We were somewhere in the Louisiana backwoods. I had been driving for hours, powered by a mixture of Five Hour Energy, coffee, and the Trainspotting soundtrack. A light fog hovered above the asphalt. At least, I think it was a fog. There was a non-zero chance that it was a problem with my vision brought on by a mixture of caffeine and lack of sleep. That would certainly explain the creature that came darting out of the woods and stopped in front of my headlights. It was a strange, amorphous blob that looked like a piece of sentient jello.
The creature was protecting a red gem and it launched a fireball from its mouth as we approached it.
Okay. Somewhere along the line in this story I started lying. However, the creature at the center of the Commodore 64 game Goodness Gracious really does resemble the hallucination of a sleep deprived trucker. I think it’s supposed to be some kind of reptile, but I’m not 100% sure. The beast on the cover of the game looks like a mix between a dragon and a demon. The creature you controlled looked a bit like a piece of blown up bubble gum that was spit out without being popped.
The game was created by the UK company Beyond Software. It was developed by Paul Jay and released on tape. It is…profoundly strange.
Players controlled the weird, pimple like creature and used fireballs to defend a red gem. Fireballs were launched by holding down the spacebar button. Your supply of fireballs was limited, but you could earn more by killing enemies. You moved on to a new level by killing three enemies. The game ended if you ran out of fireballs or an enemy got to the gem.
Typically, I like to include a video of a playthrough of the games I write about, but unfortunately I was unable to find one for this Commodore curio. Oh well, such are the risks when you spend your time searching for digital artifacts.
Until next time, I remain…
Just Another Geek in the Geek Kingdom
Shaun Jex is a lifelong gamer, a journalist, and pop culture historian.His love of video games began with a Commodore 64 he played growing up, late night sessions on his NES, Game Boy and Sega Genesis, and frequent trips to the local Tilt arcade. He edits the Citizens' Advocate newspaper in Coppell, Texas and writes about Disney and Walt Disney World history for Celebrations Magazine and the Celebrations Magazine blog. He runs a weekly vlog called "The MCP" dedicated to retro video games, and a channel with his wife Kara called "The Marceline Depot," dedicated to Disney, amusement parks, and travel.
