AAS Week 4: Dark Cavern

[Lord Thag]

Hi everyone. This week features a game suggested by LarcenTyler: Dark Cavern!

 

As many of you know, Mattel produced their advanced Intellivision back in the early eighties. It featured a ton of original games, very few arcade ports, and some unique (and frustrating) controls. Not content with their corner of the market, Mattel branched out with their own line of 2600 games, many of which were ports of successful intelly games. Often, this resulted in a game that was as good (or superior) to it's more advanced cousin, mainly due to the lightning speed of the 2600's sprite handling capabilities, if not for the graphics. Astroblast, for example, is far more 'white knuckle' on the 2600.

 

Dark cavern is a port of the Inty game Nightstalker. It's kind of Mattel's answer to Wizard of Wor, and one of their better (and undervalued) games. I've heard almost nothing mentioned about this game on the 2600, and I think it's because (at first glance) it looks like anothe pac-clone. It's not. Read on...

 

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Game: Dark Cavern

Players:1

Variations: Difficulty A/B

 

Manual: http://www.atariage.com/manual_html_page.h...wareLabelID=121

 

Screenshots:http://www.atariage.com/screenshot_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=121

 

Review:

 

Dark cavern is what I like to call a 'tactical maze shooter'. The premise is simple. You're a guy trapped in a maze full of hostile robots, spiders, and blobs. The robots are deadly accurate with their lazers, and will kill you quickly. The spiders are not lethal, but they wil paralyze you, which leaves you vulnerable. The blobs eat your gun ammo, which must be replenished by picking up ammo around the maze. Some of the robots can see only in the direction they are heading, some can see both ways. As you can tell from the comments so far, the depth of this game comes through in the details. Dark Cavern is all about positioning and setting up your shots. You have to think ahead, and always have an escape route planned, if you want to survive. Mindlessly running around will get you killed. Limited ammo makes each shot precious. Run out, and you're vulnerable. Spiders and ammo-eating blobs add to the tension, and further complicate your cat and mouse game with the robots. Good stuff! If you give the game a few minutes, you'll quickly see that this is no pac man knockoff, despite the maze. It's intense, fun, and not quite like anything else on the 2600. It's superior to Wizard of Wor, in my opinion, due to it's variety of foes, the limited ammo, and the unpredictable robot AI. Oh, and a distinct lack of flicker helps too .

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Remember, if you've got it (it's only an R2), give it fifteen minutes tonight and let us know what you think. This is a really fun, tightly coded little gem that everyone overlooks. Give it a go!

[keilbaca]

An old favorite of mine! Very good and hard game, its been forever (since I was a kid) that I plugged that game in. Gonna have to plug it in when I'm taking a break with the HSC.

[DaveD]

Good review of a great, underrated game. Dark Cavern, if played right, is as much of a strategy game as it is an action/shooter. The strategy is so seemlessly integreated into the game though it can be difficult to spot. The fact that the maze never changes makes you learn every corner of the maze and it's strategic importance or vulnerabilities. Also the scoring system that's based on what color the robot is/how quickly you kill them as they enter adds extra incentive.

[vdub_bobby]

For whatever reason, my Grandpa and Grandma had an Aquarius computer in the mid-80s and one of the games they had was Nightstalker. My brothers and I loved that game and played the hell out of it. Haven't played too much of the 2600 version...yet

[Lord Thag]

Good review of a great, underrated game. Dark Cavern, if played right, is as much of a strategy game as it is an action/shooter. The strategy is so seemlessly integreated into the game though it can be difficult to spot. The fact that the maze never changes makes you learn every corner of the maze and it's strategic importance or vulnerabilities. Also the scoring system that's based on what color the robot is/how quickly you kill them as they enter adds extra incentive.

 

Thanks! I entirely agree with your thoughts on this. This game is a classic example of depth-through-gameplay, rather than content. One of the reasons I like old games so much, actually. I don't care about a gazillion unlockable dodads if the game is deep right out of the box. It's amazing that there is more depth to a simple maze game like this, than opposed to the metric ton of generic action games on the market now. I actually am planning on spending some time with it tonight. I have (in the past) played the Intellivision one more, but the speed of the 2600 version makes it more intense, hence the review.

 

It reminds me of a lot of those quirky Apple II maze/shooter games I played in school as a kid (crossfire I think?). Good fun.

 

Do the robots eventually turn invisible like they do in the inty one? I haven't gotten far enough in the 2600 one to know yet...

[StanJr]

When I first played Dark Caverns I thought it was pretty simple, and boring. A complete lack of variety or interesting game play.

