BATTLE LODE RUNNER
game Cover
game HuCard
バトルロードランナー
© 1993 Hudson Soft
© Copyright 1989,1993,
Brøderbund Software,Inc.
Vol.57
Release : 1993-02-10 (¥5800)
HuCard (2 Mbits) HC93054
Action / Platform game

Battle Lode Runner is a platform game by Hudson Soft and based on the timeless classic Lode Runner originally released by Brøderbund in 1983. Like its big brother franchise, the game is set in a strange world where players (dressed as space-travelers, or more precisely, time-travelers) must collect all the gold they can carry, and reach the exit in order to complete each level. Each stage is laid out with blocks, vertical ladders, horizontal ropes and stacks of gold, and the looting would be a walk in the park if only foes wouldn't be freely wandering around and constantly tracking down the players. But the lode runners don't come to a fight unarmed and they are equipped with a ray-gun. However, they don't directly use this weapon to zap their enemies to oblivion, but to dig holes into the ground. Beside, there is an important twist to that technique - players can only remove adjacent blocks (left or right), and not the ones directly beneath them. This technique is at the core of the gameplay, and can be used to trap enemies (holes do automatically fill in after a while, killing anything trapped in them), or to access unreachable stacks of gold. Battle Lode Runner consists of ten groups of tens levels each, all with their own theme and time periods (such as Jurassic Period, 19 AC China, 20 AC America, 17 AC Edo Japan, 18 AC France, 5 BC Egypt and so forth...). Although the first fifty levels are directly available from the start, the last fifty can only be unlocked by completing the game once. In addition to the puzzle mode aforementioned, Battle Lode Runner also includes a battle mode where up to five players can challenge each other in frantic death matches (actually, there are three different options - Survival, Escape and Tag Match). This mode differs from the main game in many ways - the horizontal playfield loops around and power ups (such as Speed, Curse, Multiple Digs and so forth) can be collected to spice up the action. Finally, in the Lode Runner tradition, the game also includes a level editor.
Related
Lode Runner (Fc) Lode Runner Lost Labyrinth (Pce-Hu) Lode Runner Twin (Sfc)
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Battle Lode Runner features some interesting and subtle gameplay differences with the original game. The enemy AI has been improved and enemies won't fall for simple traps (if you dig a hole too early, they may just run away from it). Holes also take a bit longer to fill in (some enemies will climb out from holes before they fill in). See Lode Runner (Fc) for more information about the Lode Runner series.

Game Staff (Copied from the end credits) :

Program
Yoshihiro Itami

Game Design
Keigo Yasuda
Boo Ueda

Character Design
Denden
Graphic Design
Yasuhiro Ichizawa

Opening Design
Shigeki Fujiwara

Sound Design
WSS : Jin W.
Map Design
H. Ohta
Yoshihiro Itami
Unsei Matsuzawa

Director
Mikio Ueyama

Producer
Mitsuhiro Kadowaki
Masaki Kobayashi
Assistant Director
Tadashi Ozaki

Producer
Eiji Aoyama

Project Manager
Yakayoshi Tanigawa

THE END
Hudson Soft
Broderbund Software, Inc.



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Battle Lode Runner manual Advertising
Click on picture to enlarge

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Auto complete a level:
During play, press Run to pause the game. Then press Select twenty four times (the cursor should be back onto the 'Continue' option). Then press Run again to unpause the game. The exit ladder and the "Get Out!" message should now appear. Although you can now complete any level, you still need to reach the escape ladder, which can still be tricky in some stages...

Passwords:
The first fifty levels are directly available from the game's options. However, if you complete the fiftieth stage, you will then been awarded with the staff roll and unlock fifty new levels ! Here are some passwords to access these stages:

Level 51 - 4ZLEART2WF
Level 61 - B9JG9CYHS2
Level 71 - 4V5WWRQXN8
Level 80 - BU49N2BTXU
Level 91 - 9PQP73VPUS
Level 100 - FAG6MQ6VQN


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I've never been a huge fan of Lode Runner. I mean, the concept is fairly easy to understand and clever overall, but after a few levels in, any Lode Runner game just reduces my gaming attention down to a yawn. Maybe it is due to the repetitiveness of the task at hand, or the monotonous level design (bricks, bricks, bricks and more bricks). Battle Lode Runner does alleviate some of those issues. The graphics are cute and colorful, the level design changes every ten stages, the soundtrack is kind of catchy and the difficulty ramps up to mind boggling puzzles that will get you to scratch your head for a long while (some are excessively tedious!). But I wished the game had introduced new gameplay mechanics along the way and had a little more substance, like new hazards, traps and such. Despite the cute graphics, the game is still Lode Runner. There are some surprising twists though - I love how the black Bomberman appears in the game as a guest star. This is rather smart, especially when you known that the now iconic Bomberman character was first introduced as an enemy in Lode Runner for the Famicom! (also developed by Hudson Soft). But, like many Bomberman titles, Battle Lode Runner is not about the solo play (which is rather fun still), but about the intense multi-player mode. Well, that's as long as you can gather a few friends around the living room television. So here you have it, Battle Lode Runner is a fun Lode Runner game with Bomberman flavors added to the mix. Granted, battles work pretty much the same way as the classic Bomberman, but they are not nearly as fun nor bombastic, and are sadly limited to four stages. As for the solo mode goes, if you are an ardent fan of the classic Lode Runner then Battle Lode Runner is definitively one of the best iterations out there.




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