Lode Runner

Lode Runner
Lode Runner
	Cover art from the original Lode Runner
Developer(s)	Douglas E. Smith
Publisher(s)	Brøderbund & Ariolasoft
Designer(s)	Douglas E. Smith
Platform(s)	Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX, Atari 400/800, IBM PC, Mac OS, NES, Game Boy, BBC Micro
Release	1983
Genre(s)	Platform/Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single player

Lode Runner is a 1983 computer game.

The game's objective, on the surface, seems simple: the player controls a stick figure, collecting all the gold in the level, and avoiding robots (replaced with the "Mad Monks" in sequels) trying to end your player's treasure-hunting days. The levels feature a multi-story brick platform motif, with ladders and hand-to-hand bars suspended in the air offering multiple ways to travel within the level. The game's character cannot kill the robots but can dig holes into the brick floors and temporarily trap them in pits (incidentally, the players can fall into the pits as well). As the player can also walk on top of the robots, trapping them is very useful as it temporarily renders them harmless. If many holes are dug fast enough, and the robots continuously fall into them, the turf starts regenerating, and such an action can destroy robots if they are caught in a hole that is regenerating (they immediately respawn at a random place near the top of the level). The player's character can fall from an unlimited height without being injured, but cannot jump upward, so it is possible for the player to become trapped in a pit and have to abort the character life (the game starts with five lives; each level passed earns an extra life). Certain parts of turf are trapdoors; these can either aid or hinder the character's progress. The player's character finishes each level by collecting all the boxes available in that level and travelling to the top layer of the screen.

File:Loderunner.gif

A typical level of Lode Runner.

There are 150 levels in the entire game with, as typical for puzzle type games, each level requiring that the player's strategy expand in order to progress. Early on a player may have to dig to reach the gold on that level, and upon reaching it they fall through to another tier of the same level. In a subsequent level the gold may be placed so that a player will not fall through, but instead he becomes trapped unless that player has adapted his strategy. One strategy that becomes necessary is to dig a larger hole by digging multiple holes right next to each other so that he can jump into the larger hole and still have room to continue digging his way further down. The game becomes more about problem-solving than reaction time, though both play critical roles.

The original prototype of what later became known as Lode Runner was a game developed by Douglas E. Smith of Renton, Washington, who at the time was a physics student at the University of Washington. The prototype game was called Kong and was playable on one of the school's VAX mainframes. The game used ASCII character graphics and was programmed in Fortran.

The second prototype of Lode Runner was known as Miner and was written in 6502 assembly language on an Apple II+ microcomputer. Smith later developed a modified version of Miner for Brøderbund Software; it was that version, now named Lode Runner, that was released in mid 1983. The original microcomputer versions included the Apple II series, the Commodore 64, and a version licensed for the MSX computer. Other versions included those for the Atari 8-bit computer family, the NES, and the original Game Boy.

Trivia

The animated characters in Lode Runner were "borrowed" from Choplifter, an earlier Brøderbund title.

Brøderbund referred to the legion of stick figure villains as members of the Bungeling Empire. The Bungelings were used as the enemy in Choplifter, the Lode Runner series, and Raid on Bungeling Bay.

The NES version, developed by Hudson Soft, had the first appearance of Bombermen as the evil enemy robots. This is significant as Bomberman came out later. To further connect the two games, the end screen in the NES version of Bomberman mentions the original White Bomberman having turned human and a hint of seeing him in another game, with the Lode Runner behind him (though this can be interpreted as Bomberman's unhelmeted human form).

Lode Runner was the first of many games to be listed on GameSpot's "Greatest Games of All Time".

Legacy

Newer versions of Lode Runner were created in subsequent years, such as Lode Runner: The Legend Returns, "Lode Runner 2," and Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge. Each added several different items to the game, such as jackhammers, spraycans, bombs and snares.

The arcade version had numerous sequels, including:

Much later, a 3D version for the Nintendo 64 Lode Runner 3D was also released.

External links

Loed Runner series at MobyGames
Lode Runner at the KLOV
Jason Summer's Lode Runner Archive
Loderunner: Ancient History!
The Lode Runner Museum website
Website of one of the later Lode Runner's actual creators