| Spelunker | |
|---|---|
Front cover of the Atari 8-bit version, the earliest version of the game. |
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| Developer(s) | MicroGraphicImage, Irem |
| Publisher(s) | MicroGraphicImage, Brøderbund |
| Designer(s) | Tim Martin |
| Platform(s) | Atari 400/Atari 800, Arcade, Commodore 64, MSX, NES, Virtual Console |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | 16Kb ROM cartridge |
Spelunker is a 1983 video game developed by Tim Martin and MicroGraphicImage. It is a platform game similar to Pitfall! or Curse of Ra.
Originally released by MicroGraphicImage for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1983, the game was later ported to the Commodore 64 and re-released by Brøderbund in 1984, with European publishing rights licensed to Ariolasoft. An arcade version followed in 1985, and the game was released for the NES on December 6, 1985 in Japan and September, 1987 in North America, and for the MSX in 1986. A sequel was also released in arcades and for the NES on September 18, 1987 called Spelunker II: Yūsha e no Chōsen by Irem, in Japan only. The game was re-released for Wii Virtual Console in North America on March 17, 2008[1] and in Europe on September 5, 2008. Spelunker HD PS3/PSN was released on November 23, 2010 by Tozai, Inc.
Contents |
Spelunker is set in a colossal cave, with the player starting at the cave's entrance at the top, and the objective is to get to the fabulous treasure at the bottom. To achieve this, the player must walk and jump through increasingly challenging parts of the cave, all the while working with a finite supply of fresh air, which could be replenished at various points.
Some of the hazards the player faces in the cave include water, uneven terrain, steam vents, small ledges, chasms, deadly pits, and large rocks that must be blown away. One of the few enemies are large bats, which drop deadly guano on the player. Additionally, a ghost haunts the cave, appearing randomly and attempting to take the player to the shadow world. By pressing the spacebar (B button for NES version), the player character sends a blast of air from his airtank[2] (uses a flash gun in the NES version), pushing the ghost away. However, this renders the player's character immobile for a couple of seconds, thus vulnerable to other dangers and further depleting his air supply.
Objects to collect include sticks of dynamite, flares and keys (which come in two different colours). By pressing the "D" key, a stick of dynamite is dropped and ignited. This can be used to blow away big rocks. (Care must be taken to stand far enough away as not to get caught in the blast.) Flares are launched with the "F" key and are used to scare bats away. After the flare is extinguished, the bats return.
Spelunker is regarded by some as unfairly difficult. Much of the game's difficulty arises from the fact that the explorer cannot jump high or fall far, and therefore dies easily. There is also no projectile motion when running off the edge of a cliff so the character will fall straight down. As such, precise positioning and jumping play key factors in successfully completing the game. Additionally, certain versions of the game are very precise about jumping from ropes or ladders. The NES and MSX versions require the player to move sideways before pressing the jump button (risking walking off the ladder or rope). The Atari version and the Commodore version allowed the player to hold the button and tap the joystick instead to make a single jump from a ladder or rope from a standstill.
The splash screen of the game on the original Atari featured an excerpt of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition as background music. All other versions of the game, including the Atari re-release featured a different title theme. The NES and MSX versions had additional music during gameplay.
The cave in Spelunker is divided into six levels. Although the levels connect seamlessly to each other, forming one large map, the game clearly signals a level change at certain points by showing the name of the next level and giving the player a bonus, consisting of an extra life and a varying amount of points. Also, depending on memory, the next level or two were loaded from disk at that point. The levels are as follows:
In the NES version, upon completing the last section, a "second quest" is begun. The second quest is another instance of the same maps with some changes. The color scheme is different (green cave walls where they were a brownish color before) and all door keys are now invisible (but conveniently in the same locations they were before). During the third quest, the keys remain invisible and require the player to jump at the proper position to collect the keys. The fourth and fifth quests accelerate various enemies and hazards as well as requiring the player to fire a flare, instead of jumping, in order to collect the invisible keys. All quests after the fifth quest require the player to fire a flare and immediately jump to collect the keys, as well as maintaining the accelerated enemies and hazards.
Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan has released Spelunker HD, known in Japan as Minna de Spelunker, for the PlayStation 3 as a downloadable game through their PSN Store. It received the PlayStation Store best sales award in 2009 from Sony Computer Entertainment of Japan[3]. The game is a remake of the NES port of Irem's arcade version, with high definition graphics and 100 levels (10 levels in one large cave, and 10 large caves).[4]