The Boulder Dash Construction Kit was, at least originally, its very own separate release from the mainline Boulder Dash Games on 8-bit computers, chiefly the Atari 800 and the C64. But I do believe that it was later often bundled with other games in the series, like put on the B-side of the same original Data tape or something. Nevertheless the games themselves as far as I know never included the construction kit, it was its own separate release. By the way, the Game Boy version doesn't contain 20 stages, it contains 16, all from the original Boulder Dash I release. The "Level 1 to 5" thing that appears on screen does not designate the stages themselves, but harder variants of the same 16 stages. On C64 and Atari 800 for example, you have caves A-1 to P-5. When you reach P-1, you are sent back to cave A on difficulty 2 (A-2) where you play the same stage as A-1, but with a different layout of boulders, dirt and diamond that is made to be more difficult. In fact you could consider them different stages altogether, but the overall basic layout and gameplay gimmick of each cave remains the same. If you were to consider them all different stages, then you'd have, in practice, 16 times 5 stages in the game, so 80. On C64, each increase in difficulty also sped up the animation speed. Generally speaking each additional loop ups the diamond requirement for the exit door to appear/open, to the point that later on in the game you pretty much need to collect every diamond on each stage to progress further. It's also worth noting that Boulder Dash came out on NES as well before the Game Boy (at least over here in Europe) and the Game Boy release borrows more from the NES release than it does from the computer ones in terms of visuals and physics. I own both the original C64 version and the NES version personally but I'm quite familiar with the Game Boy one because my cousin let me borrow his Game Boy games a lot back in those days. The NES and Game Boy titles have a slightly less reactive physics engine than say the C64 version. For example on consoles you could come out of hiding from under a rock and still have time to get back under it before it falls. On C64, the boulder would fall as soon as you move out from under it so that you would either not be able to get back under, or you would simply be killed for good measure, so the console adaptations are actually easier in that regard. The NES release actually DID have 20 individual caves, since it introduced four more that weren't in the original, which multiplied by the 5 different loops amounted to 100 stages, but those extra stages were not added back in the Game Boy cartridge, sadly.
actually, its interesting to point that out - to my recollection, super mario land 2 actually uses a major third interval, like boulderdash does here. (that would mean C and E, in the context of C major.) so while its not exactly like SMB3's coin sound, it is eerily close to SML2's coin sound.
I have fond memories of this game from my dad's old Atari computer. I believe he had a combo pack with Boulder Dash and Super Boulder Dash. Really cool game back then. This actually looks like it was a great port.
I remember hearing about Boulder Dash by name as a kid, but never getting to play any of the early PC videos. I played a lot of "Digger" on PC, which was essentially Mr. Do, and other similar games, which I remember fondly, and put a lot of time into. This seems like the kind of game I would have been drawn to, so had I discovered it on Game Boy as a kid, it would have been right up my alley. Interesting how the physics work, with objects falling down to the side of your character sprite, and just with what you showed in the video, definitely something you can exploit, and equally get yourself into trouble quickly, presumably by trapping yourself in a large mess of falling blocks. I may have to go back and check out a Boulder Dash game at some point.
This game is in my Game Boy and has been for months, since I last played it. I did beat it once as a kid, but I've never had the patience to do it all again. But I always wanted to.
I actually have a game similar to this on my phone called Dig Out. You're collecting gems, the gravity mechanic works exactly the same way, and it has enemies that cling to walls (among a few others). I should've known it took inspriation from somewhere. The main difference is that there are no levels - it's a roguelike, and you try to earn better pickaxes so you can try to dig deeper each run.
I didn't own the GameBoy version, but I played a TON of Boulder Dash on my Commodore 64 when I was a kid. Some people consider Boulder Dash to be kusuge like Spelunker, but I've always considered Boulder Dash to be far, far superior.
It's not my personal opinion though. I'm just saying I've heard people complete it to kusoge due to the point you brought up: Boulder Dash in nearly all it's incarnations becomes absurdly unfair it's it's difficulty curve, and that brick-walling makes the game completely unfun. My argument to that has always been that bad difficulty curves alone don't make games on the whole bad. Just look at the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on NES. Why are they not kusoge when they are so unfair? And what about Battletoads? It seems most retro gamers dislike Battletoads because of it's absurd difficulty, but its otherwise a well designed game.
