Box Front Game Scan Member Rating 73.6% (7 votes) Submit Rating: --- 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % Login Database Search Title Console Genre Year Publisher RFG ID#

Console:	Atari 2600
Region:
Year:	1982
RFG ID #:	U-005-S-01230-A
Part #:
UPC:
Developer:
Publisher:	M Network
Rating:
Genre:	Action/Adventure
Sub-genre:
Players:	1
Controller:	Standard Controller
Media Format:	Cartridge x1

Add to collection Who is selling this? Who wants this? Who owns this? Submit Info Submit Variation Submit Images

• 167 of 7620 collectors (2.1%) have this game in their collection
• 3 of 7620 collectors (0%) have this game in their wishlist.
• 2 of 7620 collectors (0%) have this game for sale or trade.

As soon as you pop in a copy of Dark Cavern and hit the power switch, it may seem very familiar and rightfully so. Dark Cavern was published by the M-Network, a subsidiary of Mattel Electronics.......hmmm. Mattel Electronics? The same company who developed the Intellivison, one of Atari's biggest competitors? Yes. So why would a company like Mattel Electronics create games for their more successful rival and undercut their own system? Sure, money has a lot to do with it, but more interesting is the history behind it all.

While Dark Cavern and Night Stalker are very similar on the surface, there are several features (both good and bad) that separate the former from the latter. The first thing you will probably notice are the graphics. Night Stalker looks much better and best exemplifies the setting of the game, which helps to create a more accurate atmosphere. The walls of the cave are covered with stalactites and stalagmites, there is a large spiderweb in the upper left hand corner of the screen, enemies leave a lot less to the imagination, and your protagonist moves in a more fluid, human-like motion. However, what makes Dark Cavern distinct, and in opinion better, is the game play.

Enemies and their traits play an important role in both the 2600 and Intellivision versions of this game. In Dark Cavern (like Night Stalker), your goal is to destroy as may robots as possible by dispatching them with your laser. Ammunition is in limited supply and can be collected by picking up a gun icon that appears on the screen. Dispatching a robot in Dark Cavern earns you 1000 points, and if there are other robots on the screen, you are awarded an additional 1000 points for their eradication for destroying them before a robot is replaced (i.e. the first robot = 1000 pts., second = 2000 pts., third = 3000 pts., and so on). Though robots look more like.......well, robots, in Night Stalker, an important difference in Dark Cavern is that the robots have eyes which point toward the direction of which they are moving (instead of remaining stationary). This addition to Dark Cavern can be very helpful in determining an attack strategy and possibly even earning your character a kill by attacking safely from behind.

In Dark Cavern, blobs take the place of the immobilizing bats present in Night Stalker; though blobs and spiders are not worth any points if destroyed, they play an important part in the game play. Running into a spider will not cause you to lose a life, but instead paralyzes your character for a few seconds and allows robots to get to them. Blobs can be passed through without harm, however, by doing so you lose all of your bullets. This additional challenge, though seemingly small, plays a big role in the gameplay of Dark Cavern and in a pinch, shooting or passing through a blob may be an important decision when it comes to saving a life.

Another significant difference between Dark Cavern and Night Stalker are the controls. While your character's movement might be best described as stop-and-go in the latter, in Dark Cavern, movement is continuous and can only be stopped by running into the cavern walls (similar to Pac-Man). Not only does this present an added challenge to the game, but I would argue that it makes control of the game a lot better. Since motion is fluid and what I would term "rounded," it eliminates the possibility of changing direction and getting stuck on overhanging walls, as can happen as a result of the precision you have to use with many stop-and-go titles.

The sound effects in Dark Cavern aren't anything special, but they are entertaining and efficient overall. The replay value is high for such a simplistic game and the price point is outstanding. If you are a fan of Night Stalker and are also collecting for the 2600 (or vice-versa), Dark Cavern is a cheap and worthy pickup.

singlebanana's Review

Console	Reg.	Type	Title	Publisher	Year	Genre
Atari 2600		S	Dark Cavern	M Network	1982	Action/Adventure
Atari 2600		S	Dark Cavern [Printed in USA]	M Network	1982	Action/Adventure
Atari 2600		S	Night Stalker	Telegames	1989	Action/Adventure