A Look At Coktel’s Gobliiins Series.

The 80s and 90s were a wicked time for gamers when it came to new original ideas, experiments and such. Coktel was one of those companies/developers which decided to go the experimental way with games like Fascination, Gobliiins, and Ween, just to mention a few.

Today i decided to take a little look at the Goblins series, or maybe it is the Gobliiins series?, or maybe it is the Gobliins series?. It is safe to say that Coktel did a great job of giving the series such an original name for a trilogy.

I have no idea if the series was planned to be a trilogy from the start or not, but most likely it was meant to be a trilogy…

The first game in the series was Gobliiins, the idea of the name was that there were 3 of the goblins, at least that’s what i have thought for all these years. It seems that i was wrong because when i checked Wikipedia, it says it is down to the number of abilities them goblins have. I decided to check up on this and contacted a few persons around the interwebs who knew or worked on the projects, and by the look of things, it was all about the unique abilities and” the number of goblins. The first game set this, and while Gobliins 2 strayed away from some of the formula, it still holds the concept of the first game.

The first game started off with a very funny voodoo scene, and i must admit that this scene was the main reason why i even tried the game for more than a few minutes.

The game can be very hard sometimes, and very far from being logical in terms of puzzles. You had to think out of the box a lot, and when you pulled off a puzzle then the accomplishment was very rewarding.

Back in the day when we had no easy access to walkthroughs, guides and so on was when these types of games really shone, being stuck at a level for more than a week. This made the game fun and challenging, and while the solution was very strange,e it still made me want to continue to the next level, many times just because of the wicked humour.

My box of the first game shows a lot of wear and tear and the manual is gone. I guess the manual might be in another box as i know a friend of mine returned the manual much later than the actual box/floppies. We will see when i am finished taking pictures of all my Amiga games (will start after my PS3 collection, which is about halfway now).

Note to self: do not loan games to anyone.

Standard looking box, i guess, floppy disks have different stickers and fonts, on purpose? Yes, of course.

I do not remember when i got the game, but what i do remember is that i bought it after i had played the cracked version.

The sequel starts off with a quite funny animation with a fly, while it was not as good as the one from the first game, it still made it clear from the start that this game was in the same style as the first one.

There are only 2 Gobliins in this game, and that makes some of the puzzles even harder than in the first game, due to logical thinking anyway, but as i told earlier, Gobliiins series was never all about being logical.

Gobliins 2 can be quite hilarious at times, sometimes it can be very annoying too, due to unresponsiveness/bad mouse pointer detection, many have given up while playing this game for sure.

The box art of the second game is quite good, i do remember when i bought the game and much like with the first one i bought this one after i had played the cracked version.

Funnily enough, i bought this game several years after i bought the 3rd game in the series.

The reason i bought it was because of the “hole” in my collection and that i found it really cheap at an Amiga games shop that was closing down.

The box is complete, and everything is mint, too.

The floppy disks don’t have that strange labelling system from the first game.

The colour code card for the copy protection is the same for all 3 games, if i remember correctly. Unresponsive menu while typing the codes meant that i played the cracked versions instead of the originals…

A fine game, a gem in my collection and certainly one i enjoy today, even with YouTube walkthroughs etc.

In Goblins 3, you’re only in charge of one of the delightfully unhinged goblins this time around, though various other creatures do join the fun from time to time. The puzzles feel more refined and logical compared to the previous two games, although they’re not quite as bonkers this time around.

That said, this is hands down my favourite entry in the trilogy. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, filled with bizarre and imaginative locations, and deliberately ridiculous in a way that makes you feel like a fool for not thinking like a goblin. And that’s the charm.

Graphically, it’s a definite step up from the first two games. Oddly enough, there was never an AGA version released. Given how well the series had done on the Amiga, it’s baffling that this one got sidelined. The PC version had already jumped to 256 colors and featured full voice acting on the CD release, while the Amiga was still stuck with the standard A500 version.

To make it more confusing, Goblins 3 launched on the Amiga 500 shortly after the CD32 came out. So why it didn’t get an enhanced AGA or CD32 version remains a mystery. A missed opportunity, for sure.

Don’t get me wrong—the Amiga version of Goblins 3 looks great and runs without any technical hiccups. But once you’ve seen the PC version, it’s hard not to wonder why the Amiga release wasn’t on par in terms of graphics, sound, and even the animated intros and story sequences.

