648th played so far
Genre: Maze
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1984
Developer: First Star Software
Publisher: First Star Software
It might be that I’ve been focusing on a few other 1001 more lately, but that cover really reminds me of comic magazines. It’s an interesting impression – not quite what I was expecting.
So Boulder Dash is a maze digging game. I’ve played many clones of it – Supaplex was an extended family obsession while I believe Heartlight is the one I personally really got into. It’s one of those classics like, say, Sokoban, that spawned its own genre but isn’t really seen as often these days. And as with Sokoban, it feels like the original is still the one that really matters.
Our Thoughts
Boulder Dash isn’t a complicated game, but it has an interesting arc in how it ups the stakes. The first few levels feel physics based – dig, avoid falling boulders and collect gyms. That sort of stays, but enemies start to take over as you continue, which means avoidance becomes the threats that matter while the physics puzzles become less important, except when they deal with enemies.
There are a bunch of other elements, such as blowing up walls by taking out enemies, but the goal remain that of gathering diamonds and surviving to get to the exit.
It’s not a complicated game, but the levels are fairly large and have some interesting challenges to go through. There are plenty of additional puzzle options, and other games explore this, but at the same time this is where it starts, and Boulder Dash is still the game that does it best.