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Console:	Atari 2600
Region:
Year:	1984
RFG ID #:	U-005-S-02790-A
Part #:	5760
UPC:	073000057602
Developer:	James Wickstead Design Associates
Publisher:	Parker Brothers
Rating:
Genre:	Platformer
Sub-genre:	2D Platformer
Players:	1
Controller:	Standard Controller
Media Format:	Cartridge

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• 41 of 7621 collectors (0.5%) have this game in their collection
• 8 of 7621 collectors (0.1%) have this game in their wishlist.
• 0 of 7621 collectors (0%) have this game for sale or trade.

Montezuma's Revenge might best be described as a "cave crawler." You control Panama Joe, fearless explorer and adventure seeker. Your mission is to explore the 24 chambers of the temple of the Aztec emperor Montezuma and loot it of all its valuables. Though there are multiple obstacles in your way (poisonous spiders and snakes, rolling and bouncing skulls, laser walls, conveyor belts, disappearing bridges, and fire pits), you are aided by various items hidden around the temple. Keys open doors, the torch lights darkened rooms, the knife will dispatch one spider or skull to save your life, and the amulet (which looks like a hammer) will grant you invincibility against creatures for several seconds. You begin Montezuma's Revenge with six lives, each represented by the five hats located just below your score, plus the current Panama Joe in play.

Montezumas Revenge reminds me quite a lot of the popular 2600 Activision titles, Pitfall! and Pitfall II - Lost Caverns. Though Pitfall! is much more linear than Montezumas Revenge, which allows for backtracking and re-exploration, the repetitiveness of enemies and screen designs are very similar. Also, instead of collecting gold bars, as in Lost Caverns, you collect jewels (1000 pts. each), which help increase your score. If you are successful in navigating the 24 chambers, you will enter a bonus room with a wealth of gems that will increase your score exponentially. Once the bonus scene is over, the game restarts; enemies are faster and in different locations and helpful items are also scattered at new points. If you're going to play this game and hope to get through each level, you'd better draw a map to guide you along the way, or else, have a great memory.

While the enemies throughout the game make it difficult, the room fixtures are just as challenging. Panama Joe can only fall or jump from certain heights, and any fall too great will cost you a life. However, deaths may be avoided by pushing up and grabbing a rope while in mid-air; some rooms actually require these types of long jumps in order to navigate the chambers. Jumping, whether over moving or stationary enemies, or navigating fixtures, requires great precision, which is only made more difficult with the clunky 2600 controller.

Though the controls are a bit difficult, they don't take too much away from the gameplay. The graphics are sub-par at best and the sound effects are poor and repetitive (item grabs and jumps all sound the same). The concept of the game is good and fairly original, but the replay value suffers due to the lack of randomness of the room fixtures, enemies, and items. While Montezuma's Revenge is one of the rarer titles among the few games in the Parker Brothers 2600 lineup and should be a welcome addition to any collection, for the price, less serious 2600 collectors might be best to pass unless a great deal is to be had in the wild.

singlebanana's Review