King's Quest

MS-DOS, Other, Master System, Windows +21984

  1. JP—
  2. NA1984
  3. EU—
  4. RU—

King's Quest (1984) is also sold as King's Quest: Quest for the Crown, and its 1990 remake is King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown. GOG's King's Quest 1+2+3 includes the original version, while Steam's King's Quest Collection has the remake.

King's Quest is the adventure game that started Sierra's best-known series. IBM published it for its new PCjr computer in May 1984 after asking Sierra On-Line for a game that would show off the machine's graphics. Roberta Williams designed and wrote it, and a team of six programmers and artists worked on it for about 18 months. IBM paid US$700,000 toward development, which made it Sierra's most expensive title at the time.

It was Sierra's first game with a visible hero walking around the screen and the first built on the Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) engine. Sierra then released versions for the Tandy 1000, Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh and MS-DOS, and a Sega Master System port came out in 1989. The game was never released in Japan.

In 1990 Sierra remade it as King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown on its newer SCI engine.1

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA King's QuestIBM PCjr; shown at Winter CES in January 1984. MS-DOS May 1984 IBM 1
NA King's QuestLater versions for Tandy 1000, Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh and MS-DOS; many appeared after the PCjr was discontinued in May 1985. Dates are not given in the source. Other 1985 Sierra On-Line 1
NA King's Quest I: Quest for the CrownSCI remake. MS-DOS 1990 Sierra On-Line 1
WW King's QuestSega Master System; region not stated in the source. Master System 1989 — 1
WW King's Quest CollectionSteam collection of seven games, with the SCI version. Windows Jul 23, 2009 Activision 2

Also known as: King's Quest: Quest for the Crown WW3King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown WW1

Box art by region

  • King's Quest box art, North America release
    NA King's Quest

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.

Version differences

  • GraphicsSCI remake (1990)

    The 1990 SCI remake has higher-resolution graphics, sound card support, music by Ken Allen and reworked story and puzzles.1

  • TextSCI remake (1990)Later releases

    The remake adds the manual's expanded backstory, and later releases rename the hero from Grahame to Graham.1

  • ContentSteamGOG

    Steam's King's Quest Collection includes the SCI remake, while GOG's King's Quest 1+2+3 includes the original AGI version.1

Where to play legally today

  • GOG Purchase

    King's Quest 1+2+3

    Windows; original AGI version

    Checked: 2026-10-133gog.com

  • Steam Purchase

    King's Quest Collection

    Windows; includes the 1990 SCI remake

    Checked: 2026-10-132store.steampowered.com

How to run it today

Buy King's Quest 1+2+3 on GOG (original version) or the King's Quest Collection on Steam (1990 remake). If you own the original disks, ScummVM rates the AGI version as "Good" and the SCI remake as "Excellent".

4

Reception

Sierra reported over 100,000 copies sold by 1986. Critics praised its graphics and animation, and Computer Games called it a "revolutionary breakthrough", while some reviewers found it slow and very difficult. It entered the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2020.1

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2store.steampowered.com
  3. 3gog.com
  4. 4scummvm.org
  5. 5store.steampowered.com
  6. 6scummvm.org

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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