Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge
Encyclopedia
Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge is an enhanced version of the 1994 computer game Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
. As the title suggests, the game features online functionality so that players can battle or work together from remote locations in network games.
game by Doug Smith and set out to create a new, updated version for modern machines.
The result of this effort was Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
. This game did phenomenally well, winning many awards and leading to a sequel: Lode Runner Online. For this sequel, multi-player gameplay was added, allowing two persons to play Lode Runner together over a network, modem, or on the same machine. At the same time many new levels and game elements were introduced, and the original 16-bit code was updated to 32-bit for Windows 95
and Mac OS 8
.
The level editor is also more complex than in the original game. Including all of these innovations, an editor may place multiple exits throughout a level, and the exits can be programmed to lead to differing levels in a pack.
Lode Runner Online also fixed many glitches found in its predecessor, mainly that of monks getting stuck while chasing the player.
The original game's ending has also been expanded; In the former, Jake Peril had scavenged and travelled past all the game's levels, then walked a staircase up to the surface. In the reedition, Jake then enters the Red Monk's headquarters; the monks are in full alert due to having lost track of Jake in the Lode Runner levels. Jake disguises himself using a robe and walks unnoticed in the building towards the exit. He then delivers one final blow to the Red Monks by disconnecting the plug from the outlet that powered the Monk's entire headquarters, before leaving.
The game is an excellent example of the trap-em-up genre, which also includes games like Heiankyo Alien
and Space Panic
.
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns is a 1994 sequel of the classic Lode Runner video game. It's available for Windows, Mac, and PlayStation.-Gameplay:...
. As the title suggests, the game features online functionality so that players can battle or work together from remote locations in network games.
History
In 1993, Presage Software acquired the rights to the classic Lode RunnerLode Runner
Lode Runner is a 1983 platform game, first published by Brøderbund. It is one of the first games to include a level editor, a feature that allows players to create their own levels for the game. This feature bolstered the game's popularity, as magazines such as Computer Gaming World held contests...
game by Doug Smith and set out to create a new, updated version for modern machines.
The result of this effort was Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns is a 1994 sequel of the classic Lode Runner video game. It's available for Windows, Mac, and PlayStation.-Gameplay:...
. This game did phenomenally well, winning many awards and leading to a sequel: Lode Runner Online. For this sequel, multi-player gameplay was added, allowing two persons to play Lode Runner together over a network, modem, or on the same machine. At the same time many new levels and game elements were introduced, and the original 16-bit code was updated to 32-bit for Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
and Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8
Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It represented the largest overhaul of the Mac OS since the release of System 7, some six years previously. It puts more emphasis on color than previous operating systems...
.
Gameplay
While maintaining all of the original features of The Legend Returns, Lode Runner Online adds several new features as well, such as bombs which constantly self-ignite and reappear on a set timer. New available "worlds," which determine background and terrain appearance on a map, are a chief addition. New hazards, such as phase blocks, which disappear and reappear on a set timer (and consequently can tear apart players or monks standing in the location of a vanished block in the process of reappearing), and items are among other additional features; notably, editors can specify certain items to be able to be picked up by only the player of corresponding color (e.g. bombs with blue outlines can only be picked up by the second player, Wes Reckless, not Jake Peril).The level editor is also more complex than in the original game. Including all of these innovations, an editor may place multiple exits throughout a level, and the exits can be programmed to lead to differing levels in a pack.
Lode Runner Online also fixed many glitches found in its predecessor, mainly that of monks getting stuck while chasing the player.
The original game's ending has also been expanded; In the former, Jake Peril had scavenged and travelled past all the game's levels, then walked a staircase up to the surface. In the reedition, Jake then enters the Red Monk's headquarters; the monks are in full alert due to having lost track of Jake in the Lode Runner levels. Jake disguises himself using a robe and walks unnoticed in the building towards the exit. He then delivers one final blow to the Red Monks by disconnecting the plug from the outlet that powered the Monk's entire headquarters, before leaving.
The game is an excellent example of the trap-em-up genre, which also includes games like Heiankyo Alien
Heiankyo Alien
is a video game created by the University of Tokyo's Theoretical Science Group in 1979. The game was originally developed and released as a personal computer game in 1979, and was then published by Denki Onkyō Corporation as an arcade game in January 1980...
and Space Panic
Space Panic
Space Panic is a 1980 arcade game designed by Universal, which Chris Crawford calls the first ever platform game, as it pre-dates Nintendo's Donkey Kong which is often cited as the original platform game. Space Panic lacks Donkey Kongs jump mechanic, disqualifying it as a platformer for some...
.
External links
- DaggertWeb - Lode Runner by Todd Daggert, lead programmer. Includes numerous links and a full version of the game.