SPELUNKER 1983

ATARI 8-BIT, VARIOUS

One of only a few Eighties computer games to be adapted for the arcades, Spelunker was originally designed for the Atari 8-bit computers before being adapted to other platforms. Aside from doing well in the States, Tim Martin’s ambitious platformer went down a storm in Japan thanks to Irem’s Arcade, Famicom and

MSX adaptations. Brøderbund, for its part, distributed the popular Atari original, which in many respects defies the expectations of a platformer of that time.

Most obviously, Spelunker scrolls rather than being flick-screen, unlike so many of its contemporaries. Another twist is that it gives the player the objective of heading downwards for treasure rather than upwards to the surface. The way you deal with opponents is also atypical in that Spelunker’s hero is unarmed, and so has to deter enemies in other ways. There are bats that attempt to drop deadly guano on his head, and dissuading them requires you to locate a flare that can be fired in their direction. There are also ghosts that haunt the game’s epically deep caves, and you have to waft air at them in order to disintegrate them, although this comes at the cost of depleting your air supply. Happily, oxygen is one of the game’s many collectables, and can be found lying about its cavern floors. Other pickups include dynamite, which proves essential for blowing your way through passageways that have been blocked by falling rubble. Then there are keys. It’s crucial that you find these, as they unlock new areas of the game, so if you miss them then that can give you a lot of backtracking to do. Spelunker also has its fair share of environmental hazards, such as lethal geysers to be leapt over, and conveyors, ladders and ropes that throw you off if you don’t interact with them in exactly the right way.