Murder on the Mississippi, fully titled as Murder on the Mississippi: The Adventures of Sir Charles Foxworth, is a 1986 detective adventure game developed and published by Activision

Activision

Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...

 for the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

, Commodore 128

Commodore 128

The Commodore 128 home/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines...

 and the Apple II

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

 computers. It was also licensed for release exclusively in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 by Jaleco

Jaleco

is a Japanese video game publisher and developer established in 2006.The original Jaleco Ltd was founded in 1974. In 2006, it decided to become a pure holding company by renaming itself Jaleco Holding and splitting its video game operations into a newly created subsdiary that took its former name...

, who ported the game to the Nintendo Famicom

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

 and the MSX2

MSX2

MSX2 may refer to:* Msh homeobox 2, a human gene* The second generation of the MSX home computers...

 as . It is an adventure game in which the player must solve a murder mystery on the luxury ship "Delta Princess".

Plot

While heading to New Orleans from St. Louis on the ship "Delta Princess", detective Sir Charles and Watson are caught up in the midst of a murder case by chance, that they must solve.

Characters (passengers and crew)

Not Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

. Becomes the second victim. His appearance is similar to that of a painting of Sherlock Holmes by Charles Doyle (Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

's father). Image

Known as "Regis" in the Activision version. Only a few of his memos can be taken. He occasionally takes walks by himself without any notice. After Charles' death, he longs to do everything over again the right way.

A prostitute, staying in Room 8. Going to New Orleans to visit her Aunt Pearl. Her aunt's secret formula for Okra soup is popular among the passengers.

Prostitute from Nevada. Staying in Room 2F20.

Judge staying in Room 9. Has a reputation for drinking.

The widow of a millionaire, staying in Room 2F23. Has a very bad reputation amongst the passengers.

The captain. Speaks of the incident even before entering the cabin and discovering the body.

Philanthropist staying in Room 2F15. His hobby is shooting, and he often hits birds.

Crew member staying in Room 1F27. Brown's illegitimate son. Is in love with Taylor.

The victim, found dead in Room 4. Owner of the Delta Princess, which he co-manages with Nelson. Also managed many additional businesses.

Trap

Sir Charles is staying in Room 3, and the normal assumption is to start the investigation in Room 1- however, pitfalls exist in Room 1 and Room 14. Falling through one of these holes results in death and an instant game over. There is also a trap in Room 16, in which a knife flies through the air towards Sir Charles immediately after he enters. Unless the knife is dodged it hits Sir Charles in the head and kills him, resulting in another instant game over. While solving the case reveals the true criminal, the identity of the person that set these traps remains a mystery. Since Watson does not fall through the pitfall traps, some players suspect that he might have been the one to set them.

Re-interviewing characters

Each suspect can only be spoken to once per piece of new information— consequently, if there is a piece of information missed the first time around, since it is impossible to talk to them again this can lead to the player becoming impossibly stuck in the game and unable to progress any further. While this bears a sense of reality, it has angered many players.

Bad ending

There is also a bad ending in the game. During the final stage of the game, the player must present evidence to reveal and prosecute the true criminal. However, if insufficient evidence has been examined/obtained the player will simply receive a game over due to lack of evidence.

External links

• Murder on the Mississippi (Commodore 64 version) at c64sets.com