 

However, the more I tried it, the more I discovered the true strength of the game: survival. How long can you withstand the onslaught of robots? that is where the strategy comes in. How long can you outlast them, grab the ammo and avoid the nuisances. Since the robots are the only things worth points, you shouldn't shoot the others unless you have no other choice.

 

Dark Chambers is a great game, and way underrated.

[Big Player]

Looks like I'm batting 3 for 4 in the AAS. I had Dark Cavern in my original collection. Okay, so I didn't own Maze Craze, I'm 2 for 4.

 

I picked it up at a drugstore at a crash reduced price for either $5 or $8 in 1984, can't remember which. I got a few other M-Network games at the same store.

 

I played the heck out of this game. Things get really hairy once you reach the gold robots.

 

It's an adapation of the Intellivision game Night Stalker. I have the game in my Intellivsion collection and I think Dark Cavern is the better game. On the Intellivision you have to use the keypad to shoot you gun. Problem is that you can't use the direction disc at the same time you use the keypad. You can get around this by using the keypad on the other controller. You also only get six bullets at a time and can't store them. The gun won't appear before you're out of ammo. In Dark Cavern, you can build up a nice stash of bullets.

 

I'd like to know how they kept the game from flickering. But I'm still waiting on how many possible mazes there are in Maze Craze--if that's even possible to figure out.

[kencrisis]

There's lots to get out of this game. I wish you could get points for shooting the spiders or blobs, and I wish there could be at least a couple other mazes (it would be very satisfying to go through the tunnels the enemies come from -- and to risk going through and hitting an enemy coming out), but nevertheless, this game had me going for a good 45 minutes tonight. With each game, I would get just enough further along to make me want to hit restart and try it again.

 

It's a real bummer to lose all your ammo to a blob and have to run and hide, waiting for the next reload to show up, only to miss it 'cause you're on the other side of the maze. Brilliantly frustrating fun.

[rasty]

Yep, there's much more strategy in Dark Cavern than one would imagine at first look. I like, haven't played it in a while thou... the graphics are simple yet clean and flicker free, which is another good point in its favor!

The slow pace could set someone off initally, but it's all part of the game

 

Regards,

Rasty.-

[neotokeo2001]

Great game. It has always been one of my favorites. For people who don't visit the hack forum:

 

Dark Cavern Black

 

It's a small change but it really adds to the atmosphere.

 

 

Thanks to Nukey Shay for the help.

 

Download BIN:

Dark_Cavern_Black.zip

 

Dark Cavern Black

 

Original Dark Cavern

[pinball22]

As you all figured out from my icon, Dark Cavern is one of my favorite games.

I prefer to play it on the "hard" difficulty, where all the robots look both ways all the time... more challenging that way.

[neotokeo2001]

As you all figured out from my icon, Dark Cavern is one of my favorite games.

I prefer to play it on the "hard" difficulty, where all the robots look both ways all the time... more challenging that way.

849334[/snapback]

 

I thought that guy looked familiar.

 

It'd be great if someone could make an update(or hack) and add new mazes. I could change the initial maze but it would be better to have some type of alternating mazes.

[Lord Thag]

I'd like to know how they kept the game from flickering. But I'm still waiting on how many possible mazes there are in Maze Craze--if that's even possible to figure out.

 

Me too. There is a lot of stuff on the screen at once, and hardly any flicker. Very competent programmer, to be sure. Having done a bit of stella coding myself, it's one heck of a feat.

 

 

Great game. It has always been one of my favorites. For people who don't visit the hack forum:

 

Dark Cavern Black

 

It's a small change but it really adds to the atmosphere.

 

Yes, it does. Hell of a shame we can't get these in cart form anymore. I'm not much of an emulator guy. I much prefer the real thing. I'd be buying these hacks like crazy if they were available. I'd love to get Berzerk voice enhanced and the galaxian 'no yellow border' mod on cart, at the very least. Ah well....

 

Brilliantly frustrating fun.

 

Isn't it though? I think it gets overlooked because it's a slow starter. Most people pop it in, think 'pac man clone' and chuck it back on the shelf. I didn't give it much of a look myself until i got Nightstalker for the Intellivision. Sure like it now, though.

[Chris-in-NJ]

I'd like to add my agreement to many of the comments mentioned here. My friend had this back in the day and I didn't like it. Last year I got it in a lot of 30 2600 carts and really started to give it a second chance. The initial slow pace put me off it at first, but it really gets intense after you shoot just a handful of robots. It goes into my 7800's cartridge slot every now and then if I'm in the mood for a good strategy game.