LodeRunner
| Developer: Courbois Software | Graphics: |
 | |
| Publisher: Courbois Software | Sound: |
| |
| Year: 1989 | Difficulty: |
 | |
| Genre: Platformer | Lastability: |
 | |
| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
3/10 | |
What a pain trying to get this to work! No way to get past the title screen. I click everywhere, wait, scream, hit the keyboard, change the emulator settings at least ten times, try other versions of the game, older versions of the emulator, I even go as far as digging up the venerable Winfellow emulator (that’s how stubborn I was). In the end, it’s the forum on Lemon Amiga that provides the solution: on the title screen, don’t click like a maniac with the mouse, use the joystick: move left and press! If I ever meet the programmer, I’ll throw my joystick at their face. And my mouse too.
Right, already pissed-off before starting… So, this is a clone of a classic… You see where I’m going, right? Yep, this humble Amiga remake is only an excuse to praise the original: Lode Runner (Apple II, 1983), developed by Douglas Smith. It’s a distant cousin of Boulder Dash: you’re in a mine looking for treasure, enemies want to kill you, and you dig holes…
Your mission is to collect all the gold on a level without being touched by the guards. These guards have a nasty habit of stealing your gold, but you can neutralise them by digging holes in the ground, into which they’ll eagerly jump.
Lode Runner is very easy to understand and control, but at the same time, quite technical. That’s what made it a hit. Completing all 150 levels isn’t for everyone, but if that wasn’t enough, there’s a level editor included!
This game was converted to countless platforms: arcade, computers, consoles, mobile phones, and adapted in all sorts of ways. We even recently got a version for Xbox 360.
To finish, let’s give credit where it’s due: according to Wikipedia, Lode Runner borrowed its concept from the arcade game Space Panic (1980, Universal), the very first platformer. Ooh…
|
