Fighting Fantasy book gets DS re-release

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A game based on the first Fighting Fantasy book is coming to DS. Developed by Big Blue Bubble and published by Aspyr, Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain will be released in the US this Christmas.

We've been told by the developer that it's still waiting on final dates for UK, Europe and Asia.

"Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is our most ambitious Nintendo DS project to date," said Damir Slogar, Big Blue Bubble boss. "Driven by the vision of bringing next gen console gaming to the handheld platform, as well as our passion for role playing games, we spent the past few years working on a game that will showcase how this FPSRPG on Nintendo DS can and should look."

Those on the CVG team over 25 still have fond memories of the Fighting Fantasy (and Lone Wolf) series, so we'll be keeping an eye on this one.

For those under 25:

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain follows a lone adventurer on his travels through the old Dwarven keep within Firetop Mountain. Now the residence of an evil warlock and hordes of foul creatures, the keep is a mysterious and dangerous place from which no one has returned in many years.

As players guide the adventurer through the many passageways and dungeons, they develop the character's abilities and attributes to suit their play style. Enemies will fall before the player's brute strength with sword and axe, power of the arcane arts, nimble quickness or custom combinations of skills. A wealth of weaponry, armor, potions and enchantments are equipped through an intuitive drag-and-drop inventory system while helpful (or not-so-helpful) NPCs provide guidance, quests, trade goods and skill training.

The Fighting Fantasy book series launched in 1982 with the first title, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Authors Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson created a revolutionary new idea for the fantasy genre: the reader would become the hero of his or her own fantasy adventure in a story that would be part book, part game. After each paragraph a decision must be made: which way to turn, whether to fight or flee, which mysterious character to approach, and what risks to take.

Each choice sent the reader to a different page to discover the consequences of their choice, with each read-through ending either in disaster, or with the discovery of the ultimate goal. To date, the series has seen more than 70 titles published and more than 14 million copies sold worldwide.

Gavin Ogden