They weren't, in the main, very much like this.
It takes a while to work yourself back into that mindset, into the memory of what games were like in 1986, and of the kinds of demands they typically made of their players. Inside this dark room that I have just uncovered stands an old man with a message: 'The eastmost peninsula is the secret.' Wheels within wheels! And yet, things get stranger still. In the first dungeon - deep breath - I find a dark room hidden behind a door that is opened by a switch that is hidden behind a block.