''Dangerous Dave'' is a 1988

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

by John Romero. It was developed for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and MS-DOS as an example game to accompany his article about his GraBASIC, an Applesoft BASIC add-on, for the UpTime (disk magazine), ''UpTime'' disk magazine.

Gameplay

The object of the game is to collect gold trophies to move on to the next level. Since the original 1988 publishing of ''Dangerous Dave'' on UpTime, there have been three sequels and three

ports Ports collections (or ports trees, or just ports) are the sets of makefiles and Patch (Unix), patches provided by the BSD-based operating systems, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, as a simple method of installing software or creating binary packages. T ...

of the original to other platforms. The idea for ''Dangerous Dave'' came to John Romero under the influence of '' Super Mario''. There are similarities between the two games, such as the secret levels, the level design, the monsters, and the jumping. According to Romero, he was "on purpose trying to make a '' Mario'' game". The mission is to guide Dave through ten levels, collecting trophies in the hideout of his enemy, Clyde. Romero says that among all ''Dangerous Dave'' sequels '' Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'' is "the best Dave ever created". In 2008, ''Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'' was ported to

cell phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

Games

* ''Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate's Hideout'', 1988, Apple II, 6-color, UpTime (the original) * ''Dangerous Dave'', 1990, DOS ( CGA, EGA, VGA), Softdisk (DOS version of the 1988 original) * ''Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement'', 1990, DOS, EGA, non-published (the demo that launched '' Commander Keen'' and

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

) * ''Dangerous Dave GS'', 1990,

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

, never completed (IIGS version of the 1988 original) * '' Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion'', 1991, DOS, EGA, Softdisk * ''Dangerous Dave in Trophy Trouble'', 1991, Apple II, 16-color, Softdisk (16 color port of the 1988 original) * ''Dangerous Dave Returns'', 1992, Apple II, 16-color, Softdisk * ''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'', 1993, DOS, EGA, Softdisk * ''Dave Goes Nutz!'', 1993, DOS, EGA, Softdisk * ''Dangerous Dave Goes Nutz!'', 1995, Apple II, 16-color, Softdisk * ''Dangerous Dave Pack'' (compilation), 2012, Windows, Softdisk Publishing * ''Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate's Hideout'', 2015, iOS, Alfonso Romero

Post-Romero games

''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue''

''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'' (known informally as ''Dangerous Dave 3'') was published by Softdisk in 1993, and is the first ''Dangerous Dave'' game to not be programmed by John Romero. This is because he, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack and Tom Hall had left Softdisk by this point to form

. It was followed by a sequel, ''Dave Goes Nutz!'', which shares similar gameplay elements. Like the previous title, Dangerous Dave is on a mission to save his little brother Delbert, this time from the evil "Dr. Nemesis" (who is also the main antagonist in Softdisk's '' Catacomb'' franchise).

''Dave Goes Nutz!''

''Dave Goes Nutz!'' (known informally as ''Dangerous Dave 4'') was published by Softdisk in 1993 for. It continues from ''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'', where Dangerous Dave is on a mission to save his little brother Delbert, from the evil "Dr. Nemesis" (who is also the main antagonist in Softdisk's '' Catacomb'' franchise). The game takes place within a psychiatric hospital filled with zombies.

Reception

''Dangerous Dave's Risky Rescue'' was reviewed in 1993 in ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' #200 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.

References

External links

* * *
Page with interesting materials about ''Dangerous Dave''
{{Softdisk 1988 video games Apple II games DOS games Games commercially released with DOSBox Id Software games Platformers Single-player video games Softdisk Video games designed by John Romero Video games developed in the United States