Crazy Climber Review

Even in the Golden age of arcade games, there were some obscurities. Amidar. Reactor. Wacko. These are but a few of them. But the one we’re highlighting this time around is noteworthy for a few reasons. The most important being that it is one of the most entertaining games of its ilk. It didn’t make as big a splash as Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, or its other contemporaries. Which is a shame, because Crazy Climber is freaking cool.

PROS: Addictive gameplay.

CONS: Cheap enemies.

FALL: To your doom.

Released in 1980 by Nihon Bussan, Crazy Climber is the story of a man who scales the sides of skyscrapers. That may sound pretty inane to some. But it’s a lot more serious than it sounds. As you take control of our hero, you’ll have to scale the building, get to the top, and then GET TO THA CHOPPA! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) At the top of the building is a helicopter that will take you to the next stage. There are four buildings to climb, which then cycle over once you beat them.

But don’t think you’ll have an easy time climbing to the top. Because there are several dangerous obstacles on your way to the top. The most common are the sadists who open the windows, and throw things from their apartments at you. I’m serious. Seemingly ordinary people, are out to murder you over your thrill seeking ways. They’ll throw vases, buckets, moldy fruit, and other stuff at you in the hopes of making you lose your grip. But the dangers don’t end there.

You’ll also be attacked by birds, and giant apes. On top of that, some of these buildings have shoddy construction. Because you’ll have to avoid falling girders, falling billboards, and live wires. Our free running thrill seeker is insane. No one in their right mind would choose to scale buildings in the process of becoming this dilapidated. Likely the reason we’re playing a game called Crazy Climber.

The original Arcade version is one of the earliest games to use a two joystick control scheme. Each stick controls one hand. You can move each hand left, and right. You can also reach up, with each stick, and pull back on the sticks to pull yourself up. For such an old game, the control scheme does make it feel a bit more realistic. The tricky thing is however, positioning yourself in such a way that you can get each hand on a windowsill to pull yourself upwards with. It’s pretty easy to get yourself in a situation where you’ll have two closed windows above you, and windows slamming down on your fingers as you’re unable to move. You also can get yourself into situations where you can’t get yourself oriented to move left or right if you don’t pay enough attention. This sense of realism in spite of the unrealistic scale, adds a lot of depth to Crazy Climber.  It also makes things more challenging because you not only have to pay attention to the windows, but also keep an eye on all of the aforementioned bad guys, and obstacles.

It also features some pretty detailed graphics for its time. And again, while your character is beyond the scale they should be, this still works from a game play perspective. You can make out the obstacles, and projectiles fairly easily, and your character has a discernible costume. This is also an early example of voice samples making their way into arcade games. If you sit idle for too long for instance, the narrator yells “GO FOR IT!” at you. You also have a few shouts when hit by something, and a nice scream as you fall to your doom.

Crazy Climber has seen a number of interesting remakes over the years, but the original game was ported to the Famicom, and Sharp X68000 computer in Japan. . These releases came out years after the arcade version in 1986, and 1993 respectively.  It was also put out on the Emerson Arcadia 2001 in Japan around the time the Arcade version was around. Here in North America it was ported to the Atari 2600 in 1982. The VCS version is notable because it was an Atari Club exclusive upon release. Atari Club members would receive Atari Age magazine, which featured articles about upcoming games, and enthusiast news. Not unlike what Nintendo Power did for Nintendo fans years later. Four Atari 2600 games would be Atari Club exclusives that (at least initially) only could be ordered directly. These games had lower production runs than many of the other games, despite showing up in store liquidation sales during the Great Video Game Market Crash.

As such, Crazy Climber is one of the rarer Atari 2600 games, and while it isn’t going to hurt your wallet the way a highly collectible NES game might ( Panic Restaurant says “Hello.” ),  you can still expect to pay around the cost of a new release should you find one in the wild. It’s also a pretty great port of the Arcade version. Like most home versions it has been retooled to work with one joystick. But the controls are on point. You now have to move the stick twice when trying to move left or right, as the first push moves the first hand, then the second. You still pull yourself up by pulling back on the stick. The VCS version also does a wonderful job in the presentation department. You certainly won’t confuse it for the Arcade version or one of the ports to more powerful hardware. But it does look a cut above what the Arcadia 2001 version looks like, and even some of the clones that showed up on some of the home computers of the time. It’s also a bit easier than the arcade version, but by no means is it a cakewalk. It is still quite the challenge. Most of the enemies from the original are here, and behave the same way. Frankly this is one of the best of Atari’s first-party port releases, and can hang with the likes of Space Invaders, Joust, Phoenix, and Ms. Pac-Man. If you collect 2600 games, and can swing it, this is one worth picking up.

Of course down the line there were updated versions released for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and even The Wonderswan. I can’t really comment much on them as I don’t have them. But generally they have a reputation of retaining what makes the original version fun while adding their own tweaks to the formula. And while these days most of us won’t likely be able to find the original cabinet while out in public (though if your local arcade or pub does have one, do play it.), there are several compilations out for older consoles. If you happen to have the Nintendo Switch, you can buy the original Arcade version on Nintendo’s eshop for download. The Switch release has a couple of nice features in it too. You can employ some filters if you prefer that old school, scan line look. But more importantly, you can change the orientation so that the game will display vertically instead of horizontally. This makes it so you can take the joycons off of the console, and play the game in the same layout the arcade cabinet had. The thumb sticks also work the way the original machine did. So it gives you a nice portable experience when taking the Switch to a public setting.

But however you manage to do so, you really ought to experience Crazy Climber. It may seem simplistic, but the level of strategy, and risk versus reward here is quite engrossing. It may have some cheap A.I. at times, and you’ll get into inescapable situations. But at the end of the day sometimes less is more, and this is definitely one of those times. Whether you spend a five-minute session or a five-hour session on it, it will never feel like time wasted. Grab your favorite beverage, and get climbing.

Final Score: 8 out of 10

Alien Syndrome Review

Throughout the 1980’s Sega was making its mark in arcades. It pushed what was possible in racing games, and rail shooters with Outrun, Space Harrier, and After Burner. It gave us the awesome Golden Axe, and the visually impressive Altered Beast. Unsurprisingly many of these games were ported to its own consoles, the Master System, and the Genesis. But there is one of their IPs that came, and went in this period. Something so familiar, and so different. Something so difficult, and yet addictive. I’m talking about Alien Syndrome.

PROS: Great visuals, atmosphere, music, and control (most versions).

CONS: Obscenely difficult. Dark Souls difficult. In deep space.

ALIENS: One of many blockbuster influences that can be seen here.

At its core, Alien Syndrome seems like a typical overhead shooter. You move either Ricky or Mary, depending on which player you are. As you go along, you kill various creatures for big points. But it isn’t so simple. Where previous overhead run n’ guns like Commando, or Ikari Warriors had you kill enemies, and charge to the end of a linear level, this doesn’t. Alien Syndrome is unrelenting about its premise. Your mission isn’t a simple matter of killing things, and getting to the end. Each stage is a ship, and on each of these ships are a number of survivors you have to rescue. Not only do you have to rescue these survivors, (who are stuck in cocoons the way the ones in Aliens were portrayed) you’re timed. Because each ship has initiated a self-destruct sequence a la Captain Kirk.

 

This is to ensure that the menacing invaders cannot make it to Earth in the event you fail your mission. Also because each stage is a ship, there are no straight runs to the north. Instead, each of the stages is a maze, with its own distinct layout. So you have to explore every last nook, and cranny looking for survivors. The survivors are represented by a row of heads. As you rescue them, they’re depleted from the bar. If things get tough, or confusing (which they will) each of the ships have a few maps. Finding these on the wall will pull up a map on  the screen. On the map are flashing pixels, that represent the survivors.

Once you find all of the hostages, the game will prompt you to get to the exit so you can escape. But in each of the airlocks is a boss alien. These are large, and diverse. Each of them is imposing. Each of them has a powerful attack, and the later bosses employ some very tricky patterns. The bosses all look really cool too. For a title that has fallen into obscurity, it has some of the most memorable bosses in arcade game history. Even the very first boss, is the sort of thing you’ll wish were made into an action figure or statue. These designs are that good.

But, run n’ gun games are often only as exciting as their weaponry, and enemies. Alien Syndrome has a great many of each. Again, taking influence from the Alien movies, there are flame throwers, fire-ball guns, and grenade launchers. But there are others, like the blaster that shoots laser beams like the Imperial blasters in Star Wars. There are also temporary shields, and chess pieces you can find for points.

