Ludography
Canyon Climber cover

1982 · Arcade · Platformer

Canyon Climber

Try to climb to the top of the Grand Canyon, while avoiding various obstacles.

Released
1982
Platforms
Apple IIAtari 8-bitNEC PC-6000 SeriesTRS-80 Color ComputerDragon 32/64
Genres
ArcadePlatformer
Developers
—
Publishers
datasoft inc
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Action
Country
United States
Languages
English

About

Canyon Climber is a fixed-screen platform game designed by Steve Bjork and James Garon for the TRS-80 Color Computer and published by Tandy Corporation in 1982. Ports to the Atari 8-bit computers by Tim Ferris and Apple II by Brian Mountford were published by Datasoft. NEC released a version for the PC-6001. The three levels in Canyon Climber have American Southwest themes; two are direct analogs of levels in Donkey Kong. The Datasoft box art is by Scott Ross.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Canyon Climber consists of three non-scrolling screens that are endlessly cycled through. In the first, similar to the rivet screen from Donkey Kong, the goal is to place explosive charges on both ends of each of four bridges, using ladders to climb between them, then trigger a detonator. Goats pursue the player and can be jumped over. The second screen resembles Donkey Kong's opening level, with angled platforms and connecting ladders.

Native Americans ("Indians" in the manual) on each platform shoot arrows which can be jumped or avoided. The goal is to reach the top. The objective of the third screen is to climb to the top while avoiding bricks dropped by birds.

Reception

The 1983 book The Creative Atari stated, "Canyon Climber achieves a cartoon-like atmosphere in the rendering of its various screens, to very pleasing effect," concluding "You will spend a while with Canyon Climber." In a review of four Atari 8-bit Datasoft games (alongside Pacific Coast Highway, Clowns and Balloons, and Shooting Arcade), Charles Brannon of COMPUTE! wrote, "the overall animation and execution are perhaps the best of the four." ANALOG Computing wrote, "The details and playability of the game are very good" and rated the graphics a 10 out of 10.

Electronic Fun with Computers & Games described Canyon Climber as "not quite as demanding as Donkey Kong, but the concept is appealingly bizarre," and called the game "short-term addictive." Reviewing the TRS-80 Color Computer version for Creative Computing, Stephen B. Gray had a different view of the difficulty: "Canyon Climber is a game for the expert or the masochist."

Legacy

One section of Llamasoft's 2011 GoatUp game for iOS is an homage to Canyon Climber.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Releases by platform
PlatformReleasedRegions
Apple II31 December 1982North America
Atari 8-bit31 December 1982North America
NEC PC-6000 Series31 December 1983North America
TRS-80 Color Computer31 December 1983North America

Games like this

Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.