A look at Dark Cavern from M-Network

In the "golden age of gaming" in the late 1970's and early 1980's, there was a great rivalry between the Atari 2600 (launched in 1977) and Mattel Electronics' Intellivision (launched in 1979), which came to be known as the first great console war. It was highlighted by a series of competing, high-profile print and television ads from the two companies. Many of Atari's biggest hits were their arcade adaptions (often titles ported from their own coin-operated division), such as the home version of Asteroids. So of course, these games were showcased in their ads, while Mattel's Intellivision ads famously featured actor and sports journalist George Plimpton touting the advanced (for the time) 16-bit graphical capabilities of their system. And these graphics spotlighted the difference between early Atari sports cartridges like baseball and football, with the more polished look of competing Intellivision titles.

A classic Intellivision print advertisement featuring George Plimpton

One would think that a console with superior graphics would have been more successful than one with more limited capabilities such as the Atari 2600. However, with the success of their arcade ports, such as their first "killer app" Space Invaders, along with unique home titles like Yars' Revenge, the 2600 was a huge commercial success. So, in 1982 Mattel Electronics joined a long list of companies making games for the Atari 2600 by introducing their M-Netwok line, which included many ports of popular Intellivision titles. And although the "Intelligent Television" system (these words combine to make up Intellivision) was known for excellent sports games, they did have other notable titles as well. One of them was a top-down maze shooter designed by Steve Montero called Night Stalker, which was ported to the Atari 2600 in 1982 as Dark Cavern.

Dark Cavern from M-Network as seen on Steam's Atari Vault (front box)

    In Dark Cavern your man enters the "underground cavern", which is a fixed maze configuration, in a quest to destroy as many enemies as possible in order to earn as many points as possible. You have a limited amount of ammunition which can be replenished along the way by running over gun symbols that flash on screen for a short time, while the threats encountered are spiders, blobs and robots. A "bite" from a spider stuns your man, leaving him totally vulnerable for several seconds, while making contact with a blob robs you of ammunition (more is lost the longer the contact lasts). But the robots are the enemies that can immediately cost you a life if they shoot your man, while at the same time being worth all the points when they are destroyed. Additionally, the speed at which you can destroy them is relevant here, because if they are taken out fast enough (before new ones enter the maze) point values increase. And this must be done with the limitation of having only one bullet on screen at a time, as there is no rapid-fire in the game.

The maze in Dark Cavern from M-Network

Dark Cavern bears some resemblance to the classic Midway arcade and home video hit Wizard of Wor in its gameplay, while being a bit more simplistic due to having only one maze. However, this limitation doesn't diminish the fun, because of how intense things become as the game progresses. Shooting robots is challenging because these enemies are deceptively good at getting off a shot when it seems like they shouldn't be able to. That is, in order to kill a robot without being yourself killed in the process, it's usually necessary to fire and immediately begin moving out of the enemy line of fire. This aspect of the game forces you to continually think on your feet, strategizing which tunnel(s) to enter in order to ambush which robot(s), before quickly retreating to safety. And while this is manageable in the early stages of the game (especially at the easier difficulty setting), it gets more difficult as robots who can fire in all directions enter the maze and things speed up. Add to that the constant need to replenish your ammunition, balanced against trying to destroy as many robots as possible quickly for the most points, and you've got that aforementioned intensity level. 

Dark Cavern from M-Network as seen on Steam's Atari Vault (back box)

Another thing that adds to the atmosphere of this game is the fact that there is no music at all, but rather just a low droning sound that increases in intensity as things get more frantic. It's actually kind of reminiscent of the unnerving sound in the aforementioned Asteroids, and definitely keeps the player's adrenaline pumping. Additionally, there is what can only be described as a jarring noise when either you or the robots bite the dust. All of this goes to show that some of the most simplistic elements can still contribute to and enhance a good game. I highly recommend giving M-Network's Dark Cavern a play, particularly with a trusted Atari-style joystick to navigate the maze.

The original Night Stalker game for Intellivision

It's worth noting also that Atari recently acquired rights to the M-Network library of games, effectively ending that long-standing console war which began all those years ago. Their first M-Network game collection re-releases the four classic titles Armor Ambush, Astroblast, Frogs and Flies and Star Strike on one cartridge (with individual games being selected by dip switches). Perhaps Dark Cavern will be included in the next release...