Satoshi Matrix Hard isn't necessarily bad, yeah. Boulder Dash is tough but I feel like it gives you plenty of opportunity to experiment and find a solution (at least in this version). Now, if you had to restart from 1-1 every time you lost three lives, THAT would be garbage.
Eh. The game can move so many things "at once" because they're all tiles, including the player character. This is why everything moves jerkily. Not very impressive, really.
I understand the technique, but it was still an impressive effect for its time, just like the screen-sized enemies in Mega Man games used the same basic programming trick and were still impressive a few years later.
Megaman's were more impressive, because they often dynamically changed tiles into sprites and then back whenever they had to move. This game's not doing that :P
![Maru's Mission retrospective: Slow-gun warrior | Game Boy Works #092 [EPILEPSY WARNING]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tHFgjoh2mj4/mqdefault.jpg)
The Boulder Dash Construction Kit was, at least originally, its very own separate release from the mainline Boulder Dash Games on 8-bit computers, chiefly the Atari 800 and the C64. But I do believe that it was later often bundled with other games in the series, like put on the B-side of the same original Data tape or something. Nevertheless the games themselves as far as I know never included the construction kit, it was its own separate release.
By the way, the Game Boy version doesn't contain 20 stages, it contains 16, all from the original Boulder Dash I release. The "Level 1 to 5" thing that appears on screen does not designate the stages themselves, but harder variants of the same 16 stages. On C64 and Atari 800 for example, you have caves A-1 to P-5. When you reach P-1, you are sent back to cave A on difficulty 2 (A-2) where you play the same stage as A-1, but with a different layout of boulders, dirt and diamond that is made to be more difficult. In fact you could consider them different stages altogether, but the overall basic layout and gameplay gimmick of each cave remains the same. If you were to consider them all different stages, then you'd have, in practice, 16 times 5 stages in the game, so 80. On C64, each increase in difficulty also sped up the animation speed. Generally speaking each additional loop ups the diamond requirement for the exit door to appear/open, to the point that later on in the game you pretty much need to collect every diamond on each stage to progress further.
It's also worth noting that Boulder Dash came out on NES as well before the Game
Boy (at least over here in Europe) and the Game Boy release borrows more
from the NES release than it does from the computer ones in terms of visuals and physics. I own both the original C64 version and the NES version personally but I'm quite familiar with the Game Boy one because my cousin let me borrow his Game Boy games a lot back in those days. The NES and Game Boy titles have a slightly less reactive physics engine than say the C64 version. For example on consoles you could come out of hiding from under a rock and still have time to get back under it before it falls. On C64, the boulder would fall as soon as you move out from under it so that you would either not be able to get back under, or you would simply be killed for good measure, so the console adaptations are actually easier in that regard. The NES release actually DID have 20 individual caves, since it introduced four more that weren't in the original, which multiplied by the 5 different loops amounted to 100 stages, but those extra stages were not added back in the Game Boy cartridge, sadly.
Boulder Dash was also known as Rockford in some countries.
I believe that name was for the mastertronic arcade remake and it's ports, not for the original pc versions.
Making this particular video "The Rockford Files", then?
Kinda wish I had this version, the sound effects in the C64 version inspired some nightmares when I was younger.
I hope it's not just me, but that diamond collection noise sounds almost exactly like the coin collection sound from Super Mario Bros. 3.
Close. The SMB3 sound effect plays a B and E. Boulderdash plays a C and E.
it sounds more like the item collect sound from back to the future 2 and 3 for nes, also by beam software.
actually, its interesting to point that out - to my recollection, super mario land 2 actually uses a major third interval, like boulderdash does here. (that would mean C and E, in the context of C major.) so while its not exactly like SMB3's coin sound, it is eerily close to SML2's coin sound.
Finally! Game Boy Works returns. You kept us waiting for an episode fix, but it was worth the wait.:)
I have fond memories of this game from my dad's old Atari computer. I believe he had a combo pack with Boulder Dash and Super Boulder Dash. Really cool game back then. This actually looks like it was a great port.
2:20 Actually Boulder Dash is inspired by the OG digging game, The Pit.
