J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1 is an SNES game developed and published by Interplay in 1994. It is an action RPG game in the style of Ys, Legend of Zelda, and Secret of Mana. It is an adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Plot[]
Frodo Baggins is warned by Gandalf to flee the Shire and take the One Ring to Lothlórien to keep it safe from Sauron. While fleeing the Black Riders and fighting wolves, bats, orcs and trolls.
Gameplay[]
This is an Action RPG you play as Frodo Baggins and later on leading as Aragorn and you have up to seven members join your party including Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf. Strangely Boromir doesn't join your party. This game supports up to 5 multiplayers. There is no save battery feature and uses a password system.
If a character dies, the death is permanent and the player cannot use them for the rest of the game and if either Frodo or Aragorn dies, then it's game over.
Development[]
The Super Nintendo game was made using rotoscope animation for the characters.
Reception[]
Honest Gamers panned the game, citing gameplay, "Unfortunately, I am able to fill in this back-story only because I have read the books. The game does nothing to communicate the gravity of Frodo’s situation, and in fact most of the pointless hoops you are made to jump through as part of the “plot” give the impression that Frodo has all the time in the world to carefreely traipse around the countryside running pointless errands." And also mentions "I cannot emphasize enough the stupidity and pointlessness of these fetch-quests. They are used in every capacity as an excuse for failing to come up with cogent ways to advance the plot." Honest Gamers gave the game 1 out of 5 star review. [1]
Differences from the novel[]
- Much of the Fellowship of the Rings story has been cut out in the SNES game including Gandalf visiting Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, Lobelia and Lotho Sackville Baggins owning the Shire Frodo sold them to, also Saruman the Wizard storyline has been cut out as well as the mention of Gollum.
- Many of the characters are absent from the game including Gollum, Lobelia and Lotho Sackville Baggins, Goldberry (Tom's Wife), Sauncho Proudfoot, Glorfindel, Arwen, Balin, Nob, Bill Ferny, Mrs. Maggot, and 3 of Maggots dogs Grip, Fang and Wolf.
- Many of the quotes including poems from the book has been omitted from the SNES game.
- Bilbo's One Hundred Eleventy Birthday party has been shorted, also Bilbo interacts with Frodo and Gandalf rather than speaking to Gandalf in a private conversation.
- All references to tobacco and alcohol has been omitted due to the Nintendo censorship at the time including Ted Sandyman asking for Shire Juice and Farmer Maggot asking for a jug of honey. However the name Brandywine is mentioned in the game. In the book, smoking a alcohol was commonplace but Ted and Maggot never sent Frodo on a fetch quest like in the game.
- Also in the game Frodo is required to do many fetch quests including finding glasses, gate keys, tomb keys, official notes, Mines of Moria keys, spell books to open the doors including the Mines of Moria door while in the book they never encountered locked doors until they reached the Mines of Moria gate which Gandalf had to say the Mellon password to open it.
- The Glasses quest Sam sends Frodo in the Shire caves has never happened in the book as he joins Frodo immediately after eavesdropping on Frodo and Gandalf.
- When the player enters Farmer Maggots yard, he is immediately attacked by orcs and is missing 3 dogs Grip, Fang and Wolf and requires a jug of honey for an official note to the ferryman. While in the book he was never ambushed by orcs and 3 of his loyal dogs are called off by Maggot and he hides 3 hobbits in the cart to the river ferry.
- At the ferry the ferryman requires both an oar and an official note from Farmer Maggot to cross on the river on a raft to meet with Merry who joins your party, while in the book Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin cross the river to the other side.
- While going through the Barrow downs, the player can fight Barrow Wrights but they never get captured or need Tom Bombadil to rescue them, however, in the book Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin are imprisoned by Barrow-Wight's and Tom Bombadil rescues them,
- In the Game Frodo has to save Pippin from the Wolves, In the book Pippin was not attacked by Wolves and later joined up with Frodo and Sam.
- The player can cross the Brandywine Bridge anytime but they immediately can get attacked or killed by the Ringwraiths while in the book, Frodo, Sam and Pippin dodge the Ringwraiths until they reach Weathertop.
- When they meet Aragorn outside the Prancing Pony Inn, he sends them on a fetch quest to retrieve Athelas Minor and leads the party rather than Frodo. While in the book Aragon gave them a message that he was sent by Gandalf to protect the hobbits from Ringwraiths and protects them from the Ringwraith Bree invasion.
