''Dangerous Dave'' is a 1988 computer game by

John Romero John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. It was developed for the Apple II and

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

as an example game to accompany his article about his GraBASIC, an

Applesoft BASIC Applesoft BASIC is a dialect of Microsoft BASIC, developed by Marc McDonald and Ric Weiland, supplied with the Apple II series of computers. It supersedes Integer BASIC and is the BASIC in ROM in all Apple II series computers after the origina ...

add-on, for the ''UpTime'' disk magazine.

Summary

The object of the game is to collect gold cups to move on to the next level. Since the original 1988 publishing of ''Dangerous Dave'' on UpTime, there have been three sequels and three

ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

of the original to other platforms. The idea for ''Dangerous Dave'' came to

under the influence of '' Super Mario''. There are similarities between the two games, such as the secret levels, the level design, the monsters, and the jumping. According to Romero, he was "on purpose trying to make a ''

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

'' game." The mission is to guide Dave through ten levels, collecting trophies in the hideout of his enemy, Clyde. Romero says that among all Dangerous Dave sequels '' Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'' is "the best Dave ever created". In 2008 ''Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'' was ported to cell phones. *''Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate's Hideout'', 1988, Apple II, 6-color, UpTime (the original) *''Dangerous Dave'', 1990, DOS ( CGA, EGA,

VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...

), Softdisk (DOS version of the 1988 original) *''Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement'', 1990, DOS, EGA, non-published (the

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

that launched ''

Commander Keen ''Commander Keen'' is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were originally released for MS-DOS in ...

'' and

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

) *''Dangerous Dave GS'', 1990,

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...

, never completed (IIGS version of the 1988 original) *'' Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'', 1991, DOS, EGA, Softdisk *''Dangerous Dave in Trophy Trouble'', 1991, Apple II, 16-color,

Softdisk Softdisk was a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines (which they termed "magazettes", for "magazine on diskette"). It was affiliated and partly owned by paper mag ...

(16 color port of the 1988 original) *''Dangerous Dave Returns'', 1992, Apple II, 16-color, Softdisk *''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'', 1993, DOS, EGA, Softdisk *''Dave Goes Nutz!'', 1993, DOS, EGA, Softdisk *''Dangerous Dave Goes Nutz!'', 1995, Apple II, 16-color, Softdisk *''Dangerous Dave Pack'' (compilation), 2012, Windows, Softdisk Publishing *''Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate's Hideout'', 2015, iOS, Alfonso Romero

Post-Romero games

''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue''

''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'' (known informally as ''Dangerous Dave 3'') was published by

in 1993, and is the first Dangerous Dave game to not be programmed by

. This is because he, John Carmack,

Adrian Carmack Adrian Carmack (born May 5, 1969) is an American video game artist and one of four co-founders of id Software, along with Tom Hall, John Romero, and John Carmack (no relation). The founders met while working at Softdisks ''Gamer's Edge'' divi ...

and

Tom Hall Tom Hall is an American game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'' and ''Commander Keen''. Career Hall attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science. In 1987 ...

had left Softdisk by this point to form

. It was followed by a sequel, ''Dave Goes Nutz!'', which shares similar gameplay elements. Like the previous title, Dangerous Dave is on a mission to save his little brother Delbert, this time from the evil "Dr. Nemesis" (who is also the main antagonist in Softdisk's Catacomb franchise).

''Dave Goes Nutz!''

''Dave Goes Nutz!'' (known informally as ''Dangerous Dave 4'') was published by

in 1993 for. It continues from ''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'', where Dangerous Dave is on a mission to save his little brother Delbert, from the evil "Dr. Nemesis" (who is also the main antagonist in Softdisk's '' Catacomb'' franchise). The game takes place within a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

filled with zombies.

Reception

''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'' was reviewed in 1993 in '' Dragon'' #200 by

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Call ...

in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.

References

External links

* * *
Page with interesting materials about Dangerous Dave
{{Softdisk 1988 video games Apple II games DOS games Games commercially released with DOSBox Id Software games Platform games Softdisk Video games developed in the United States