This game is one of the treasures of my childhood. I grew up playing KQ4-7, (They're how I got so good at spelling! What other 5-year-olds could spell "Go Under Bridge"?) and this one is my favorite. It is hilarious, creative, and contains a wonderful fantasy world. The puzzles are tests of lateral-thinking, and the landscape is rife with puns. The characters are memorable, and the storyline is engaging. My favorite part was the Dangling Participle, found on the Isle of the Beast. I also loved to play the labyrinth over and over again, and would imagine myself stalking and being stalked by the minotaur. What more could anyone want?
10 Reviews
Alexander's Magic Map, Indeed
zkonedog11 March 2017
There are some video games that, when played as a child, will capture your imagination and hold it forever. The adventures of Prince Alexander of Daventry in the Land of the Green Isles is exactly one of those games.
For a basic game summary, the King's Quest VI storyline sees King Graham take a back seat in adventuring to son Alexander, who, in his longing for a young maiden seen in the magic mirror, sets off on a quest to find the young lady. Alexander's travels take him to a chain of exotic, yet politically turmoiled, islands from which the search for fair Cassima takes many exciting twists.
In terms of controls, this game takes the same form as KQ5, that being point and click. Think of it as "Myst Lite" from a third-person perspective. As Alexander, you basically go around solving "simple" (or not so simple!) logic puzzles, except (unlike Myst) the puzzles are based not on mechanical devices but on crazy cartoon characters and exotic locals. You'll find yourself, in this game alone, meeting a bookworm, participating in an honest to goodness fairytale, scaling a cliff, and entering the underworld, among other places.
What makes this game the best of the entire KQ series, though, is the cleaning out of bugs and great storyline. From the very beginning, you (the player) are drawn into Alexander's moreso than any King Graham adventure. The voice acting is superb, the characters are all interesting, and the plot unfolds in a way that keeps you involved yet challenged to find "the next thing". Also, no more "Heap Space" error, or missing something in the very beginning that cuts you down in the end. By and large, this game won't let you move on to the next adventure until you have all the required supplies/experience. It isn't perfect, but it isn't nearly as infuriating as its predecessors could be in that area.
Overall, the simple fact is that King's Quest 6 remains one of the most purely entertaining video games I have ever played. I have probably played the game through at least 4-5 times all the way through (introducing various family/friends to Alexander and his magic map!) and it never gets old. The perfect blend of drama, action, adventure, puzzling, and just pure wholesome fun!
For a basic game summary, the King's Quest VI storyline sees King Graham take a back seat in adventuring to son Alexander, who, in his longing for a young maiden seen in the magic mirror, sets off on a quest to find the young lady. Alexander's travels take him to a chain of exotic, yet politically turmoiled, islands from which the search for fair Cassima takes many exciting twists.
In terms of controls, this game takes the same form as KQ5, that being point and click. Think of it as "Myst Lite" from a third-person perspective. As Alexander, you basically go around solving "simple" (or not so simple!) logic puzzles, except (unlike Myst) the puzzles are based not on mechanical devices but on crazy cartoon characters and exotic locals. You'll find yourself, in this game alone, meeting a bookworm, participating in an honest to goodness fairytale, scaling a cliff, and entering the underworld, among other places.
What makes this game the best of the entire KQ series, though, is the cleaning out of bugs and great storyline. From the very beginning, you (the player) are drawn into Alexander's moreso than any King Graham adventure. The voice acting is superb, the characters are all interesting, and the plot unfolds in a way that keeps you involved yet challenged to find "the next thing". Also, no more "Heap Space" error, or missing something in the very beginning that cuts you down in the end. By and large, this game won't let you move on to the next adventure until you have all the required supplies/experience. It isn't perfect, but it isn't nearly as infuriating as its predecessors could be in that area.
Overall, the simple fact is that King's Quest 6 remains one of the most purely entertaining video games I have ever played. I have probably played the game through at least 4-5 times all the way through (introducing various family/friends to Alexander and his magic map!) and it never gets old. The perfect blend of drama, action, adventure, puzzling, and just pure wholesome fun!
The Best KQ Ever
Bluefly11 October 1999
Yes, I think this was probably the best King's Quest ever. It's certainly my favorite. I've played them all, but none were quite like KQ6. For one thing, Alexander is probably the most compelling character a game could have. Of all the quests, his is the most compelling, exciting, and even touching.
