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Dark Cavern cover

1982 · Mattel Electronics · Action · Arcade

Dark Cavern

Atari console exclusive

Night Stalker (released as "Dark Cavern" on Atari 2600) is a top-down maze shooter designed by Steve Montero and released for the Intellivision console in 1982. Night Stalker was ported to the Atari 2600 as Dark Cavern and released under Mattel's M Network label. Apple II and IBM PC versions were published in 1983.

Released
1982
Platforms
Apple IIAtari 2600IntellivisionMS-DOS
Genres
ActionArcadeMazeShooter
Developers
Mattel Electronics
Publishers
Mattel Electronics
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
ActionFantasy
Country
United States
Languages
English

About

Night Stalker is a top-down maze shooter video game designed by Steve Montero and released for the Intellivision console in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 2600 as Dark Cavern and released under Mattel's M Network label. Apple II, IBM PC, and Mattel Aquarius versions were published in 1983.

›Story

The player controls a man trapped in a hedgerow maze with no exits and many threats, some natural such as bats and spiders, others artificial and more deadly in nature such as robots. The player starts out in a bunker in the middle of the map completely defenseless. A gun icon flashes at one of five random locations which he must pick up to arm himself. Each gun has six bullets. Once the ammunition has been exhausted, the gun icon will appear again and the player must move defenselessly through the maze to retrieve the new weapon.

There are five different robots that the man encounters in accordance with the point total. The terrain is filled with corners and ambush points that players must use to full effect. There is also a spider web in the northwest corner where the spider enemy spawns. Player movement is hindered here, and all firepower is heavily suppressed within, making it a strategic location.

Also of importance is the player's bunker, in which the player begins each life. The bunker is a safe zone and the player is impervious to damage while inside, though the more advanced robot adversaries have the firepower to destroy this safe haven.

Keywords

  • robots
  • bats
  • spider

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls a man trapped in a hedgerow maze with no exits and various threats. Some of these threats are natural such as bats and spiders, while others are artificial and more deadly like robots. The player starts in a bunker in the middle of the map completely defenseless. A gun icon flashes at one of five random locations which must be picked up in order to have firepower.

Each gun has six bullets. Once the ammunition has been exhausted, the gun icon will appear again and the player must move defenselessly through the maze to retrieve it.

Legacy

The Intellivision version was made available for the PlayStation 3 through PlayStation Home in fall 2012 in a collection titled Intellivision Gen2. In addition to being filled with bats and spiders, it had a greater variety of killer robots and an assortment of mazes.

In 2020, an updated version of Night Stalker was announced for release on the Intellivision Amico video game console. As the console has faced many delays, this updated version has not been released.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Intellivision6 May 1982North America · Brazil 1 October 1984
Apple II31 December 1983North America
MS-DOS31 December 1983North America

Editions and related releases

Included in
Intellivision Collection 1Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 3Intellivision Greatest Hits: 20th Anniversary EditionA Collection of Intellivision Classic GamesIntellivision Lives!Intellivision Flashback
Ported as
Dark Cavern
Built on it
Dark Cavern

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

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