Spelunker is a blast from the past. It started out life on home computers such as the Commodore 64 and was eventually ported to the NES. The game’s protagonist is tasked with working their way down a giant cave to find a great treasure rumoured to be hidden at the bottom. With this quest comes such perils as water, uneven terrain, steam vents, small ledges, chasms and deadly pits. From time to time you will also have to use a bomb to blow up blockages in the cave in order to progress. If all this wasn’t danger enough, you also have to contend with bats and even a ghost who haunts you.
For a game that is now over 25 years old, Spelunker can be forgiven for being a little unpolished. The graphics are fairly bland and the music is as annoying as a Crazy Frog ringtone. Spelunker’s limited control system and unfair difficulty are less forgivable; they turn what could have been a half decent game into a frustrating chore which will make you want to tear your hair out if played for too long.
One of the most frustrating aspects of Spelunker has to be the number of ways you can die. If you fall from a distance that is slightly greater than the height of your player you die; if you walk off the last step of a slope you die; when jumping off a rope, if you don’t press the action button exactly at the time you press left or right, you will fall to your doom. If that wasn’t enough, jets of steam and bats dropping guano are also a threat to our mining friend.
This is not to say that Spelunker isn’t fun for a while, but the frustrating controls, vindictive traps, and ever present threat of running out of air, all conspire together to make this very difficult to recommend to even the most patient retro gamer. Do yourself a favour and avoid this game. The NES isn’t short of platformers and almost every one of them is more balanced and enjoyable than this.
1. SKTTR
09 Sep 2007, 19:40 GMT
This game may look pretty fun but it's controls are very frustrating. It could have been so much better if they made the jumping controls easier. But if you get around this, it's a pretty decent game. As you see in the video above, it's also very short. He beats that game in about 6 minutes.
2. darthmix
01 Nov 2007, 17:49 GMT
Looks like Montezuma's Revenge with scrolling.
3. Pocketim
26 Nov 2007, 18:50 GMT
I don't get it, how does the guy in the video die by walking into a wall?
4. Drake
26 Nov 2007, 21:33 GMT
I think what you mean is actually him falling from a platform - This game's got a similar system to Donkey Kong which means you die if you fall even the slightest distance. Remember that it's also a speedrun abusing every possible exploit and glitch, so it might be a glitch you mean.
5. Jonno
14 Jan 2008, 23:59 GMT
The controls of this game aren't exactly what you call 'fun'. Not only is it difficult to control, but it is about as short as Yoshi's Story cut in half.
6. MagFlare
15 Jan 2008, 11:20 GMT
The guy in the video is much better at Spelunker than I am.
Regardless, this game is crap. Frustrating controls, vindictive traps, and a tight time limit make for a maddening gaming experience. Broderbund should've stuck to their "educational" games and left platforming alone.
7. agent_lime 28 Jan 2008, 01:16 GMT
i actually liked this game as a kid... it can be considered short (the guy in the video) but its actually really challenging and can take a while to figure things out. The one suckish part though is that if you fall a teensy bit you will die.
8. superduper
15 Mar 2008, 13:49 GMT
so that was the whole game?
9. Lurch
15 Mar 2008, 13:52 GMT
it looks like a case for The Angry Video Game Nerd...
10. ribbitking17
15 Mar 2008, 15:32 GMT
Why does the bat make such a unholy noise?!
11. wait in the car
16 Mar 2008, 07:45 GMT
darthmix,
I love me some Montezuma's Revenge. What are the odds they'd release that on the VC?
12. Adamant
16 Mar 2008, 07:52 GMT
It's not a bad game, really, but the NES port does some ridiculously stupid things, like including that "die by falling an inch" crap. The video was a poor choice, given that it's a speedrun - the game will take much longer to beat than that guy showed. It's not THAT short, and it's rather tricky at times. Worth a download? Eh... maybe. It's not a good port, but it's still a decent little game.
13. Dazza
16 Mar 2008, 18:05 GMT
Just a note we changed the video from the old speed-run video we had originally
14. v404
17 Mar 2008, 14:10 GMT
I remember this game from my adolescence as being one of the most difficult & simulatenously cheap/frustrating games ever. The kid that lived across the street from me had it & neither of us could ever finish it.
However, not having played it in 20 years, I'm a little curious to give it another shot. Though, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
15. Jack
17 Mar 2008, 16:21 GMT
Look like an old arcade game called "Bagman". I will get this.
16. Masuyo
18 Mar 2008, 19:01 GMT
This game is not good as a VC download... but I have the NES cart and it's one of my favorite games to play. It can be frustrating but I never feel like it's the game's fault I'm dying. The controls are very nuanced and it's satisfying once you actually get past a level and move on to the next. You feel like you've actually accomplished something. The only thing I wish is that they would have added some sort of game save. Doing the first level over and over is very frustrating.
17. solosnake 19 Mar 2008, 04:34 GMT
OMG the character looks just like King Graham from the Kings Quest series. I would LOOOVE to see Kings Quest make it to the VC sometime.
18. Adamant
20 Mar 2008, 22:42 GMT
Parser games are generally completely unplayable without a keyboard, and the Wii pointer keyboard is honestly not very practical to use.
There's a King's Quest Collection for the PC that retails for 20$ or so, I'd recommend you pick up that one instead.
19. samus2008
21 Mar 2008, 00:10 GMT
ugh, come on...lol
20. darthmix
24 Mar 2008, 21:37 GMT
wait in the car-
Now that we're getting C64 games on the Virtual Console, Montezuma's Revenge is at least a possibility.
21. deggs
10 Apr 2008, 15:22 GMT
yeah.................. i never realized that this was put out by Brøderbund back in the day...
i really really hope that this means that The Guardian Legend will see light of day on VC as it involved Brøderbund, compile and irem. i've always wanted to play that game. maybe now i will get my chance
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