The ooze should turn into diamonds if it has no tile into which to expand, BTW.
I remember hearing about Boulder Dash by name as a kid, but never getting to play any of the early PC videos. I played a lot of "Digger" on PC, which was essentially Mr. Do, and other similar games, which I remember fondly, and put a lot of time into. This seems like the kind of game I would have been drawn to, so had I discovered it on Game Boy as a kid, it would have been right up my alley. Interesting how the physics work, with objects falling down to the side of your character sprite, and just with what you showed in the video, definitely something you can exploit, and equally get yourself into trouble quickly, presumably by trapping yourself in a large mess of falling blocks. I may have to go back and check out a Boulder Dash game at some point.
This game is in my Game Boy and has been for months, since I last played it. I did beat it once as a kid, but I've never had the patience to do it all again. But I always wanted to.
Beam Software's Game boy lineup seems a lot stronger than their NES games ( *cough* Back to the Future *cough* )
Next year we get Crystal Quest, a classic Macintosh game. The first color game on that system and then it gets ported to grey scale.
Othello actually did make it over here to the United States. It was in the 4-In-1 Fun Pak Volume II game, albeit under a different name than Othello.
But weren't those Fun Pak carts developed by Beam Software and released by another company (Accolade if I remember correctly)?
I actually have a game similar to this on my phone called Dig Out. You're collecting gems, the gravity mechanic works exactly the same way, and it has enemies that cling to walls (among a few others). I should've known it took inspriation from somewhere.
The main difference is that there are no levels - it's a roguelike, and you try to earn better pickaxes so you can try to dig deeper each run.
Matt Jarbo's favorite game
I hated the ooze in the water levels, nice to see someone else struggle with it so many years later
How’s the two player mode in this?
I didn't own the GameBoy version, but I played a TON of Boulder Dash on my Commodore 64 when I was a kid. Some people consider Boulder Dash to be kusuge like Spelunker, but I've always considered Boulder Dash to be far, far superior.
Wow, who thinks Boulder Dash is kusoge? It's a pretty smartly designed game.
It's not my personal opinion though. I'm just saying I've heard people complete it to kusoge due to the point you brought up: Boulder Dash in nearly all it's incarnations becomes absurdly unfair it's it's difficulty curve, and that brick-walling makes the game completely unfun.
My argument to that has always been that bad difficulty curves alone don't make games on the whole bad. Just look at the Ninja Gaiden trilogy on NES. Why are they not kusoge when they are so unfair? And what about Battletoads? It seems most retro gamers dislike Battletoads because of it's absurd difficulty, but its otherwise a well designed game.
Satoshi Matrix Hard isn't necessarily bad, yeah. Boulder Dash is tough but I feel like it gives you plenty of opportunity to experiment and find a solution (at least in this version). Now, if you had to restart from 1-1 every time you lost three lives, THAT would be garbage.
Elder Scrolls VI?
Wasn't there also an NES port of this?
Yes, but that one was made by Data East, not Beam Software.
Come on Jeremy, 1991 isn't far!
huh, it sounds like they use the coin pickup sound effect from the mario games.
That music is probably close enough to Day Tripper by the Beatles to be sued for it lol. Day)
There's a gba remake of this game
and it's amazing
I will play boulder dash. 😀👍🎮
I guess beam's involvement could explain why this game has the same sfx as THE horible bttf2/3 game on nes
Dang it, man, why are Game Boy box covers always so ugly? But at least the game is pretty good.
But can I eat the game?
Please refrain!
YOU NEVER LET ME EAT GAMES! BOB MACKEY LETS ME!
TheDarkKnight9113 Bob is your cool anarchic retro cousin, I'm your boring retro uncle who insists you stick to the rules at all times.
Thank you for this exchange. You made my day
Eh. The game can move so many things "at once" because they're all tiles, including the player character. This is why everything moves jerkily. Not very impressive, really.
I understand the technique, but it was still an impressive effect for its time, just like the screen-sized enemies in Mega Man games used the same basic programming trick and were still impressive a few years later.
Megaman's were more impressive, because they often dynamically changed tiles into sprites and then back whenever they had to move. This game's not doing that :P
Nintendo Switch will finally get a port of Boulder Dash 30th Anniversary. 6 years late.