Freeware

Wumpus
Developer: Headrush
Port of the TI-99 game Hunt the Wumpus. You control a little caveman whose mission is to find the Wumpus and kill it. You know you're close if you stumble across a corpse - the wumpus is within two rooms of your location. On medium and hard levels, you must also avoid falling into pits, indicated by feeling a breeze. Mildly entertaining, no real depth.

Shareware

Dragon Bane
Developer: Palm Creations, $24.95
The graphics for this one are rather impressive - 3D adventure on the Palm. However, judging from the screenshots, I believe those who have color Palm Pilots will find it easier to navigate and distinguish where they are in the world. I did not care for the "You punch the Giant Spider for three. You have killed the Giant Spider. You punch the Giant Spider for two." Huh? At least in the demo version, there was no indication that I was fighting more than one. Surprisingly impressive graphics for a palmtop, but it's a flawed masterpiece that I didn't find to be terribly fun to play. Try the demo before you spend nearly $30.

Dark Haven: The Arena
Developer: Gasgorf Software, $14.95
Kind of a cool little adventure game: the character you control is a gladiator who will do battle in the arena. Beforehand, you pick up items to help you - healing potions, that sort of thing. Fun, but I'd download it first to see if you think it's $14.95 worth of fun. For me, probably not.

Ancient Red
Developer: SkeNext, $29.95
A truly immense adventure game. The graphics are extremely impressive, especially in color, but I found the interface to be unfriendly and confusing. Many have called this "Diablo for the Palm." Diablo had an easier interface and many more options, so I'd say that's something of an exaggeration, but I understand the stylistic analogy. In spite of the drawbacks, it is an impressive programming achievement for handhelds. I still like Kyle's Quest better simply because of the expandability.

ShadowThief
Developer: 668 Software, $15.00
Another adventure game for the Palm. Hasn't been updated since December of 1998, and it's looking a bit dated since no new adventures are currently available for it other than Circle of Stealth, the basic one that comes with the game. Developer R. Zane Rutledge has a note from 2/17/2000 on his site indicating that he hopes to release a level editor for the game by Fall of 2000, but it's November, and there's not even an update on the site indicating that it's been delayed. It's interesting enough, but sometimes the chat balloons disappear before you've had a chance to read them, and there's no archive to check. Since this and Kyle's Quest are the same price, if I had to choose how to spend $15, I'd definitely go with the latter until Rutledge gets around to releasing a level editor for this game.

Kyle's Quest
Developer: Kpoole Software, $15.00
This is without a doubt one of the best games I've found for the Palm Pilot. It's extremely charming - something about it has that old Legend of Zelda feel to it, it pretty much oozes with cuteness and adorableness. I kept thinking as I was playing it "I really need to stop playing and finish this article." And then I kept playing! Definitely the sign of a good game.

The only thing it's missing that I'd like to see added would be an automap function, and perhaps color. Not only is it a fun adventure game, it has tons of levels available for download, and there's a level editor available for Windows 95/98/NT if you'd like to make your own. If you liked the original Legend of Zelda, you'll definitely like this. You don't even have to play Kyle - Ani is now available as well. If I don't have this with me on the next long car or plane trip, I'll be an unhappy camper. Try it. Demo version doesn't allow you to save, though, and those batteries will run out sometime. J It's an excellent value - I look at the other games in a $15 price range for the Palm, and nothing else even comes close to this for value.