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"First Released: 1986 (PC, Macintosh, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Amiga, Atari ST) Now Available On: PC (via GOG) The late 1980s was a golden age of adventure gaming with Sierra at the forefront of it, setting the standards for the genre with its AGI engine. Following in the footsteps of King&amp;#039;s Quest, Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy&amp;#039;s Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter combined the text-input of early adventure games with pseudo 3D graphics and animation. It parodied popular sci-fi properties such as Star Trek and Star Wars and went on to spawn five sequels and a remake. Released in 1986, Space Quest introduced gamers to the hapless galactic janitor who would become known as Roger Wilco. Players could input a name of their choosing in the original, but his default moniker was adopted as gospel for the sequels. Wilco was the lowest ranking member of the crew on board the scientific spaceship Arcada, but when a murderous alien race known as the Sariens laid siege to the vessel and made off with the powerful Star Generator, the humble cleaner went from zero to hero and saved the day.  Puzzles came in all varieties, from inventory-based to logic-testing, and were solved by entering text commands into a parser. Wilco was controlled using the arrow keys, but actions were carried out by typing specific instructions when in the correct vicinity. Although there were instances where players had to be annoyingly specific, the game at least had a sense of humour when outlandish orders were entered. There were many ways to die in Space Quest, so saving often was imperative. Some of these fatalities were as grandiose as perishing in a space ship crash or being devoured by an extra-terrestrial monster, while others were far more banal. Many players revisited the game after completion to seek out new ways to kill Wilco, a theme that would be carried over to Sierra&amp;#039;s subsequent releases.  Space Quest was released for a number of home computers, and there were some platform differences between each version. For instance, the Amiga, Atari ST and Mac edition featured basic mouse support for character movement, while Apple IIGS owners were treated to a richer sonic experience. The original game was rendered in a 160\u00D7200 resolution displaying 16 colours, but had a certain charm at the time if you could get past the blocky sprites. Space Quest exemplified the high quality of adventure games that emerged during the 1980s. Players who were raised on the text-input interface thrived on the challenges that came with it, seeing its shortcomings as part of that challenge. Many players who discovered the adventure genre when the point-and-click movement had gained momentum would never truly appreciate the intricacies of the text parser.      Due to the success of Space Quest and its sequels, the original was remade in 1991 under the title of Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in The Sarien Encounter. The remake boasted far superior graphics and sound, with VGA visuals and sound card support included. Sierra&amp;#039;s standard text-input interface also made way for its shiny new icon-based point-and-click system, which was introduced to the series in Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers.  The VGA remake looked and sounded great, but was a little on the easy side, with players raised on the original coasting through with the aid of the new interface. In hindsight, it was disappointing that this version did not receive the CD-ROM treatment like Space Quest IV because the addition of voice acting, particularly Gary Owens&amp;#039;s dramatic narration, improved the experience tenfold. Although Space Quest was a commercial success for Sierra, it also brought a couple of lawsuits to their doorstep. Toys R Us sued the studio over the inclusion of an in-game store called Droids R Us. The developers were forced to change this to Droids B Us, but they continued to parody the retailer&amp;#039;s mascot in the VGA remake. ZZ Top didn&amp;#039;t take too kindly to their likeness being used for a scene in a seedy intergalactic bar. The Blues Brothers also appear in the same watering hole in some versions, but Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi didn&amp;#039;t seem to mind.  The Space Quest series remained popular throughout its lifecycle, though it has not seen a new instalment since 1996&amp;#039;s Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco in The Spinal Frontier. There have been numerous attempts to revive it since then, with Space Quest VII: The Return to Roman Numerals floating around in development hell for a few years before being permanently canned. Escape Factory also made a fruitless attempt to reimagine the franchise as an action-based title for Xbox, but the fans would certainly have reacted negatively to this had it seen the light of day. With renewed interest in the adventure game genre in recent years thanks to the efforts of studios like Telltale Games, and the rise of touch-screen devices, there&amp;#039;s a good chance we haven&amp;#039;t seen the last of old Roger Wilco. Telltale is working on a King&amp;#039;s Quest revival as we speak, so who knows what will happen in the future. Do you have any fond memories of Space Quest? Post a comment below.      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/retro-corner/news/a408843/retro-corner-space-quest-the-sarien-encounter/>