''Boulder Dash'' is a 2D maze-

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. ...

released in 1984 by

First Star Software First Star Software, Inc. was a Chappaqua, New York based video game development, publishing and licensing company, founded by Richard Spitalny (who remains the company's president), Billy Blake, Peter Jablon, and Fernando Herrera in 1982. It ...

for

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

. It was created by Canadian developers Peter Liepa and Chris Gray. The player controls Rockford, who collects treasures while evading hazards. ''Boulder Dash'' was ported to many 8-bit and 16-bit systems and turned into a coin-operated arcade game. It was followed by multiple sequels and re-releases and influenced games such as ''

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 Census was 2,707, increasing to 2,8 ...

'' and direct clones such as '' Emerald Mine''. As of January 2018, BBG Entertainment GmbH owns the intellectual property rights to ''Boulder Dash''.

Gameplay

left, Rockford drops a series of boulders on butterflies which explode into diamonds and fall down the shafts. ''Boulder Dash'' takes place in a series of caves, each of which is laid out as rectangular grid of blocks. The player guides the player character, Rockford, with a

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

or cursor keys. In each cave, Rockford has to collect as many

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

s as are needed and avoid dangers, such as falling rocks. When enough diamonds have been collected, the exit door opens, and going through this exit door completes the cave.

Development

As an aspiring game-developer, Peter Liepa reached out to a local publisher called "In-Home Software". They put him in touch with a young man (Chris Gray) who had submitted a game in Basic that was not really commercial quality, but they thought it had potential. The project began with the intention of converting this game to machine language and releasing it through In-Home Software, but according to Liepa, it quickly became apparent that the game was very primitive. He decided to expand the idea and bring some more interesting dynamics to the game. He started coding a new project in

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

, which took about six months. About the time it became clear that this was a shippable product, Liepa migrated Boulder Dash from Forth to assembler. Being dissatisfied with the lack of contact from In-Home Software, Liepa began searching for a new publisher. His choice was

and according to him the company was very happy to publish the game.

Ports

A port of the original title was licensed by Exidy for use with their Max-A-Flex arcade cabinet. This version released in 1984 allowed buying 30 seconds of game time. This was the first home computer title to be converted to an arcade console.

Reception

''II Computing'' said that "bright, colorful animation coupled with a breezy story line make this game more than just a momentary diversion". ''Computer Games'' magazine called it an "incredible addicting maze game" along the lines of ''

Dig Dug is a maze arcade game developed by Namco in 1981 and released in 1982, distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player controls Dig Dug to defeat all enemies per stage, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rock ...

'', but faster and more exciting. ''

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Origins In the late 1980s ''Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generation of 8-bit computers ...

'' gave the Game Boy port of ''Boulder Dash'' a score of 90%, praising it as "one of the finest video games ever written", describing the game as "one to buy as soon as possible" and noting its faithfulness to the original Commodore 64 version. The same publication reviewed the NES version favourably, stating that it was "an extremely impressive title" and "one of the greatest games ever written". It was given a 92% rating. The ZX Spectrum version was placed ninth in the ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

Top 100 Speccy Games Of All Time (Ever)'' by journalist Stuart Campbell. IGN reviewed the Virtual Console release of the Commodore 64 version. Although the graphics and sound were both found to be dated they enjoyed the game stating that it "still feels as fresh as it did in 1984". They concluded by stating "though it doesn't look like much, ''Boulder Dash'' rocks". ''Boulder Dash'' was included in the top 30 Commodore 64 games by C't Magazin in Germany. The game sold more than 500,000 copies by August 1994.

Legacy

Following the original home computer title, other games in the series were published by First Star Software: * ''Boulder Dash'' (1985 – Arcade) – in 1985 another arcade version was released on Data East's "DECO Cassette System", with improved graphics but a reduced display grid on a vertical monitor. * ''

Boulder Dash II ''Boulder Dash II'' is a 2D maze- puzzle video game designed by Peter Liepa and released in 1985 by First Star Software. It is the first sequel to the original '' Boulder Dash''. Release ''Boulder Dash II'' was published under several titles; ...

