Fixing Raiders of the Lost Ark 2600

[G-type]

I've been playing this recently and I wish I could have been able to play through it without walkthroughs, but its just way too cryptic otherwise and it requires too much poking about blindly. So this is a list of things that I think could be done to fix Raiders to make it a little more playable and fair.

 

every screen should use the playfields to give some indication to entrances/exits and hidden entrances... For example: the entrance room, should have a wall on the right side, with perhaps a block missing to indicate the crack where the grenade can be used.

 

I also would like to see some sort of adventure game description and conversation text included. (a la Dark Mage) If that couldn't be fit into the game, perhaps they could have built it into an accompanying booklet? This way you could get some clues about the maniac, the merchant who can guide you to the black market, or about how certain things change depending on the time of day.

 

switching between items... why not just use the select switch? using the 2nd joystick is just so clunky. If you really wanted to do something with the second joystick, a better use might be to use it as a cursor to trigger the adventure game text. (if using the in-game text option)

 

making the snake spawn right on top of you when you re-enter the first screen is super cheap. don't do that!

 

Don't use the victory screen as the title screen.. it makes it confusing whether you just won the game or it rebooted. It would be more special to only see it at the end.

 

 

[jaybird3rd]

One of the things that makes Raiders fun is the aspect of trial-and-error discovery. Even if it would be possible, adding too many on-screen cues would ruin that, in my opinion. There is a manual for this game, and it includes a "helpful hints" section which reveals some of the secrets for those who want spoilers, but I liked the idea of discovering them on my own. Even when I was a kid, I didn't look at that part of the manual until I had gone as far as I could go without the extra help (and I actually succeeded in discovering almost everything without it).

 

I won't argue with you about using "SELECT" to choose items, but I would have found that to be more cumbersome, since you still need at least one more button for dropping the items. As for getting killed by the snakes, an easy way to avoid that is to wait until the snake is on the opposite side of the room before exiting, or else just use the flute.

[Flojomojo]

I think it would be difficult to make something as abstract as Raiders 2600 into a "fun" game. I guess some randomization would help, but it just doesn't have the elegance of earlier efforts like Adventure or Superman. I never got into it, but it sounds like Riddle of the Sphinx had a similar problem -- once you knew how to solve it, the fun is over, if it were ever there to begin with.

 

Choosing from multiple items with a joystick-cursor sounds like hell on earth to me, sorry.

 

I always thought the perfect Indiana Jones game was Fate of Atlantis. Nothing with that character that has come after it -- and certainly nothing before -- is nearly as polished, clever, or fun.

[Video]

I was going to say "but what's wrong with it" but yeah, all the adventure types are rather cryptic. That was one of my problems with et, a game everybody either lives to hate, or loves to hate on people that hate it. It was far to easy. When I got mine, it took a grand total of 30 minutes to beat, minus the manual. Adventure took me a month. I don't think I ever finished raiders.

 

Never heard of riddle of the sphinx, I'll have to look that one up sometime.

[NE146]

When I was a kid, I used to think that the part about putting the grenade in the room above to blow a hole was the most random 'you'll never figure this out on your own' thing ever. But now in retrospect it's exactly what you might try, or at least stumble upon with any earnest attempt at the game.

[+Cafeman]

Raiders was too cryptic for me bitd. I did finally read some tips and beat it a few times as an adult. But I think its too late to mess with the game now; part of the appeal is its abstract complexity, and pulling off each task.

[StanJr]

We beat it when I was a kid, but it is beyond me as to how we figured it all out. Likely a network of this guy's older brother and this other guy's cousin each providing pieces of the puzzle. When I revisited RotLA as an adult, I was completely stymied. I still require a guide to do it, but somehow I still find it to be fun and challenging. Doesn't the manual give you a lot of help?

[Tempest]

I beat it once with a friend working the second joystick for me. I never found it fun, the game is just too cryptic to me.

[Lord Thag]

I think it would be difficult to make something as abstract as Raiders 2600 into a "fun" game. I guess some randomization would help, but it just doesn't have the elegance of earlier efforts like Adventure or Superman. I never got into it, but it sounds like Riddle of the Sphinx had a similar problem -- once you knew how to solve it, the fun is over, if it were ever there to begin with.

 

Riddle of the Sphinx is much better than Raiders. At least in that game, there is some random enemy/item placement. So while the ultimate goal never changes, it is at least somewhat different each playthrough. I find it far more enjoyable to revisit than I do RotLA

[Inky]

Raiders should be hacked to use the touchpad controller.