Raiders of the Lost Ark (video game)

Infobox VG
title = Raiders of the Lost Ark


developer = Atari, Inc
publisher = Atari, Inc
designer = Howard Scott Warshaw
released = 1982
genre = Adventure
modes = Single player
ratings =
platforms = Atari 2600
media = Cartridge
requirements = Two joysticks
input = Joystick

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is a video game created for the Atari 2600 and based on the movie of the same name. The game was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw.

Gameplay

The player controls Indiana Jones as he searches for the lost Ark of the Covenant. 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. This control scheme anticipated later game controllers with more buttons and games where buttons would allow the player to switch items without interrupting gameplay.

The video game is set in the city of Cairo 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 eventually 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 sheiks 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 then goes inside the mesa, via a small hole at the end of a branch, and digs up the Ark, after dodging more thieves.

Game rooms

* Entrance Room
* Marketplace
* Temple of the Ancients
** Room of Blinding Light
** Room of the Giant Spider
** Treasure Room
* Mesa Field
** Interior Mesa Chamber
** Well of the Souls
* Bog Field
* Map Room
* Thieves Den
* Black Market

Trivia

* If certain gameplay conditions have been met when the end of the game is reached, the initials "HSW2" appear in the player's inventory, standing for the game's designer, Howard Scott Warshaw. The existence of this easter egg is actually mentioned in the game's manual.

* A Yar from "Yars' Revenge" can be seen if the player jumps off the center mesa and drops the "Chai" artifact on the way down. The presence of the Yar is noted in the game manual as extraterrestrial entities who have been seen around the Mesa.

* Warshaw's work on this game led director Steven Spielberg to request him for the ill-fated "E.T." video game.

External links

*moby game|id=/raiders-of-the-lost-ark|name="Raiders of the Lost Ark"
*" [http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=393 Raiders of the Lost Ark] " at AtariAge
* [http://onceuponatari.com/hsw_personal_pages/hswgmdir/hsw_games.html#raiders%20game A brief mention of "Raiders" on Howard Scott Warshaw's web page]