Retro Halloween Video Games: Cauldron & Cauldron 2

Uh, hi, I'm Steve and I'm a gamer.
[all] "Hiiiiiii Steeeeeve."
My parents got me a Sears Pong system years ago and kerbillions of dollars later I'm still playing video games.
So I thought I'd go on a hunt to see if there were any Halloween-themed video games.

In my quest my standards were that I didn't need the game to be ABOUT Halloween, just have some jack o' lanterns and some themes and I would be happy. The Castlevania games were close. You're trying to kill Dracula... there are monsters... that's cool. Also in the running were the Ghouls and Ghosts games. Simple platformers with zombies, monsters, weapons and a hard play through.

I already knew about the Atari 2600 Halloween game. It's super rare, and if you look at the game... super boring.

But then I found an article in Retro Gamer Collection Volume 2 about the games Cauldron and Cauldron 2 and I think I found my winner.

Available for the Commodore 64 both games featured witches, gargoyles, magic items, graveyards and most importantly: jack o' lanterns. We have our winner.




I didn't have a Commodore 64 myself, but my friend Andrew did and I can't believe we missed this one. I'm going to focus on Cauldron 2 because you actually ARE a jack o' lantern... and there ain't nothin' more Halloweeny than a jack o' lantern.

According to Wikipedia (so you KNOW it's accurate):

The game continues from the same story as Cauldron, but this time the roles are reversed: the player takes the role of the pumpkin and has to defeat the witch. The game takes place in the witch's castle, where the pumpkin has to collect eight magical items to be able to defeat its nemesis. The magical items are: an axe, a shield, a cup, scissors, a crown, a book, and at last - a hairlock of the sleeping witch.

So you actually get to BE the jack o' lantern. How cool is that?!
To read the full article on the making of both Cauldron games either pick up the issue of Retro Gamer Collection Volume 2 online somewhere, or you can read the article on Mygazines.com while the site is still up and running.

Don't have a Commodore 64 and a copy of the game handy to fire up this October?
No problem. Through the wonder of the internet, and tireless man hours by people more dedicated than I, many a website has sought to preserve video game history by turning these classics into Flash based games you can play on your modern Pentium doohickey.

Check out cauldron-2.com to play the pumpkin-filled sequel.
You can also find an updated version of the original at Portable Arade Games HERE.

Don't have the patience to play through a 22 year-old video game? I gotcha covered. Watch the gameplay footage here.