Spelunker (NES review)

Developer: IREM Corp.

Publisher: Broderbund Software

Released: 1987

 

Spelunker is an action-adventure game that was originally released on Atari 8-bit computers in 1983.

 

Your mission is to explore the caves, find keys to unlock doors, and locate the legendary pyramid to claim your treasure. Along the way, you'll need to top up energy by collecting recharge icons, as well as dealing with traps, barriers and enemies; luckily, your character is armed with a Phantom Blaster to shoot ghosts, Flares to scare bats, and Dynamite to blow up rocks. The gameplay is reminiscent of the open-world, exploratory elements of Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (1984, Atari 2600) and the trial-and-error challenge of Rick Dangerous (1989, Amstrad CPC), and involves platforming, climbing on ropes and ladders, and using elevators to delve deeper into the cave. Things get off to a terrible start, as you can only fall a couple of inches without dying, and the controls are extremely unresponsive when jumping off a rope. The trick is to quickly press Forward, release, tap A to jump, then release again; this eliminates 99% of the problems, but it's a quirk that should have been fixed prior to the game being published. With this out of the way, you can enjoy the gameplay and explore the huge, beautifully designed cave. There's so much to explore and obstacles to overcome, and each area is intricately designed to test you. Surviving to reach the next checkpoint is addictive, and I particularly like the mine cart section where you try to dodge falling debris. The intensity of having to continually top up energy to stay alive, while fighting ghosts and venturing into perilous areas to collect keys is a solid hook, and even after you've located the pyramid there's still additional quests to keep you playing (hint: the keys become invisible!).

 

There's no doubting that Spelunker has some avoidable control issues that should have been fixed, but once you've figured out the trick to overcome them there's an exquisitely designed game here that surprises you at every turn. It's chock full of ideas and the gameplay has an impressive level of depth that's way ahead of its time.

 

 

 

Random trivia: In 2009, a remake called Spelunker HD was released on the PlayStation 3.

Vigilante (Turbografx-16 review)

Developer: Irem Corp.
Publisher: NEC
Released: 1989

Vigilante is a side scrolling beat-em-up game that has many similarities to Irem's 1984 Arcade title Kung-Fu Master.

You play a martial artist who must travel through five levels to defeat The Skinheads and rescue your girlfriend Madonna. Your journey will take you through New York City Streets, The Junkyard, a Bridge, a Back Street and a Construction Yard. Working your way from left to right you have to take out the constant stream of enemies attacking you from both sides using punches, kicks and flying kicks. You'll also want to look out for the special nunchucks that appear as they allow you to dish out punishment at a faster rate. There aren't many different enemies but some require strategy rather than straight-up brawling. For example, the ones in yellow tops have batons and they'll quickly kill you unless you duck and use your low kick. Learning these patterns is key to being successful in most parts of the game. The levels are short and when you get to the end you'll face a boss. These are devoid of imagination and each one is generic and boring to fight. The gameplay as a whole is unremarkable - not to mention repetitive - and once you're familiar with the enemy types you can breeze through all the levels in 15 minutes. The action only takes place across one plane; this means can't move towards the foreground or background and it seems almost archaic by 1989 standards as this was the same year that Final Fight and Golden Axe were released in the Arcades. The background graphics are excellent though and perfectly convey the level settings with some nice parallax scrolling. The music is distorted and the voice samples are scratchy and difficult to decipher.

Vigilante isn't necessarily a bad game but it's just very limited and outdated given its release schedule. If it would have had more variety it could have been semi-decent but in reality it arrived 3-4 years too late to be considered an acceptable gameplay experience.

Random trivia: This version of Vigilante was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, as well as on the Wii U Virtual Console as a Japan-only exclusive in 2015.