Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior

Few games of the eighties caused such an uproar as Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior. Sword duels, the evil wizard Drax and one utterly unforgettable move that separated an opponent's head from his body turned this game into a scandalous legend of home computers.

The gameplay rests on duels between barbarian warriors armed with swords. The player controlled a set of strikes, slashes, kicks and blocks performed through combinations of joystick and button. The combat had surprising depth; it was about correctly judging distance, timing the attack and the defence. The peak was the famous killing blow that lopped off the opponent's head, whereupon a small goblin dragged the headless body out of the arena. It was precisely this scene that wrote itself into gaming history.

Behind the game stood the British studio Palace Software, and the game also became famous for its iconic cover, on which the muscular Michael Van Wijk and the model Maria Whittaker posed. A media wave erupted around the box art due to its raciness, which paradoxically gave the game enormous publicity. On platforms like the Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 it became one of the most-discussed titles of its time.

The cultural significance of Barbarian is twofold. On one hand it was one of the first games to openly bet on violence and blood as a selling point, foreshadowing later debates about video game content. On the other, its combat system influenced a number of later titles. The game also received a sequel and became an immortal icon of the eight-bit era.

Today Barbarian remains a fascinating testimony to an age when home computers were coming of age and weren't afraid to provoke. The duels are still fun, especially against a second player, and that fabled decapitating blow has kept its grotesque appeal. It's a piece of history that has to be experienced.

Why play: For legendary sword duels with the notoriously infamous decapitating blow and a piece of gaming history that provoked an entire generation.