''Cliffhanger'' is a

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels ...

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...

that was released on October 17, 1993 based on the film of the same name.

Plot

plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * ''Planes'' ...

filled with

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attempting to steal money from a treasury plane while airborne is shot down by an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

plane. The terrorists survive and send out a distress signal, to which the main character, Gabe, responds. However, Gabe does not know that the mayday signal is coming from a group of terrorists, and after reaching them, the terrorists capture Gabe's partner, Hal, and hold him hostage. Gabe must then set out and retrieve the money in order to save Hal.

Gameplay

The game begins with Gabe responding to the call, before Hal being captured. In order to progress through the game, the player must watch out for enemies and either avoid them by jumping or defeat them by attacking with various weapons, such as a

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evide ...

or a

gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube ( gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washi ...

. There are also bosses after every few levels, the final boss being Qualen, the leader of the terrorist group. In some versions of the game the player can also collect money bags scattered throughout the levels to increase their game score, up to the possible maximum of 958845.

Reception

In their review of the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

version, ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...

'' deemed the game a poor ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technōs Japan and released as an arcade game in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. The original ...

'' clone, citing a lack of originality, poor controls, tiresome gameplay, and below average graphics. They were even more condemning of the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

version, saying that the controls suffer from a delay, the soundtrack is grating, and the graphics look like they're from one of the first wave of NES games. Reviewing the Sega CD version, ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' criticized that the five platforming levels are repetitive to the point of monotony, praised the two snowboarding levels as "extremely challenging and fun", and complained at the game being weighted more towards the platforming levels than the snowboarding levels. The game was awarded Worst Movie-to-Game of 1994 by ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''. ''Mega'' said it was "a truly disgusting piece of software".

Versions

There are major gameplay differences between the 16-bit and 8-bit versions of the game. The Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES and Sega CD versions are almost identical and feature gameplay similar to street brawlers like ''Double Dragon'' and ''

Final Fight ''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of '' Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fights against the control ...

''. The Sega CD version contains a 3D snowboarding sequence where the player has to escape from an avalanche. Otherwise the gameplay on the 16-Bit systems is the same across the board. The Amiga, NES, Game Boy and Game Gear versions however contain lower resolution graphics and a simpler side scrolling gameplay.

Legacy

In December 2012 programmer Chris Shrigley, who worked on the Sega Genesis version, released the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

for educational purposes to the public.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1993 video games Action video games Amiga games Beat 'em ups Sony Pictures video games Epic/Sony Records games Malibu Interactive games Nintendo Entertainment System games Platform games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Game Boy games Sega Genesis games Sega CD games Game Gear games Video games based on films Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Mark Cooksey Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Commercial video games with freely available source code Psygnosis games Infogrames games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom