Crisis Mountain

The player runs, jumps, kneels, and crawls through a volcanic lair, attempting to reach bombs with timed detonators. Digging up a bomb disables it; digging is faster if the shovel has been found. The remaining time on a disabled bomb is added to a bonus clock. After all bombs have been dealt with, the player is given the accumulated time for a "bonus run" where the goal is to collect valuable items left by the terrorists. There are two separate lairs, and the bombs and collectible items are in random locations each play.

The player starts with a strength of 3 and dies if it falls to 0. Being hit by rocks ejected from lava pits takes away 1 or 2 units, depending on the type of rock. Falling in the lava or being hit by Bertrum the radioactive bat results in immediate death. Strength slowly regenerates over time.

David Schroeder was inspired to write video games after playing Donkey Kong, and Crisis Mountain started out as a minimalist version of that game in Applesoft BASIC. He chose the Apple II, because they were the only computers in the lab at Seattle Central Community College.

In the beginning, I just wanted to get Donkey Kong on the screen. I had no idea I could create anything on the Apple that would be of great interest to many people. Eventually I came around to the idea of putting some of my own ideas into the project, like the time clocks on the bombs and the randomness of objects on the screen, and it was then that Crisis Mountain began to take shape.

Writing for Compute!, Patrick Parrish found the bat to be a key feature:the most remarkable graphic element of the game (and the most confounding to any player) is Bertrum, the bat. Bertrum flits about the cavern in a way that resembles a real bat. If a boulder is blasted from a nearby lava pit, Bertrum will dart toward it for a quick inspection, determine the rock is not prey, and fly off to another part of the cave.

But Bertrum is more than just a visual success. His presence adds a degree of chance to the game which makes it faster and more challenging. This dreaded bat has a knack for determining where your player is at any moment in the game. Sometimes, you can avoid Bertrum with a last minute duck or leap.