C64 LODE RUNNER 2 SOFTWARE
C64 LODE RUNNER 2 SERIES

Then he offered it to four companies, Electronic Arts, Epyx, Sirius Software, and Brøderbund. He especially worked on refining the graphics and the controls. Then Smith changed the name to Miner and bought off Steinbeck who could not afford the time for project anymore.Īfter a rejection by Brøderbund, he continued working on the game on his own money. Because of his nagging, Smith ported to the game to Apple II the platform it was eventually released first. When they decided to make it a commercial project, they used Smith's nephew as playtester. In 1981 the Doug Smith joined the University of Washington which had VAX computers in their lab, so he continued development there (together with James Steinbeck). The development started in 1980 on Commodore PET with ASCII graphics. 12 year old Yasutaka Fujii was proclaimed the winner. Over 3,000 people entered from across Japan and only 50 were selected to try their luck at achieving the highest score within three minutes. Gameplay was shown on a massive Sony Jumbotron (then the world's largest television at 80x150 feet). One of the biggest ever Lode Runner competitions took place during Japan's World Fair in August 1985.

C64 LODE RUNNER 2 SOFTWARE

Presumably, it was cancelled at a late stage, since programmer Roy Coates, who converted Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy for Software Projects, later came out with Beanstalker on his own label. A Dragon 32 port is advertised as 'coming soon' in an ad in C&VG magazine.An Amiga version is mentioned in the French manual, ported by Loriciels' Annecy studio, but beyond that, no information of an official Amiga port exists.Lode Runner was being ported to the Atari Lynx but was abandoned while in a fairly advanced state.All three games (all published by Brøderbund) ultimately featured the militaristic denizens of the Bungeling Empire as the primary antagonists.

C64 LODE RUNNER 2 SERIES

While they both spawned strings of sequels to lead series of their own, Lode Runner and Choplifter can be considered to share not just human sprite animation, but a 'game world' along with Will Wright's Raid on Bungeling Bay. However it contained only 99 levels instead of original 150 levels. The original Lode Runner proved so popular a coin-op version was commissioned and appeared in 1984 housed in its own cabinet and complete with artwork. Lode Runner appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

C64 lode runner 2