Raiders of the Lost Ark (video game)
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''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is an
action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...
created for the Atari 2600 based on the movie of the same name (the first installment of the ''
Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...
'' series). The game was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw.


Gameplay

The player controls
Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...
as he searches for the lost
Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...
. The game requires the player to use two different controllers: controller 2 moves Jones and its button uses an item; controller 1 selects the item to use and its button drops the item. The video game is set in the city of
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
in 1936, represented by an entrance room and a marketplace. From the entrance room, the player can blast a hole in the wall with a grenade and enter the Temple of the Ancients. Two paths await inside the Temple, both of which contain various dangers, after which the player will at last find the treasure room. Gold and artifacts can be picked up in the treasure room which will help the player later in the game. The player must cross a mesa, on the other side of which lies the Map Room where the location of the Lost Ark is revealed. South of the Map Room is a Thieves Den and a Black Market. The Black Market contains various figures, such as two
sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
s, a
Tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glo ...
and a lunatic, and items needed to win the game (most notably a shovel). After acquiring all needed items from the various rooms, the player returns to the mesa and jumps off using a parachute. The player goes inside the mesa, via a small hole at the end of a branch, and digs up the Ark, after dodging more thieves.


Development

The game began development in late 1981. Warshaw said in an interview: "I had a 10-foot bullwhip that I got while doing ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', so I could get into character. When I'd take breaks, I'd go around the hallways, sneak up behind people and crack the whip. It was really loud. Like a gunshot". The packaging, manual, and advertising artwork was painted by Atari art director James Kelly.


Reception

Richard A. Edwards reviewed ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' in '' The Space Gamer'' No. 61. Edwards commented that "though the graphics are not great (but they are fairly good) and the ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' theme song has a note or two off-key, this is still ''the'' adventure cartridge of the year. Those gamers who prefer magic items, puzzles, and thoughtful play mixed with arcade movement should find ''Raiders'' well worth the price". ''Video Games'' in 1983 called ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' "a more complex adventure game" than ''
E.T. ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dub ...
'', released a month later. The magazine noted that the documentation was incomplete and advised players to experiment with multiple ways to progress. '' Electronic Games'' stated that the game "doesn't quite live up to its inspiration ... does not excel in excitement", and was inferior to '' Pitfall!'', which was also released in 1982. The game sold less than a million copies.


References


External links


''Raiders of the Lost Ark''
at Atari Mania

at AtariAge
''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' manual
at the Internet Archive
Brief mention of ''Raiders'' on Howard Scott Warshaw's web page
{{Indiana Jones 1982 video games Action-adventure games Atari games Atari 2600 games Atari 2600-only games Indiana Jones video games * Video games set in Egypt Video games developed in the United States Video games designed by Howard Scott Warshaw