The game shipped on six floppy disks—three more than either of the previous titles—and it’s immediately obvious why. The scope and content have expanded significantly.

It also felt noticeably longer than the first two games. Maybe it’s just me, but the adventure seemed to stretch further, with more varied puzzles and locations than ever before.

Goblins 3 came in a large box—quite the upgrade from the smaller packaging of the first two games in the series.

Not in the mood for a personal anecdote? No worries—just skip anything written in italic, that’s where the story bits are.

There’s actually a fun little story behind how I got my hands on this game. I bought it second-hand from a guy at the 1994 demoscene party, The Gathering. He’d been playing it throughout the event, with the box proudly sitting on his desk the whole time.

On the final day, I asked him if he had finished it. He nodded and said he loved it—but also mentioned he never plays games twice, so he was done with it. Naturally, I asked if he’d consider selling it. “Sure,” he said. “You can have it for 100 NOK” (or maybe less—I can’t remember the exact amount). I was broke at the time, but I knew I had to have it. And I did.

I didn’t really have the money to buy anything at the time, but I’ve never regretted picking up Goblins 3. If nothing else, it gave me a story worth telling.

The bus ride home after The Gathering was a nightmare—around 12 hours due to horrible weather. When I finally arrived at the terminal, I found my car looking like it had survived an ice age. Rain had turned to frost, and my car must’ve been one of the coldest objects in all of Norway that day.

After what felt like forever scraping ice off the windows, doors, and roof, I realised I was running out of time—I had to catch the last ferry home. And yes, I’ll admit it: I probably broke half the traffic laws in the country on that drive.

I reached the ferry terminal just as the boat was about to pull away. I was the last car to roll aboard, and it was the final crossing of the day. I was beyond relieved… until it hit me:
I had no money for the ticket.

Yup, the cash I’d used to buy Goblins 3 was supposed to cover my ferry fare. Oops.

I panicked. I couldn’t bring myself to lie or pretend I’d already paid. At the same time, it felt pretty stupid to walk up and explain my situation.

But I did it anyway. I approached the conductor—a kind-looking older gentleman—and told him everything: the game, the Gathering, the ice-covered car, the frantic drive… all of it.

To my surprise, he chuckled and said, “Well, sounds like today’s your lucky day.” He handed me a free ticket and thanked me for being honest—and for giving him a good story to brighten his shift.

I even offered to come back the next day to pay for the ticket, but he waved me off and said, “Forget it. It’s on me.”

So there you have it—a little tale of how I bought a game I technically couldn’t afford, nearly froze, broke speed limits, and still made it home without ending up in jail (or stranded at the dock).

Here you can see my 3 Gobliiins boxes, all of them show wear and tear sadly, but they are getting old and as i have said before, i play my games and they’re not only shiny trophies on my shelves.

And now, a huge surprise (to me at least), 

Yes, Gobliiins had an 4th game, Gobliiins 4 was released in 2009 and hold and beware, it is a 3D game, i have looked at some videos on Youtube and i can safely say that i am glad that i didn’t know of this game before now, it looks so wrong and so dull!.

The naming of the game breaks all the fun of the other games, what on earth?

The game might be awesome for all i know, i should try it before i comment it i guess as videos might not do it any justice.

I am all for remakes and new titles in series if they’re done right, some games should have been amazing no matter what, but as seen with Gobliiins 4, Simon the Sorcerer 3D, Kings Quest 8 etc it ain’t so.

iPhone, Ipad etc (iOS) saw a release of the first two games in 2011, both touched up and refined. i have not tried them as i hate playing on such devices, but i am happy to see them being re-released and i am hopeful of a console version eventually.

Back to the Amiga and the original trilogy releases then…

The series has been a huge part of my early point and click/puzzle days, which is a type of game i thought i would never enjoy back in the day.

The series opened up a doorway to games i had skipped in the past and even more so in the future. It might have been because of the Coktel logo too, because i really liked the game Fascination, which came out around the time the first Gobliiins game came out.

Never tried the series? Look past the graphics and sound and just try them for a bit. Once accustomed to it, you can let the visuals and sound in; you will not regret it.

Thanks for your time, the reason why this post is a mess is simply that of the time it took to write, i started in January, picked it up again in April and then i found out about Gobliiins 4 and i aborted it again, now the post is finally finished.

Screenshots come from various places around the internet, Amiga screenshots come from Hall Of Light as always…