| Cavern Creatures | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher(s) | Datamost |
| Programmer(s) | Paul Lowrance [1] |
| Artist(s) | Art Huff (title screen) |
| Platform(s) | Apple II |
| Release | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Cavern Creatures is a vertically scrolling shooter for the Apple II written by Paul Lowrance and published by Datamost in 1983. [1] The title screen artwork is by Art Huff. The game is similar to the 1981 game Caverns of Mars for the Atari 8-bit family. [2]
 |
The player controls a small craft, navigating it through a series of winding caverns and tunnels while shooting or avoiding obstacles. The caverns scroll from the bottom of the screen to the top at a fixed speed, so the player must always move forward.
The obstacles filling the tunnels are mostly the eponymous "creatures" and appear as simple icons like smiley faces, floppy diskettes, birds, eyes, apples, bunches of grapes, Pac-Man ghosts, baseball hats, turrets, etc. Many of these objects are animated, but they do not actually move about. The player's craft fires bolts of energy simultaneously in three directions (left, right and forward) that destroy the creatures but consume the ship's energy, tracked by a green bar at the bottom of the screen. Energy is replenished by shooting occasional "tanks" on the tunnel walls.
Special objects in the caverns include indestructible Rubik's cube-like boxes that can be shot to gain extra points, indestructible wriggling snakes (one of the cavern's few mobile opponents), and pulsing energy barriers.
The craft is destroyed if it strikes any object or the cavern wall; a new one can be put back into play at any position on the screen. The game ends when the last craft is destroyed or when the player beats the final challenge. The game's introduction promises that "the end battle will be a surprise that no one can miss."
Softline noted Cavern Creatures' resemblance to the Atari 8-bit family game Caverns of Mars and called the graphics "top-notch" and "wonderful". The magazine concluded that it "combines the best action of maze games with the excitement and challenge of the arcade". [2]
Computer Gaming World wrote, "This is a case of 'The box artwork has little to do with the game'. The 'creatures' in this game are an assortment of symbols...but not the green meany on the box cover," and also "The underground city looks nice, the game is so-so." [3]
Millipede is a fixed shooter video game released in arcades by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The sequel to 1981's Centipede, it has more gameplay variety and a wider array of insects than the original. The objective is to score as many points as possible by destroying all segments of the millipede as it moves toward the bottom of the screen, as well as eliminating or avoiding other enemies. The game is played with a trackball and a single fire button which can be held down for rapid-fire.
Centipede is a 1980 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, Millipede, followed in 1982.
Choplifter is a military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family the same year and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200, ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers.
Hard Hat Mack is a platform game developed by Michael Abbot and Matthew Alexander for the Apple II which was published by Electronic Arts in 1983. Ports for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64 were released simultaneously. It is part of the first batch of five games from Electronic Arts, and the company calls it out as "truly EA's first game." Versions for the Amstrad CPC and IBM PC compatibles followed in 1984.
River Raid is a vertically scrolling shooter designed and programmed by Carol Shaw and published by Activision in 1982 for the Atari 2600 video game console. Over a million game cartridges were sold. Activision later ported the title to the Atari 5200, ColecoVision, and Intellivision consoles, as well as to the Commodore 64, IBM PCjr, MSX, ZX Spectrum, and Atari 8-bit family. Shaw did the Atari 8-bit and Atari 5200 ports herself.
Caverns of Mars is a vertically scrolling shooter for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was written by Greg Christensen, with some features later added by Richard Watts, and published by the Atari Program Exchange (APX) in 1981. Caverns of Mars became the best selling APX software of all-time and was moved into Atari, Inc.'s official product line, first on diskette, then on cartridge.
Stellar 7 is a first-person shooter tank simulation video game based on the arcade game Battlezone in which the player assumes the role of a futuristic tank pilot. The game was originally created by Damon Slye for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1983. It was followed by three sequels: Arcticfox (1986), Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon (1991), and Stellar 7: Draxon's Revenge (1993). It was remade in the early 1990s for the 16-bit computers.
Repton is a Defender-inspired game written by Dan Thompson and Andy Kaluzniacki for the Apple II and published by Sirius Software in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, and Commodore 64.
Astro Chase is a multidirectional shooter written by Fernando Herrera for the Atari 8-bit family. It was published by First Star Software in 1982 as the company's first game. Parker Brothers licensed it, releasing cartridge versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 5200 console in 1983 and a Commodore 64 version in 1984. Exidy licensed it for arcade use with its Max-A-Flex cabinet.
Fort Apocalypse is a multidirectional scrolling shooter for the Atari 8-bit family created by Steve Hales and published by Synapse Software in 1982. Joe Vierra ported it to the Commodore 64 the same year. The player navigates an underground prison in a helicopter, destroying or avoiding enemies and rescuing prisoners. A contemporary of Choplifter, it has similarities to that game as well as the arcade games Scramble and Super Cobra.
Sneakers is a fixed shooter video game for the Apple II written by Mark Turmell and published by Sirius Software in 1981. An Atari 8-bit family version was released the same year. Sneakers was Turmell's first published game. He later was the lead designer and programmer of 1993's NBA Jam.
The Tail of Beta Lyrae is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Philip Price for the Atari 8-bit family and published in 1983 by Datamost. The music is by Gary Gilbertson. Price and Gilbertson later collaborated on the Alternate Reality games.
Wayout is a 3D first-person perspective video game programmed by Paul Allen Edelstein and published for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1982. It was released for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1983. Wayout is among the first maze games to offer full 360 degree 3D perspective and movement, and its graphics were considered state-of-the-art upon its release. There were many pseudo-3D maze games at the time, but they used a fixed perspective and limited the player to four orientations.
Caverns of Minos is a vertically-scrolling shooter for iOS developed by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft and published via the App Store. It was announced on the Llamasoft blog on January 12, 2012. Its biggest influence is Caverns of Mars from 1981, but includes elements of Lunar Lander and Oids. It is the Minotaur Project game representing the Atari 8-bit family.
Lunar Leeper, also released as Lunar Leepers, is a horizontally scrolling shooter written by Chuck Bueche and published under Sierra On-Line's SierraVision label in 1982. It was released for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and VIC-20. The Apple II version was copy-protected using Sierra's Spiradisc system.
A vertically scrolling video game or vertical scroller is a video game in which the player views the field of play principally from a top-down perspective, while the background scrolls from the top of the screen to the bottom to create the illusion that the player character is moving in the game world.
Bandits is a 1982 fixed shooter written by Tony and Benny Ngo for the Apple II and published by Sirius Software. The game is a clone of Taito's 1980 Stratovox arcade video game where the goal is to prevent aliens from stealing objects. Bandits was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, and VIC-20.
Seafox is a shoot 'em up written by Ed Hobbs and published by Broderbund in 1982 for the Apple II and as a cartridge for the Atari 8-bit family. A VIC-20 port, also on cartridge, was released in 1983.
A.E. is a fixed shooter written by Jun Wada and Makoto Horai for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit family and published by Broderbund in 1982. Versions for the VIC-20 (1983) and MSX (1984) followed. Unlike most earlier shooters which have a solid color or starfield as a background, the action in A.E. takes place in front of science fiction scenes. Attacking creatures emerge from points in the image, often appearing to come from behind objects. Combined with a slight scaling as they advance, there is the impression of depth.
Thrax Lair is a vertically scrolling shooter designed by Randy Turner and published by Rantom Software in 1982 for the Atari 8-bit family. The game is similar in concept to Caverns of Mars from 1981. A version of Thrax Lair for the Commodore 64 was planned, but never released.
 | This scrolling shooter article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |