Hi there!

A very obscure game is this one, called Wanderer:

Basically it's a mixture between a 3D space game and... Poker

I'll try to explain a bit more detailed what I figured out about the game, since I was playing it without having the manual and so my findings might be helpful to some.

You are starting out on a sector map, not unlike the ones from Starmaster or Solaris. There's a couple of planets there, three black holes and a sphere in the middle where the boss is residing.

You're traveling around there, from planet to planet, pick a sector near you, hyperwarp to a target, blast everything in sight and try to improve your set of poker like cards. (They're made of geometric symbols). Each planet has also a set of cards and they're trading with you, trying to improve their hands. So if you give them one they already have (i.e. they're improving to a pair for example), they'll trade you a card of theirs for it and some cash.

Not sure if this part of a winning condition, but I was collecting four of the hollow squares to win the game. Any other 4-combo might probably do it as well, but maybe they're the Aces?

You're starting only with 2 cards. The other 3 are located in the black holes. These holes can only be entered if your rank is high enough, which improves ~ with every 5-10 kills. (With an ability of 10 I was finally allowed to enter the last black hole.) Inside the black holes you have to fly through a sequence of 20-30 hexagon rings without touching them. When you make it through, you will collect another card! (see screenshot above )

Now, with your cards complete, you can enter the boss sphere. There's a series of battles to be fought until you get to see another amazing ending:

As a final hint, play it at 200% emulation speed, else it is very slow

I think most ratings of the game are a bit harsh. It has a Zzap score of 16% and a Lemon score of 2...

I'd probably give it something between 5-6. After all it got me hooked long enough yesterday, that when I finished it it was already too late to type a blog entry. A bit short maybe, since I finished it in a single go, but then again did I use savestates. I'd even say that it is better than the C64 version of Starglider, which I was "Playing..." not to long ago.

BTW: The Miggy/ST versions had a nice gimmick, since acording to my infos they came with 3D glasses and were rendering the screen with two colors for a real 3D effect.

Some future day the "Playing..." series may see another 3D space game in the form of "Cholo", but first it will continue with something else. Can't give a hint, since I haven't decided on the next title yet

Greetings,

Manuel