Original Release: Damatta, 1985, ZX Spectrum
Brazil’s most famous adult game, and arguably its most famous game overall, Paradise Cafe is a simple randomized title that’s kinda a combination of visual novel and roguelike with some creative touches
Paradise Cafe (ZX Spectrum, Damatta, 1985)
Where to Buy: Abandonware, download at World of Spectrum
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: Master-B
Perhaps Brazil’s most famous (or at least infamous) native-born computer game, the urban legend is that everyone who owned a ZX Spectrum also had a copy of this cassette at some point (also likely not legitimately purchased). What was all the fuss about? Well, it was a 1985 game with crudely drawn but explicit sex, basically.
Our unnamed hero is some sort of desperado of the favelas, cursed to wander the hell of an endless hallway full of doors that lead to random surprise encounters. A man in black pops out, who might either pull a gun and rob you, or just ask for a light. An old lady appears, an easy mark and test of what is left of your moral character. A prostitute might appear, offering some temporary reprieve from the stress of the world if you have the cash, but posing another great risk if it turns out your appetite exceeds your ability to cover the bill.
Eventually, you’ll find yourself at Paradise Cafe, the one place where you can get something of a rest break. Stay as long as you like, but as you enjoy your beverage you’ll be approached by an assortment of other ne’er-do-wells and damned souls that offer to sell you drugs (which you can deal for cash) or a gun to protect yourself with.
Paradise Cafe is also not entirely a haven of safety, as if you cannot pay for your visit you’ll be escorted off to jail to end the game. Being incarcerated seems to be the only way to lose, and it can happen in the streets as well if a cop happens to pop out of a door at an inopportune time. Failing to pay the prostitue for your fun is not a game-ender, but possibly a fate worse than death for our character as the famous footballer Reinaldo is summoned to exact footlong justice on the delinquent in the style of the Mason Dixie Pawnshop from Pulp Fiction.
The whole thing is naturally in Portuguese and still seems to have no fan translation after all these years, but it has little text/dialogue and it’s easy to figure most of it out (ex: “armer” is a gun and “drogos” is pretty obvious, if you speak any Spanish the languages have a bunch of overlap words). It’s not exactly fun to play and it gets repetitive very fast with a very limited set of encounters and options, but it’s kinda fascinating nonetheless with its creatively large (though crude) sprites and if you picture it as some damned soul wandering some sort of Circle of Hell for their earthly sins.
Links
- List of Commands: E – Enter a door, Q – Continue walking, S – Agree to offer, D – Decline, 0 – Fire gun, A – Rob, V – Forcibly cuddle, sex commands = B F C
Videos
Uncensored Gameplay Video
The Oral History of Paradise Cafe (explains some of the game’s seemingly random jokes and references)