Aside from that, the interface is convenient, the gameplay is smooth, and the puzzles are challenging, but they're possible. And for once, not having to be constantly on the lookout for enemies to hack apart is kind of a relief. So go play King's Quest, you'll be better for it.
Aside from that, the interface is convenient, the gameplay is smooth, and the puzzles are challenging, but they're possible. And for once, not having to be constantly on the lookout for enemies to hack apart is kind of a relief. So go play King's Quest, you'll be better for it.
The best King's Quest 6 game of all time but the High Resolution version is lost.
crosswalkx24 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I have played this game when I was a kid and I loved playing this game, when my family first got the Windows 95 PC computer that introduced me to King's Quest games, Quest for Glory games, although I didn't play Space Quest, Laura Bow or Police Quest until later on in my Adult life. Me and my family including my brothers and sisters loved playing this game over and over. This game includes famous actors from the Disney 1991 movie Beauty and The Beast Robby Benson and the late Tony Jay.
This PC game is about Prince Alexander who's loney for Princess, Cassima, then the magic mirror shows Alex a vision of Cassima being lonely in the land of the Green Isles, Alex tells his mom Valanice that he's traveling on a ship to the Land of the Green Isles, Alex and his sea crew spot the land and they tried to reach the shore but a hurricane thunderstorm came up and sunk the ship and Alexander survives and ended up on the beach. Then the game begins.
First of all I like how the narrator talks, I also like it that the game is much easier to solve than King's Quest III and King's Quest V. I liked Alexanders quotes including "Look here you bully nice bright red!" and "Wait! I must rescue the Princess!" which made me laugh.
You need the royal Insignia ring to get convince the guard dog humans to let him inside the castle with Captain Saladin escorts Alexander to meet Abdul Alhazred and Shimar the Genie. Then Captain Saladin tells him he's not welcome and who bars Alexander from entering the castle, Alexander has to visit town including the Pawn Shop and the Book store. You meet interesting characters including the Pawn shop owner, the Book owner, Jollo and Ferryman who helps Alexander out and he gets the magic map, the old man in the Cloak is Shimar in disguise spying on Alex.
You then get to visit 3 other islands including Isle of Wonder, Isle of the Sacred Mountain, Isle of the Beast, the Isle of the Mist is blocked off until later on in the game. You can get the bird to deliver presents to Cassima at the castle, you'll need the book manual or internet guide for the Cliffs of logic and the Labyrinth puzzle room unless you know it from memory. This was probably made like this to prevent unauthorized copies at the time.
I liked the Bookworm, the Dangling participle the rotten tomato, Stick in the mud and Bump on a log, the hugging vines, the dog face tree and cattails and sleepy Oyster and the 5 sense Gnome guards. The sexy black widow spider. I also liked Lady Celeste who Alexander gets to save from the Minotaur monster and I liked the skeleton dance.
Alex also has to help the 2 chess queens with their feud. He also has to go though the Labyrinth maze which can be easy to get lost and die in.
There's a Beauty and the Beast story where Alex has to find Beauty in the Land of Green Isles and has to offer her beasts ring before he turns into a warthog. If Alexander succeeds in helping Beauty change the Beast back into a prince you now have 2 paths to take, either have Alex become a cross dresser and wear Beauty's clothes to sneak into the castle or take the long path to meet the Druid leader and go to the Land of the Dead and then paint a door into the castle. I think the long path is easier than the short path because you have to deal with guard dogs in the hall and the endings not as good as the long path. Also you'll need to trade with the peddler to the get correct lamp to get the best ending,
There are 3 endings with variations to the game. The short path ending with Shamir disguise being broken by the magic mirror then killed by the mint making him act drunk, or the long path taking to the scary door, meeting the Lord of the Dead, saving Cassimas mom and dad, either getting killed by the mint or Alex making Shamir his master and getting his parent's and everybody gathered at his wedding which Alexander declares his hetero love for Cassima and they lived happily ever after.