How do you get these things? There are cubby holes on walls, marked with the appropriate letter for the weapon. For example L is the laser. The enemies are also varied throughout the game. In earlier stages you’ll fight brain slug creatures, but you’ll see everything from aliens to creatures that shoot their eyes as projectiles. Quite honestly, everything on display is really cool. Every ship has its own decor. So you won’t see a lot of the same tiles in subsequent levels. Some of the ships are what you would expect to see in a space-themed game. Steel floors, technical circuitry patterns for walls, and other touches. But other stages are completely alien (no pun intended.). Some ships seem like they’re made of flesh, others are like stone. Many of the stages have some really cool parallax scrolling effects on floors to represent pits or other pitfalls. And fall you will if you walk over them.

Alien Syndrome is quite the challenge too, because there isn’t a single moment where you aren’t attacked by a horde of aliens. You have to be quick on the draw, as well as quick to react. Dodging projectiles, enemy creatures, while trying to rescue people at the same time. The difficulty especially ramps up after the first stage, and the bosses will often hand you your own behind on a silver platter. There are also no continues, making your performance all the more important. It really does give you the visceral action of the genre, while providing other challenges.

There are many ways to play Alien Syndrome as it was ported to a lot of platforms. Interestingly enough, the ports to Sega’s own Master System, and Game Gear resulted to almost entirely new games. The scrolling is gone. Instead things work on an almost flip-screen mechanic, only scrolling when reaching the end of the screen in a Castlevania door style transition. The other major changes are almost entirely different maps, and new bosses. The core concept is the same, and it retains the songs from the arcade machine. But these changes make for arguably the worst version of the game. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t play Alien Syndrome on the Master System. It is still a pretty good iteration. It’s brisk. It gives you the same style of gameplay in a new, and unexpected way. Rather, it isn’t the best option for those looking for a replicated experience on a retro console. If you do pick this one up though, you’ll want something other than the Master System Control Pad, because the sometimes mushy d-pad will have you accidentally walking into an alien, or projectile. I recommend the Sega Control Stick. It just seems more responsive in this game. For whatever reason, this game won’t see a Genesis controller properly, so the Sega Control Stick is the next best thing.

The other two major versions I happen to own ate the Unlicensed Tengen NES port, and the Commodore 64 port. Both of these are pretty good, getting the stage layouts, enemy types, and overall feel pretty nicely. The Commodore 64 version fares especially well though, as it’s the most responsive version I own. Everything is fast, and smooth most of the time. While there can be a bit of slowdown when an awful lot is going on, it still performs better than the NES version overall. The C64 doesn’t have as large a color palette as the NES, but it somehow gets closer to the arcade experience in terms of visuals. The C64 also has the arcade cabinet’s animated attract mode, and a really good original soundtrack. It’s another example of the staying power of the computer’s SID sound chip.

But Tengen’s NES port is no slouch either. It still looks pretty good most of the time, and even manages to add some pretty cool cinema screens to amp up the experience. I should also note that while the C64 has the better soundtrack, the NES version also tries to replicate the arcade’s songs rather than experiment with them, or add new ones. While it isn’t as responsive or quite as fluid as the C64 version, it is the only one of the three to offer continues. On the C64, and SMS you’ll need to clear the game on a handful of lives. For those out there who don’t own a vintage computer, but you have an NES, and a SMS it’s a pretty close race. For authenticity the NES port wins, but the SMS version looks a bit nicer.

Of course, all of this is moot if you have Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 or PS3 though. Because the arcade ROM was included in the compilation. You’ll have a nearly 1:1 experience at that point. Be that as it may, most of the home ports all offer a pretty great send up of the original. Alien Syndrome also appeared on the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Sharp X68000, MSX computers as well as MS-DOS.

It’s a shame this IP has lied so dormant over the years, aside from a brief, largely ignored game on the PSP, and Wii that played nothing like the original. Alien Syndrome is a fun, if difficult run n’ gun. If you have any of the platforms it appeared on, you owe it to yourself to track down a copy. If you’re blessed to live near an arcade that has a working cabinet, do yourself a service, and put in a few quarters. With its challenge, memorable characters, and insane bosses, Alien Syndrome is one arcade classic you’ll never want to forget.

Final Score: 8 out of 10