| Frankenstein's Monster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Data Age |
| Publisher(s) | Data Age |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, 2 player alternating |
Frankenstein's Monster is a platform game developed for the Atari 2600 video game console, based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus . It was released by Data Age in 1983. [1]
The player character has to "make his way through the ghoulish castle of Dr. Frankenstein," where he "must prevent him from completing his creation." The player must "gather stones from the dungeon and bring them to the tower where [he] must build a barricade around Frankenstein's monster before he has accumulated enough energy to come alive," which he does using the so-called "Power Probe," a device absorbing energy from an electrical storm. [2]
The player must attempt to stop Frankenstein's monster from coming to life, by building walls around the monster. To do this, the player must retrieve bricks by crossing pits of acid and other obstacles. To fully imprison the monster (and thus, win the game), the player has to make a total of six trips to the lower part of the screen. With each successful trip, more obstacles are placed before the player, making the game more challenging. Contact with spiders and bats deducts points from the player's score. When the timer runs out or the player loses three lives, the monster breaks free and walks towards the screen, becoming larger, eventually taking up the entire screen.[ citation needed ]
In two player mode, the players take turns and each player has their own timer. When one player falls into the acid pit, her timer pauses until it's his or her turn again and the other player's turn begins. This continues until one player loses three lives, at which point the game will be over. [2]
In a 1983 review, Electronic Games wrote, "Very charming graphics and an interesting game concept," and compared some elements of the game to Pitfall! . [3]
In 2013 The A.V. Club cited the game as one of the highlights of the platform. [4]
The Atari 2600 is a discontinued home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982 alongside the release of the Atari 5200.
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Data Age was a California-based video game company that developed and published titles for the Atari 2600 platform in the mid-1980s. Among their more well-known titles were Journey Escape and Frankenstein's Monster, both published in 1982. The company was founded by Martin Meeker and four other designers. The employed 35 people by December 1982.
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