(written as ''Roc 'N Rope'' on the American flyer and in ''Konami Arcade Classics'') is a 1983 platform

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed and published by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

for arcades. It was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara, later known for his career at

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

. The player controls a flashlight and harpoon-gun equipped archaeologist who must ascend a series of rocky platforms to reach a phoenix bird. Coleco released versions of ''Roc'n Rope'' for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

and

ColecoVision ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer expe ...

in 1984.

Gameplay

The player has to avoid ferocious man-sized dinosaurs and red-haired cavemen without any direct means of offense. The only ways to defeat the opponents are to either daze them with the flashlight, or wait for them to be suspended on a harpoon rope and cause them fall down, an element which adds a certain complexity to the game. Bonus items to collect include fallen phoenix feathers and phoenix eggs, which grant the player invulnerability from the prehistoric denizens for a short period of time.

Reception

''Roc'n Rope'' was among Konami's early arcade hits, including '' Scramble'' (1981), '' Frogger'' (1981), and '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' (1984).

Legacy

''Roc'n Rope'' was the first "wire action" game. It became the basis for

's 1987 game ''

Bionic Commando ''Bionic Commando'' is a series of Platformer, platform video games developed and owned by Capcom. Unique from other platformers, the player character is unable to jump, instead using a bionic arm to cross gaps and climb ledges. The player char ...

'', which Tokuro Fujiwara intended to be an expanded version of ''Roc'n Rope''.The Man Who Made Ghosts’n Goblins: Tokuro Fujiwara Interview
''Continue'', Vol. 12, 2003

Notes

References

External links

* 1983 video games Arcade video games Atari 2600 games Coleco games ColecoVision games Konami arcade games Konami games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer hotseat games Platformers Video games developed in Japan {{platform-videogame-stub