Shamir the Genie takes on many disguises including a young boy, a garnderer an old woman and fake Celeste and fake Cassima, I'm surprised that Shamir is a transgender genie in this family friendly PC game. I'm also surprised that Abdul staged a same sex wedding with Shamir so he can pretend to marry Cassima that surprised me as this was made in the 1990s back when it was still taboo and was surprised it was in a family friendly PC game. I'm surprised the game accidentally predicted it though I'm against it.
Anyways the version I like the best is the High Resolution version that worked on Windows 95, 98, 2000, sadly it won't work on Windows XP and the 2006 King's Quest Collection only has the MS-DOS version which isn't as detailed as the Windows High Resolution version which has highly detailed artwork, I miss that version and I'm wondering will I get to play it in the afterlife.
I also went to FanX convention in Salt Lake City and met Robby Benson and dressed up like Prince Alexander, got an autograph and a photo with him, I was surprised he didn't remember voicing King's Quest VI but he always talked about Disney's Beauty and the Beast 1991.
Anyways this will always be my favorite game that Roberta Williams ever made. Alexander would later be in King's Quest 9 in 2015 which I was glad to see. I also got to see King Graham who looked like Gaston make a cameo at the wedding.
I'm sad that my Favorite actor Tony Jay passed away and that the voice actor Chuck McCann who played Jollo also passed away, Also the Hannah Barbara actor Don Messick also passed away, may they rest in peace.
If you haven't played this game, I highly recommend you get this game, yes it's pixelated but it's worth your time. You can buy the downloaded version from Steam and Gog website. I recommend you do so before it becomes unavailable.
I would rate this game rated E-10 for mild violence, peril, tricky gameplay, thematic elements, some scary scenes.
This PC game is about Prince Alexander who's loney for Princess, Cassima, then the magic mirror shows Alex a vision of Cassima being lonely in the land of the Green Isles, Alex tells his mom Valanice that he's traveling on a ship to the Land of the Green Isles, Alex and his sea crew spot the land and they tried to reach the shore but a hurricane thunderstorm came up and sunk the ship and Alexander survives and ended up on the beach. Then the game begins.
First of all I like how the narrator talks, I also like it that the game is much easier to solve than King's Quest III and King's Quest V. I liked Alexanders quotes including "Look here you bully nice bright red!" and "Wait! I must rescue the Princess!" which made me laugh.
You need the royal Insignia ring to get convince the guard dog humans to let him inside the castle with Captain Saladin escorts Alexander to meet Abdul Alhazred and Shimar the Genie. Then Captain Saladin tells him he's not welcome and who bars Alexander from entering the castle, Alexander has to visit town including the Pawn Shop and the Book store. You meet interesting characters including the Pawn shop owner, the Book owner, Jollo and Ferryman who helps Alexander out and he gets the magic map, the old man in the Cloak is Shimar in disguise spying on Alex.
You then get to visit 3 other islands including Isle of Wonder, Isle of the Sacred Mountain, Isle of the Beast, the Isle of the Mist is blocked off until later on in the game. You can get the bird to deliver presents to Cassima at the castle, you'll need the book manual or internet guide for the Cliffs of logic and the Labyrinth puzzle room unless you know it from memory. This was probably made like this to prevent unauthorized copies at the time.
I liked the Bookworm, the Dangling participle the rotten tomato, Stick in the mud and Bump on a log, the hugging vines, the dog face tree and cattails and sleepy Oyster and the 5 sense Gnome guards. The sexy black widow spider. I also liked Lady Celeste who Alexander gets to save from the Minotaur monster and I liked the skeleton dance.
Alex also has to help the 2 chess queens with their feud. He also has to go though the Labyrinth maze which can be easy to get lost and die in.
There's a Beauty and the Beast story where Alex has to find Beauty in the Land of Green Isles and has to offer her beasts ring before he turns into a warthog. If Alexander succeeds in helping Beauty change the Beast back into a prince you now have 2 paths to take, either have Alex become a cross dresser and wear Beauty's clothes to sneak into the castle or take the long path to meet the Druid leader and go to the Land of the Dead and then paint a door into the castle. I think the long path is easier than the short path because you have to deal with guard dogs in the hall and the endings not as good as the long path. Also you'll need to trade with the peddler to the get correct lamp to get the best ending,
There are 3 endings with variations to the game. The short path ending with Shamir disguise being broken by the magic mirror then killed by the mint making him act drunk, or the long path taking to the scary door, meeting the Lord of the Dead, saving Cassimas mom and dad, either getting killed by the mint or Alex making Shamir his master and getting his parent's and everybody gathered at his wedding which Alexander declares his hetero love for Cassima and they lived happily ever after.