- Also removed from the SNES game is the Prancing Pony Inn the Vanishing act scene and the song Frodo sings and skipped over, while in the book Frodo stops his friend Pippin from talking and performs a song and dances on the table before he accidently falls off the table and vanishes and gets scolded by Aragorn.
- Also when the player arrives in the Weathertop area, there is no battle with the Ringwraiths and the player is never required to fight them and Frodo never gets stabbed by a poison dagger, while in the book Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin and Aragorn are ambushed by 5 Ringwraiths, One of them stabs Frodos shoulder with a poisoned dagger.
- Also the Ringwraiths in the SNES game never chases after Aragon, Frodo and Glorfindel is missing from the game, while in the book Frodo was pursued by 9 Ringwraiths on horses and were swept away.
- Also missing is the 3 trolls turned to stone which is missing from the Troll Shaws entrance. While in the book they see 3 trolls turned to stone from Bilbos adventure.
- The Council of Elrond is shorted and they don't have a meeting, while in the book they have a long lengthy meeting about the one ring.
- When the player meets Boromir, he tells them he is unable join them in the SNES game while in the book he joins them as one of the 9 members as part of the Fellowship of the Ring quest.
- The pass of Caradhras attempt has been removed from the SNES game, while in the book the company attempted it only to be turned back by a fierce snowstorm and goes through the Mines of Moria.
- In the game the player is required to collect 6 Gateway gems and use them in the correct order to open the gate or use a password glitch to bypass collecting 6 Gems while in the book Gandalf only had to remember the password "Mellon" to open the Mines of Moria gate.
- The 3 pass ways at the crossroads in the Mines of Moria has been removed with many passes in the SNES game.
- The wizard Drexle is a character created for the SNES game and is seen guarding the gate to the path to Mines of Moria and asks Aragorn to find his stolen orb from the troll he turned to stone while in the book he is never mentioned.
- The Balrog is a final boss the player has to fight in the hallways which Gandalf has to get killed by to kill the Balrog, while in the Book, 8 of the members safely run across the narrow bridge while the Balrog pulls Gandalf into the abyss.
- In the ending of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1 the narrator declares the quest a success even though the one ring is not destroyed. Also in the Mirror of Galadriel scene, Frodo is shown a vision of Hobbit where he sees 3 hobbits one walking around the Shire and 2 standing there and Frodo mentions that everything is well in the Shire, while in the book Sam sees the Shire and is horrified at Ted Sandyman cutting down trees and driving his Gaffer Gamgee out of his home leading up to Scouring of the Shire events.
- Also in the Mirror the eye of Sauron is seen with a lid around his eyeball while in the book, his eye is lidless.
- Galadriel is seen wearing a purple dress while in the book it describes her in a white dress.
- 3 of the chapter storyline events including Farewell to Lórien, The Great River, The Breaking of the Fellowship including the Amon Hen scene is omitted from the game.
- Also the ending of Amon Hen with Boromirs death and funeral, Aragon, Legolas, Gimli declaring themselves the 3 hunters, Merry and Pippin getting captured by Saruman's army, and Frodo and Sam hiking towards Mordor is also removed from the SNES game.
Bugs and glitches[]
- Sam gets stuck while walking to Old Man Willow Tree. When you enter The Old Man willow section, if you exit the screen from the South and reenter north. Sam will walk straight up and get stuck. This is nothing to worry about and the game will still continue as normal.
- Town of Bree Aragorn switching out Frodo from Player 1 controller. When you get the Athelas Minor for Aragon, he will join your party. Earlier in the game, Sam will not move around unless you have a second player using a controller. After Aragorn joins your party, Frodo will immediately become a second player and unless the player has 2 controllers they will be unable to continue the game leaving them stuck.
- Password Mines of Moria door disappears. Anytime you enter the password you are given, if you stop in the middle of the game and then go back to it using a password, you will be able to continue on, however NPC units at Rivendell including Elrond, Bilbo Baggins will disappear and the Mines of Moria door will disappear allowing the player to bypass collecting 6 Gateway Gems.
- Legolas is unable to fight. When Legolas joins your party, he will not fight despite having a bow which may be due to the programming with him not able to fight at all or that he has no arrows to fire with.
- 3 Weapons downgrade attack power. If the player picks up any of these 3 weapons for Aragorn and Gimli in the Mines of Moria, including Anduril, Battle Axe, Glamdor, their attack power will drop down making it harder to fight enemies including orcs, trolls and the Balrog.
Cancelled sequel[]
A sequel was planned, however due to the poor sales and reception of the game, the SNES sequel was cancelled.
External links[]
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