Lode Runner - for NES

Lode Runner is a puzzle platformer for the Nintendo Entertainment System, developed and published by Hudson Soft in 1984. It casts you as a highly trained Galactic Commando, deep in enemy territory on a mission to recover a fortune in gold stolen from the Bungeling people by their power hungry leaders. What makes Lode Runner stand out is how much it asks of your head rather than your thumbs. Each stage is a compact maze of brick, ladders and rails, and every piece of gold is a small problem waiting to be solved.

You run, jump and climb your way through the Bungeling vaults, and your laser pistol does the rest: it drills passageways through stone floors and barriers, opening routes that were not there a moment ago and dropping guards into pits of your own making. Collect all the gold on a screen and the way out appears. Timing matters as much as planning, since a hole you dug will close again, and a guard who picks up gold has to be dealt with before you can finish. Lode Runner is listed for two players, and its blend of action, platforming and puzzling was unusual for its day.

Players still love Lode Runner because its rules are simple and its possibilities are not. Once you learn what a single dug hole can do, the stages stop looking like obstacles and start looking like machines you can take apart, and the satisfaction of a clean run has not faded in four decades. As one of the earliest puzzle platformers to reach a home console, and an early showing from Hudson Soft on Nintendo hardware, Lode Runner earns a place on the shelf beside the classics it helped inspire.

• Genre: Puzzle Platformer
• Players: 1-2
• Region: NTSC
• Release Year: 1984
• Developer: Hudson Soft

Cartridge Only: No Box or Manual
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Condition & Authenticity
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