Shamir the Genie takes on many disguises including a young boy, a garnderer an old woman and fake Celeste and fake Cassima, I'm surprised that Shamir is a transgender genie in this family friendly PC game. I'm also surprised that Abdul staged a same sex wedding with Shamir so he can pretend to marry Cassima that surprised me as this was made in the 1990s back when it was still taboo and was surprised it was in a family friendly PC game. I'm surprised the game accidentally predicted it though I'm against it.
Anyways the version I like the best is the High Resolution version that worked on Windows 95, 98, 2000, sadly it won't work on Windows XP and the 2006 King's Quest Collection only has the MS-DOS version which isn't as detailed as the Windows High Resolution version which has highly detailed artwork, I miss that version and I'm wondering will I get to play it in the afterlife.
I also went to FanX convention in Salt Lake City and met Robby Benson and dressed up like Prince Alexander, got an autograph and a photo with him, I was surprised he didn't remember voicing King's Quest VI but he always talked about Disney's Beauty and the Beast 1991.
Anyways this will always be my favorite game that Roberta Williams ever made. Alexander would later be in King's Quest 9 in 2015 which I was glad to see. I also got to see King Graham who looked like Gaston make a cameo at the wedding.
I'm sad that my Favorite actor Tony Jay passed away and that the voice actor Chuck McCann who played Jollo also passed away, Also the Hannah Barbara actor Don Messick also passed away, may they rest in peace.
If you haven't played this game, I highly recommend you get this game, yes it's pixelated but it's worth your time. You can buy the downloaded version from Steam and Gog website. I recommend you do so before it becomes unavailable.
I would rate this game rated E-10 for mild violence, peril, tricky gameplay, thematic elements, some scary scenes.
MY FAVORITE GAME EVER!!!
maxvaughn23 February 2003
This is the best one of the King's Quest games. My friend and I will spend all day playing it, watching it unfold like a movie. The characters are different. There is such a wide variety of people and creatures you could never be bored. The puzzles are great. Going to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain is one of the best adventures. Everything is so well thought out and creative (and I mean creative as in, yes, the idea has been done before, but the way it is done is terrific). Plus, it's funny to try and image Robby Benson saying "Zounds".
One of the best KQ games.
doggans17 May 2003
I love the King's Quest series. It is the greatest adventure game series ever made. Probably the most popular in the series is KQ6, which features the voice of Robbie Benson as Prince Alexander(aka Gwydion from KQ3). The plot is very reminiscent of KQ2--seeing the Girl in the Tower in the magic mirror, the pawn shop, the genies, etc.--but it is still an excellent game in itself. There are many different ways to beat the game, and you can play it several times without it getting old.
Fantastic!
Haids198725 March 2006
As a child of "Quest for the Crown," I grew up on these games and they never got old for me. When "Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow" came out, Sierra could do no wrong. This game is packed with adventure, logic puzzles, mythology, and an enticing plot that absolutely keeps the gamer interested the whole way through. Even at the age of seven I was captivated by the story of Prince Alexander traveling through all the islands, trying to find Princess Cassima. It takes some serious thought to solve all these riddles, making you feel like you're the most brilliant person alive when you do solve them. All in all I've give this game 10 stars, it's one of the best adventure games even made, let alone in its own time.
The beginning of the end for the King's Quest series ...
Gunbarrel20 July 2003
The story: You're Prince Alexander (Gwydion from King's Quest 3) and you've travelled to the Land of the Green Isles to meet Princess Cassimma (Mordac's servant girl from King's Quest 5 who was rescued by Alexander's father King Graham). However enroute Alexander gets shipwrecked which leaves him stuck there, and to make matters worse Cassimma's parents both died while she was gone and is now being forced to marry the Vizier who has assumed power since their death. In addition to this all the islands that make up the country are bickering with each other over the loss of of their prized treasures (whom each believes another island has stolen). Can Alexander sort out this mess and be reunited with Cassimma?
