Lode Runner
Lode Runner is a computer game and is considered a classic of platform games.
The game was developed by Douglas E. Smith. The previous version was written in Fortran Kong and Pascal on Prime and VAX computers and used ASCII characters to represent. Then Smith developed another early version called Miner in 6502 assembler for the Apple II, which he initially offered unsuccessfully various software publishers. He refined version, and finally came up with the company Brøderbund into the business, where Lode Runner from 1983 next to the Apple II for the Atari 800, C64, SG -1000 and other systems appeared.
Lode Runner is one of the few games that was first published on a home computer and then as an arcade game, the reverse path to a conversion of the original arcade games for home computers much more frequently. ( Another example of the unusual path from the computer to the arcade is the game Choplifter. ) One year after the appearance of the home computer version of Lode Runner was licensed by the Japanese company Irem Corporation and released as an arcade machine. The hardware of this machine is the same as that for the kung fu master machines, namely Irem M- 62.
In the GDR, Lode Runner and its ASCII variants Ladder and Head were among the most famous games that were played on office computers of Robotron.
Game play
Each level consists of several levels of corridors and platforms that are interconnected with vertical and horizontal ladders climbing poles. Below is a side view of the entire level is visible on the screen, so there is no scrolling instead. The character must collect all the treasures that are in each level. She is pursued by two to five opponents. The only remedy is a type of laser gun can be fired into the ground with the holes that close again after some time. The character can jump through such a hole down a runner gets stuck for a while in it. If the hole is fresh, he can free himself from it, otherwise this tracker is eliminated, and a new tracker falls from the top of the screen into the game.
Sequels and persistence
In 1994, the sequel to the game under the title Lode Runner: The Legend Returns developed by Sierra On-Line. 1995, the third part of the Lode Runner series was published under the title Lode Runner On- Line: The Mad Monks ' Revenge This game was published by GT Interactive and developed by Presage. Published in 1998 a 3D version of the game under the title Lode Runner II This game was published by GT Interactive and developed by Presage.
The company Hudson published in October 2006 a graphically updated version of Lode Runner for the Nintendo DS. On a screen the entire level can be seen as an overview, on the second screen, the scrolling field.
There are also clones of the game under the name of Mine Runner, among other things, for the Amiga. In KDE project a clone under the name KGoldrunner is designed to run on Linux and Windows.
With emulators, such as MiniVMac the original version can still be played on the current computer systems.
Lode Runner was released under the name Lode Runner Classic by Tozai Games for Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices.