Boulder Dash

Boulder Dash!

Time for some Boulder Dash, an old favorite! I played this one on a C64 emulator.  It was a pain to get it configured, too.  Eventually, I had to turn off auto-load and boot it up manually.  load"*",8,1 for the win!  The only problem is that the colors are a bit off on my version of the game.  It looks too bright.  It was definitely the right version though, because I remembered several of the levels.  Originally, I played Boulder Dash on my brother's Commodore when I was probably about 11 or 12.  Since it was released in 1983 that would be about right.  I wasn't very good at it and I only beat the first few levels but, this time, I was able to beat the game (on the easiest difficulty).

The boulder-strewn caves.

Boulder Dash is something of an adventure-puzzle game.  You are "Rockford" digging tunnels in search of diamonds.  Along the way, you need to avoid falling boulders (and falling diamonds) and the beasties living underground.  Once you collect the required amount of diamonds for the level, within the time allowed, a door will open and you can escape.  You start with 3 lives and gain another every 500 points.  The levels are labeled with letters and the difficulty is noted by numbers.  So, A/1 is the easiest, whereas P/4 would be the hardest.  A/2 is very similar to A/1 with the same color palette but with less time and more and faster enemies.

Gaining an extra life.

The first few levels are pretty straightforward: collect the diamonds, avoid the enemies.  There are some problems with how to get to each diamond without trapping others behind unmovable boulders or getting yourself stuck in an avalanche, but it's mostly just figuring out what pattern to use to be most efficient.  Later they introduce more enemies.  The "butterfly" flits around the edges of the screen and turns into diamonds when destroyed.  The "firefly" just runs around the edges as a hazard.  Both will kill you on contact.  After this, you have to start using the enemies to progress.  A level might require you to kill the butterflies to get enough gems, while some require you to destroy fireflies, too, in order to blow holes in walls or other obstacles.  The last couple levels were hideous races to setup boulders, arrange enemies, gather diamonds and race for the exit.  I escaped with less than 3-4 seconds on multiple occasions.

That bowtie is a "butterfly"

and the square is a "firefly"

At first, I was starting over each time I lost all my lives.  This resulted in getting pretty good at the first few levels, but it also meant that sometimes I wouldn't even make it back to the level I died on before dying again.  Eventually, I decided to cheat.  I saved my progress before each level and reloaded it if I ran out of lives.  In this way, I completed each stage legitimately but I didn't have to go back and repeat all the previous stages if I failed.  It was a bit faster this way, but still preserved the difficulty of each stage.  Still took a long time to master, though.  This game is hard!

Completing a level.

I played through each level, A through P, once and a few of the first ones on difficulty 2 as well... after that point I lost the remainder of my lives and called it quits.  As with a lot of the games of this era, the sound is an integral part of the experience.  I love the sound of the boulders crashing around and the diamonds tinkling when they fall.  I hate the sounds of the explosions that happen when you die.  The graphics are nothing to look at now, but the challenge of the game still holds up well.  I found the controls to be the worst part of the experience.  You originally controlled the game with a joystick and I played on a PlayStation gamepad, but all the control schemes I tried were imprecise.  You could only control your movements to a certain degree of precision, sometimes you'd overshoot the spot you wanted to be on and sometimes you'd undershoot it.  Overshooting usually meant certain death from the fireflies or boulders you unleashed.  Sometimes, though, you'd just ruin the puzzle and have to start over.  It's possible, though, that more precise controls would lead to a game that was too easy.  It's hard to say... maybe it was a design choice.  Still, if I had one wish for the game, that would be it.

One of the more difficult puzzles.

Here's my overall synopsis:

There's not much story here, just digging and collecting.  Not much character development either, he's just Rockford.  There are only 3 enemies, two are hostile and one is neutral (the amoeba).  The hostiles just circle the perimeter of your cave while the amoeba slowly expands to fill the room.  Fairly predictable but challenging in circumstances, especially when you have to use them to pass the level.

Level design is probably the highlight of the game.  Each level is beatable in only a few different ways.  You can choose your own path for many of them, but some really only allow a single way which you just have to be fast enough to accomplish.  Quite challenging but once you've beaten it, you can do it again.

Graphics and interface are both quite dated.  Modern graphics snobs would be appalled at both the resolution and color depth.  Interface is very simple, a bar at the top shows number of diamonds needed to proceed, the number you've collected, the time remaining and your score.  Between levels it shows the number of lives you have left and what level you are on.  Informative, but very basic.

The sound and music is a highlight for me.  The sounds of the boulders and diamonds are satisfying.  The enemies don't make any noise, but the explosions on contact are startling as well as frustrating.  The amoeba's grumbling is nerve-racking.  And I even like the theme song.

All the rest combines to create the gameplay.  The physics are a large part of it as well as the level design and the obstacles thrown up in your way.  I really liked playing it again and, though it has it's limitations, I would play it again.

"Still a fun game" is my bottom line.  If you can get an emulator working that will play it, I would highly recommend it.  Especially for people you like puzzle games because that's what it is at heart.

Good luck with some of these levels... fiendishly hard!