(click to enlarge)Indecipherable graphics and maddening gameplay never stopped me from joyfully immersing myself in the Raiders of the Lost Ark game for the Atari 2600. Back in my day, we didn't have sissy internet message boards to cry to when we got stuck on a level, or fancy pants gaming manuals to spoon feed us every step of the way. We drew our own! And we liked it!
Presented here is the solution to Raiders which I personally illustrated in 1983. I traded many days and nights of my youth for this information. True fact– the last spanking I ever received from my parents was a punishment for playing Raiders after bedtime. I regret nothing.
(But if vintage hand-drawn video game maps are your thing, there is none better than this Zork I masterwork.)
7 comments:
The "crazy man will kill you" part of your map is wonderful.
Dood!! AWESOME! So funny how technology changes things. The closest I got to the net back in the '80s was watching my friends go on the BBCs, which I totally couldn't comprehend. Do you still play your 2600? I'm thinking of holding an Asteroids tournament soon. Good fun.
Did you ever determine how to make the "Yar" appear flying around the mesa? I was aware that it could be done, but I've never actually seen it occur. I don't recall if I kept notes, but I did send off for the hint sheet, which made a world of difference.
anonymous- ha, thanks. It's funny because it's true.
narvista- I do have a working Atari 2600. I only hook it up periodically, but all this video game talk is tempting me to drag it out again. Some of the games are surprisingly playable. River Raid is one example. Yes, Asteroids is a classic that's still quite fun.
devlin- I was just reading about that! I have a foggy (possibly false) memory of seeing something flying around and not knowing why or how. (or that it was a Yar).
I'd like to see that hint sheet you got.
Of course now you can watch the whole thing solved before your eyes on youtube.
My brother and I pretty much locked ourselves down in our family room for a week or so until we solved the Raiders game. Good times!
Yeah, this brings back loads of memories... I can still remember the day I finally finished this game and how amazing I felt. It's probably the only game of it's kind that I actually ever completed to the very end. And looking at your game map now 25 years later it all still makes total sense to me somehow.
I'm happy to know that you guys are fellow Raiders. That's pretty cool that you can decipher my map Karswell. I've been tempted to try to solve it again using only my map to see how accurate I was.
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