pants fell down!"
-- Larry Laffner
"More fun than a barrel of monkeys!"
-- Guywood Threepbrush
Eric the Unready established his reputation by impaling his
instructor during jousting class. Then, when Princess
Lorealle the Worthy is kidnapped, Eric begins a madcap quest
through this hilarious fantasy world packed with dragons and
dwarves, wizards, unicorns and the most fearsome beasts of
all, the dreaded Attack Turtles. From the mysterious caverns
of the Not So Great Underground Empire to the perilous waters
of Swamp Trek, Eric cuts a swath of destruction as he
unravels the secret of the wicked Queen Morgana and her lover
Sir Pectoral.
Every player will find at least one favorite movie, TV show
or adventure game that has been struck by Bob Bates's pen!
From the award-winning author of TIMEQUEST.
- New menu-driven system for conversing with characters.
- Intriguing mix of interfaces creates a constantly changing
graphical scene.
Gateway II: Homeworld
Type: Bitmap graphics
Written 1993 by Mike Verdu and Glen Dahlgren.
Runs on:
Package blurb: Five hundred thousand years ago, a technologically advanced
race called the Heechee ruled the galaxy. Then they vanished.
San Francisco 2112 A.D. A fanatic cult of terrorists plans to
bring the Heechee's ancient enemy to Earth and purify
humanity in a bath of cleansing fire. You must stop them, but
you can't do it alone.
The race to stop these madmen catapults you on a journey to
new worlds and new adventures and ultimately across the event
horizon of a black hole where you discover mankind's last
remaining hope for survival -- the Heechee Homeworld.
Based on Frederik Pohl's Hugo and Nebula award-winning
Heechee Saga.
Meet the Heechee face to face. Hold conversations via new
intelligent dialogue system, operate alien technology, pilot
a starship!
- Experience the chilling reality of 22nd century Earth
- Battle murderous robots, carnivorous dinosaurs and
spear-carrying humanoids
- Rescue a prospector marooned in a robot-controlled
Heechee starship
- Escape a frozen planet where crystaline beings
metabolize electricity
- Cross the event horizon of a black hole and explore the
Heechee planets hidden in the core
Spellcasting Party Pak
Written 1993.
Runs on:
Notes: My guess is that this is a compilation of the three
Spellcasting games.
Companions of Xanth
Type: Point-n-Click
Written 1993 by Mike Lindner.
Runs on:
Notes: Based on the Xanth book series by Piers Anthony.
Death Gate
Type: Point-n-Click
Written 1994.
Runs on:
Package blurb: Long ago after centuries of war, the Sartan race smashed the
World Seal and sundered the Earth into separate magical
realms, each sealed from the other by the powerful Death
Gate. In isolation, magic was corrupted, knowledge lost and
the common humanity that once bound the world was forgotten.
The defeated Patryns, trapped in the nightmarish prison realm
of the Labyrinth, became twisted with hatred and plotted
their revenge. Born in this savage and unforgiving land, you
escape and undertake a new quest to find the pieces of the
World Seal, wreak revenge upon the Sartan and deliver your
people from the daily torment of their living hell.
Mission: Critical
Type: Point-n-Click/Video clips
Written 1995 by Mike Verdu.
Runs on:
Notes: Distributed by Randomsoft.
Comments: You awake aboard your spaceship to discover you are the only crew
member still aboard. You must discover what happened to the crew,
and learn more about the secret they were protecting.
Shannara
Type: Point-n-Click/Video clips
Written 1995 by Lori Cole and Corey Cole.
Runs on:
Notes: Distributed by Randomsoft.
Star Control 3
Type: Point-n-Click
Written 1996 by Michael Lindner and Daniel Greenberg.
Runs on:
Notes: Distributed by Accolade. This game sold more than 80.000
copies during the first sixty days it was released. This is
termed "strategy/adventure/arcade hybrid" on Legend's own web
pages.
Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
Type: Point-n-Click
Written 1997 by Josh Mandel.
Runs on:
Notes: Published by Take Two, distributed by Mindscape, Inc.
The Lost Adventures
Written 1997.
Runs on:
Notes: This is a compilation containing Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get
All the Girls, Spellcasting 201: The Sorcerer's Appliance,
Spellcasting 301: Spring Break, Timequest, Eric the Unready,
Gateway, Gateway II: Homeworld, and Companions of Xanth. It also
contains demo versions of Superhero League of Hoboken (an RPG),
Mission: Critical, and Shannara. Distributed by Mindscape,
Inc.
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