'' (1985) – published under several different titles; ''Rockford's Riot'' on the MSX, ''Rockford's Revenge'' on the C64. The second release in Japan was titled ''Champion Boulder Dash'', but it is not a port of the western game. * ''Boulder Dash 3'' (1986 – Apple II, C64, Spectrum, PC) – monochrome space-themed graphics and poorly designed levels made this a critical failure. * ''

Boulder Dash Construction Kit ''Boulder Dash Construction Kit'' is the fourth game in the ''Boulder Dash'' series. It was published for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers in 1986 by Epyx. Ports were released for the Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, ...

'' (1986 – Apple II, C64, Spectrum, Atari 8-bit computers, Atari ST) – this release included a small number of levels (12 caves and 3 intermission levels), but was titled ''Boulder Dash IV – The Game'' for the Spectrum re-release. The title allowed players access to tools which allowed them to design their own levels. * ''Super Boulder Dash'' (1986 – Apple II, C64, PC) – a compilation of ''Boulder Dash'' and ''Boulder Dash II'' published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

. * '' Rockford'' (1988 – Arcade, Amiga, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Arcade, Spectrum, Amstrad, C64) - ''Rockford'' was originally a licensed arcade game produced by Arcadia Systems, and later converted to various home computer formats. * ''Boulder Dash Part 2'' (1990 – Arcade) * ''Boulder Dash'' (1990 - Game Boy) * ''Boulder Dash'' (1990 - NES) * ''

Boulder Dash EX ''Boulder Dash EX'' is an action-puzzle video game developed by Tokyo-based Vision Works and published by Kemco for the Game Boy Advance in September 2002. It is part of the '' Boulder Dash'' series and a remake of the arcade version of ''Bould ...

'' (2002 – Game Boy Advance) - this one has a new "EX mode" and "Classic mode" which is a direct port of the 1984 PC version. * ''Boulder Dash Xmas 2002 Edition'' (2002 – PC) * ''GemJam Gold'' (2003 – PC) – the game's credits claim this is based on ''Boulder Dash'', and is licensed by First Star. * ''Boulder Dash – Treasure Pleasure'' (2003 – PC) * '' Boulder Dash: Rocks!'' (2007 – DS, iOS) * ''Boulder Dash Vol 1'' (2009 – iOS) * '' Boulder Dash-XL'' (2011 -

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independen ...

, PC, iOS, 3DS) * ''Boulder Dash - The Collection!'' (2011 –

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

) * ''Boulder Dash'' (2011 – Atari 2600) - limited edition of 250 copies. * ''Boulder Dash 30th Anniversary'' (2014 – iOS, Android, Switch, PC, Mac) - co-published by TapStar Interactive and First Star Software, Inc. with a world designed by the original creator

Peter Liepa Boulder Dash may refer to: * ''Boulder Dash'' (video game), a 1984 video game * Boulder Dash (roller coaster), a wooden roller coaster See also * Balderdash (disambiguation) {{Disambig ...

as well as another world by TapStar CEO, Chris Gray. This sequel was developed in collaboration by TapStar Interactive, First Star Software, SoMa Play Inc. and Katsu Entertainment LLC (2014 - Android, iOS) as both a premium (paid) and a

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ...

game. * ''Boulder Dash'' (2015 – Intellivision) – co-published by First Star Software, Inc. and Classic Game Publishers, Inc./Elektronite * ''Boulder Dash Deluxe'' (2021 – Switch, Xbox, Atari VCS, Steam (PC and Mac), Windows Store and Mac Store) – developed and published by BBG Entertainment with a world designed by the original creator Peter Liepa and a Retro world with the 20 original levels from 1984. * ''Boulder Dash Ultimate Collection'' (2022 – Switch)

References

Bibliography

GAMES Magazine ''GAMES World of Puzzles'' is a puzzle magazine formed from the merger of Games and World of Puzzles in October 2014. The entire magazine interior is now newsprint (as opposed to the part-glossy/part-newsprint format of the original ''Games'') an ...

{{Boulder Dash series 1984 video games Amstrad CPC games Apple II games Arcade video games Atari 8-bit family games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Beam Software games Boulder Dash ColecoVision games Commodore 64 games Data East video games Exidy games First Star Software games Game Boy games IOS games Maze games Mirrorsoft games MSX games Nintendo Entertainment System games Rocks-and-diamonds games Single-player video games Video game franchises introduced in 1984 Video games developed in Canada Virtual Console games Windows Phone games ZX Spectrum games