Boulder Dash, 1985 Peter Leipa/Data East (DECO Cassette System)
6The classic puzzle/maze game gets the DECO Cassette treatment a year after its inception. Originally created by Peter Leipa in 1984, it was ported to several computer and home game systems (and first for the Atari 8-bit systems), and for 2 arcade game companies: Exidy for their Max-A-Flex cabinets, and to Data East for the DECO Cassette System. The game plays pretty much the same for all systems to the best of my knowledge: control an alien-looking guy as you tunnel underground, dropping boulders by tunneling underneath, avoiding what appear to be giant moths, and collecting diamonds. Collecting a certain quota of the diamonds makes a little tune play, indicating you can now look for the exit and leave the maze. The maze is GIGANTIC! it spans over multiple screens which scroll about as you move through. The boulders can crush you if you're not careful-- know their physics; this is very important! Tunnel directly under one horizontally and it'll fall straight down (it won't crush you if you stand under it and wait-- you have to move past underneath it to jar it loose). If you come across a stack of boulders and clear a path on one side, the boulders will tumble down that side! One detriment of playing this game: you can overshoot your movements-- meaning you can easily move 2 spaces when you meant to only move one. You are timed, but it's plenty time to complete at least the early levels.. so don't fret about moving carefully to complete your objective. BOULDER DASH is an addictive, fun and very challenging puzzle/maze game for any ported release. This was one of the last DECO Cassette System games, and I'll be re-uploading 2 DECO Cassette system games I made videos of before which I'm not satisfied with audio/video in them, and then that's gonna be it for the DECO Cassette System games, until the rest of them that I haven't done (about 15 or so) get emulated.