The 6th game in the famous King's Quest saga was unfortunately the beginning of the end for the series. Whilst the game had a good protagonist and the story was interesting it just never gelled for me. Most of the puzzles on a particular island were often only solvable by doing tasks on other islands that gave no indication of order or logic - usually the only way to get through the game was keep continuing as far as you could on a particular island and then try somewhere else when you hit a dead end (often resulting in major reloads back to earlier points in the game). This coupled with the now infamous 'sudden death syndrome' (ie. a sudden game ending scenario with no forewarning that occurs simply because you forgot to do something earlier in the game) that plagued nearly all Sierra adventure games made it very frustrating to play. Whilst it could be argued that many of the other games in the series are also guilty of this, all the King's Quest games (up until King's Quest 5) relied a lot on classic fairy tales for their stories and puzzles which helped give the player clues on how to proceed. From Number 5 onwards though the writers became more dependant on their own story ideas which just made it more confusing for gamers as they had no known source material to draw inspiration from.
The thing that really hurt this game (and the series as a whole) however was the competition that was now coming out. Games such as the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Alone in the Dark plus a little game called Myst were bringing fresh ideas to a growing-stale genre and Sierra was still stuck in the past (most of the King's Quest games - and most of the other Quest games for that matter played a lot alike each other). King's Quest 6 did try to branch out a bit by supplying a few different endings and 2 different routes to the end but this was a bit too little, too late for many gamers.
All in all, the game held promise but was unfortunately out of date with the times in which it was release and most gamers knew it. The next King's Quest game (King's Quest 7: The Princeless Bride) was released 2 years later in 1994 and flopped, and when the latest (and last) King Quest game (King's Quest 8: Mask of Eternity) was released in 1998 it abandoned most of the standard elements of the series in favour of a more action-oriented game with a 3D engine to try and draw in new fans.
In the end, play if you're a big fan of the series, but adventure gamers may be better of looking at some other games from around the same time (see previously mentioned games in the 3rd paragraph).
The 6th game in the famous King's Quest saga was unfortunately the beginning of the end for the series. Whilst the game had a good protagonist and the story was interesting it just never gelled for me. Most of the puzzles on a particular island were often only solvable by doing tasks on other islands that gave no indication of order or logic - usually the only way to get through the game was keep continuing as far as you could on a particular island and then try somewhere else when you hit a dead end (often resulting in major reloads back to earlier points in the game). This coupled with the now infamous 'sudden death syndrome' (ie. a sudden game ending scenario with no forewarning that occurs simply because you forgot to do something earlier in the game) that plagued nearly all Sierra adventure games made it very frustrating to play. Whilst it could be argued that many of the other games in the series are also guilty of this, all the King's Quest games (up until King's Quest 5) relied a lot on classic fairy tales for their stories and puzzles which helped give the player clues on how to proceed. From Number 5 onwards though the writers became more dependant on their own story ideas which just made it more confusing for gamers as they had no known source material to draw inspiration from.
The thing that really hurt this game (and the series as a whole) however was the competition that was now coming out. Games such as the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Alone in the Dark plus a little game called Myst were bringing fresh ideas to a growing-stale genre and Sierra was still stuck in the past (most of the King's Quest games - and most of the other Quest games for that matter played a lot alike each other). King's Quest 6 did try to branch out a bit by supplying a few different endings and 2 different routes to the end but this was a bit too little, too late for many gamers.
All in all, the game held promise but was unfortunately out of date with the times in which it was release and most gamers knew it. The next King's Quest game (King's Quest 7: The Princeless Bride) was released 2 years later in 1994 and flopped, and when the latest (and last) King Quest game (King's Quest 8: Mask of Eternity) was released in 1998 it abandoned most of the standard elements of the series in favour of a more action-oriented game with a 3D engine to try and draw in new fans.
In the end, play if you're a big fan of the series, but adventure gamers may be better of looking at some other games from around the same time (see previously mentioned games in the 3rd paragraph).
Only KG game worth getting
irishrichy27 May 2001
I have played a lot of kings quest games and this is the only one i liked. It has challenging puzzles and good graphics. It is hard but worth it. It is not as good as the Quest for Glory games or the leisure suit larry games, which are also made by Sierra. However it is well worth getting.
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