[typing]
[LGR VO] Do you think?
I certainly do... I think.
But I also play computer games.
Man, if only there was a game for me, the thinker.
Holy thinking caps! Jumpman, developed by Randy Glover
and published by Epyx in 1983.
Originally for the Atari 8-bit line of home computers,
though it was eventually released for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC.
While I think this cover art is absolutely fantastic,
with its robots, lasers and freely-flowing locks of hair,
the back of the box isn't nearly as impressive.
The lonely monochrome screenshot actually makes the game appear dreary and bland,
but all you have to do is read the story to know that's not the case at all.
Nope, it's cheesy!
"The enemy has infiltrated Jupiter headquarters!
Alienators have sabotaged all systems and planted bombs throughout its thirty levels."
You're made of pure '80s awesome
and just so happen to be the one guy that can save the day.
So play this game and be everything you can't possibly be in real life
because the universe gave you the short straw.
Inside the box, you get the game on either a cassette tape or a floppy disk.
This is indeed a floppy disk.
It flops... and disks.
You also get a sheet detailing the loading instructions specific to your computer system.
And then you get the manual, printed on what reminds me of blueprint paper,
covering the game basics and some hints from the game's creator.
Though the hints basically boil down to "don't die" and "don't give up."
Actually super-handy hints for life in general.
Jumpman begins with a short animated title screen,
showcasing Jumpman himself,
what the levels generally look like and the game's theme song.
[8-bit Jumpman theme plays]
Mmm. I love 8-bit harmonies.
Press the Select key at any time to choose from five game options:
Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced,
each of which contains ten levels in easy, medium and hard difficulties,
Grand Loop, which plays all three levels sequentially,
and Randomizer,
which randomizes the order of each of the available thirty levels.
Then choose the number of players from one to four,
keeping in mind it's only hot-seat multiplayer. You don't play at the same time.
Finally, as the first level loads,
you can choose the speed the game plays at
by pressing the 1 through 8 keys on the keyboard,
though if you don't, it will simply play at the default speed.
So, as you might imagine,
the goal of Jumpman is to jump... man.
And run. You need to run a lot, too,
but I guess calling him "Jump-and-Runman"
was a bit of a mouthful.
Up, down, left, right, and jump are only the controls you need to know,
and that's the kind of simplicity I love arcade games for.
So I approve.
And the arcade influences continue
as you might glean from looking at the bottom of the screen,
where you see your selection of lives, current score
and time-based bonus score.
The point of each level is to collect the colored circles, or bombs,
scattered around the various platforms.
It's just you against your own dexterity at first.
But before long, you'll have enemies and environmental hazards to consider,
like evil roaming robots,
floating bullets that fire when they have a direct line of sight with you,
and moving and collapsable platforms,
all of which can quickly turn a Jumpman into a dead man.
A rigor mortis man.
A rotting corpse man.
Bummer, man.
But hey, at least you have some awesome abilities at your disposal
to prevent the Jupiter morgue from having more work that day.
Of course, Jumpman can jump like crazy
due to some kind of jet-propulsion boots,
or just because he was programmed that way.
But that's far less whimsical, so never mind.
Just be careful though, since falling more than double your height
will turn your bones to mush
and result in the Grim Reaper stopping by for an impromptu visit.
Thankfully, you also have the awesome ability
to grab onto and climb ledges,
which is not a common thing in these type of early platformers at all.
Even if you can't quite make it to the top of a platform,
just keep holding in the direction you're moving as you jump
and Jumpman will pull himself up over the ledge to safety.
This takes some getting used to, and it's actually a bit counterintuitve
if you're more used to games like Donkey Kong or Chuckie Egg.
But once you get the hang of it, it's quite freeing
to be able to do all these acrobatic feats to flail yourself around the level.
There are a few other things to keep in mind,
like the fact that ropes are not bidirectional.
That is, they can only be navigated up or down, depending on the rope,
and Jumpman will continue climbing in whatever direction that is as long as he's on it.
Beyond this, the rules largely remain the same throughout the game,
but the levels will continue to throw new twists and obstacles in your path.
Like electrified girders,
deadly flying creatures,
falling objects and more numerous and capable robots.
The thing to keep in mind is that it's possible to complete each and every level
without losing a single Jumpman,
so it's really all about trial and error,
mixed with memorization and a bit of practice.
And it is an arcade-style game, after all.
The point is to try and get the highest score,
so there's no worrying about saving your progress or anything like that.
And when you finally do die, well,
Jumpman will bounce off of every platform on the way down to the bottom
in a most comedic fashion,
followed by the entire level suffering somewhat of a controlled demolition,
which is just frigging awesome.
[crumbling noises]
I also feel I should mention Jumpman Junior,
which came out the same year as the original Jumpman.
Some have pegged it as a sequel,
but Randy Glover has actually stated that this was not the intention at all.
It was simply a cut down version of the game
that was meant to played on systems that lacked floppy drives.
As such, the game came on a cartridge instead of a floppy disk,
and included twelve levels, as opposed to thirty.
However, some might argue that it's actually the better game in various ways,
seeing as it has a more impressive animated intro,
the ability to change the game speed and an actual menu,
quicker transitions between lives,
levels that are arguably more enjoyable to solve, etc.
Then there's Jumpman Lives,
a game by Dave Sharpless and released by Apogee Software in 1991.
This is the one I was more familiar with as a kid,
and it included levels from both original Jumpman games
plus some of its own, as well as a level editor,
which the original game didn't even have
and was quite unusual for a shareware title of the time.
Awesome stuff, but unfortunately Apogee didn't exactly own the rights to Jumpman... at all.
Epyx did.
And due to legal threats, they had to stop selling the game immediately.
But, yeah, the original Jumpman, it's tasty stuff.
Just enough arcade action with just enough of a forgiving learning curve
to keep me engaged.
I like it,
and I can see why it still has a bit of a cult following after so many years,
and even after so many other similar platform games came and went.
It grows in complexity and charm the more you play it,
and it manages to set itself apart because of it.
I guess you could say Jumpman jumps out at me,
so if you want an early arcade platform game
with a bit more to it than simple jumping and running,
I'd say hunt this one down.
[crumbling noises]
[Jumpman music plays to end]