The great classic “Barbarian, the Ultimate Warrior” from the magnificent (and not very prolific) London label Palace Software, did not come out on MSX back in the distant year of 1987. Curiously, however, its sequel Barbarian II did come out time later, as almost always, a mere translation of the ZX Spectrum version. And to be honest, in this case it must be said that it was quite decent, despite generating a lot of controversy due to its cover and the bloodiness of the fight in which you could literally lose your mind...

Recently, the phenomenal team at BitVision Software wanted to remedy this by using the resources of the ill-fated and misunderstood MSX 2 standard, but going back to that time and trying to be as respectful as possible of the original game. And boy do they succeed! If they have even kept the graceful amphibian that carries away the corpse of the defeated opponent, you drag!

In "Barbarian, the Duel", we can choose between facing the computer or, also, playing between two players, and you have at your disposal a movement for fluid combat with music and some very good sound effects; but, necessarily and unfortunately, we are going to find an important point against it, and that is that its development becomes a bit monotonous for two main reasons: first, because the scenario is always the same, without any modification, and second, because despite the great variety of movements and attack techniques, both we and the enemy, repeat almost the same ones over and over again, either for convenience or because of ignorance, even if we have read the instructions.

If we think about it, it is that these games are like that. Personally, I think we should not see it as an inconvenience, but rather as a characteristic of this type of duels to the death, since it also happens with great games of martial arts, boxing, etc., but honestly, other scenarios would have helped different as you go through the phase and, above all, some test or challenge apart from the mere hand-to-hand confrontation.

Be that as it may, it is an excellent game to recreate and enjoy a time that will not return and that all 8-bit lovers miss with great nostalgia...