INDIANA JONES: THE ACTION GAMES

INDY! NAZIS! MONSTERS! MAGIC!

A few thousand years ago, Atlantis sank to the ocean floor. With it sank the secret of the most destructive force on earth. But the Nazis have rediscovered the lost kingdom, and they'll soon have a bomb that can end World War II in fifteen minutes. Unless Indiana Jones gets in their way...

Break the bank in Monte Carlo, and buy a bundle of clues and weapons. Get to grips with Gestapo guards as you infiltrate the naval base. Borrow the keys to Adolf's submarine and take it for a joyride. Drop by the local watering hole for a friendly game of darts. The power of Atlantis is your goal, but you've to get past the keepers first!

• Whips, weapons, fist fights, gambling and puzzles.
• Nine lavishly-detailed action-packed locations.
• Dazzling 3-D isometric world. Click from one camera angle to the next.
• On-screen hint and message system.
• Awesome Animation, music and sound effects.
• The most cunning, resourceful enemies you've ever encountered.

~ from the back of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: The Action Game box

Indiana Jones has a storied history in video gaming dating all the way back to 1982. You all know about the graphic adventures -  The Fate of Atlantis is one of the best games of all time in my humble opinion - but did you know that around the same time an action game of the same name came out for a variety of systems? The Last Crusade got a stellar adaptation in the SCUMM engine, but did you know 12 platformers share that title, with two very distinct games on the NES? There's more besides, so hold on to your fedora, we've got a lot to cover.

We begin in the November of 1982, over a year after Raiders of the Lost Ark wowed cinema-goers, and the pre-crash Atari 2600 was on a high. Howard Scott Warshaw, fresh off of the success of Yar's Revenge, had put together an adventure-style game based on Steven Spielberg's blockbuster. As Indy, you would travel the game map picking up items to use at specific points, selecting them with the second controller. It was typically incomprehensible for the time, with hidden doorways and confusing icons for items that had very specific uses. You have to play it exactly how the designer intended else you would die. I can imagine discovering this route would've been fun back then, but I found it to be hair pullingly annoying. Still, the next month Warshaw had the highly anticipated ET The Extra-Terrestrial to look forward too. That one can't be that bad, can it?

Raiders of the Lost Ark for Atari 2600: Drop cash to buy a snake-charming flute from a merchant (left).
Use a grenade to bomb open the entrance to a tomb (right).

Well, it was and the Great Video Game Crash devastated an industry. But only in America. Europe still had the Micro Computers going from strength to strength and it was on the Commodore 64 where we'd get our next dose of interactive Indy. Released in the December of 1984, Indiana Jones in the Lost Kingdom fares much better than the previous game. It's a single-screen platformer with each level requiring a specific task. The first stage, for example, has you delivering three coloured objects from one side of the screen to the other. The normally white Indy sprite will change to the colour of the orb to tell you you're carrying it then you'll step through moving platforms to get to the other side. To make things more difficult, giant flying bats randomly fly around the screen ready to kill you in a single hit. Thankfully, you have your trusty whip at your disposal. Press the joystick's fire button and Dr. Jones will stick to his spot. Movement will now control the direction of his whip, swinging it wildly wherever you want. Hit a bat and it will turn into a harmless butterfly for a short while allowing you to continue unscathed.

Other levels are not quite so simple. In an icy cave, you'll have to pick up numbers from a specific point and carry it down to the bottom to crack a code. Another has you moving numbers into the right order while the roof is closing in on you. To make matters worse, bouncy balls scatter wildly about the screen ready to kill you in one hit. There's even a stage that includes a multi-headed dragon and some bells. Like Raiders, there's a fair amount of intrigue in this historical gaming artefact, but there's little to convince modern gamers to pick it up. Perhaps the next title would be a little more worth it.

Revenge of the Ancients for Commodore 64: One of many stage select screens (left).
Hold Fire and Up to pick up numbers to crack a code at the base of a mountain (right).

But before we get to the next action game, let's segue to a text adventure 'cos I can't think of a better place to put it. Indiana Jones and the Revenge of the Ancients has no graphics whatsoever - not even a title screen - but the prose on screen does paint an exciting picture. It uses all the same tropes of interactive fiction; exploring areas by typing in compass points, easily missed hints and snarky remarks to curse words - but it also has its fair share of death. You begin in a tomb that's primed to be raided, but danger lurks around every corner. The opening location, for example, is quickly filling up with poisonous gas and just waiting around will give you a game over. If you like these kind of games, it's worth a go, but I found it simultaneously contains both the best and worst the genre has to offer.

In the summer after Indiana Jones and the The Temple of Doom rolled into theatres - August 1985 to be exact - your local arcade saw the first appearance of the interactive tie-in. It's pretty good too, with great looking graphics for the time and an addictive gameplay loop that sees you rescuing children and riding mine carts. Made by Atari, it used their upgradeable System 1 cartridge board meaning games could be taken out of their cabinets and swapped out for something new relatively easily. This was its fourth game after Marble Madness, Peter Pack Rat and Road Runner and would prove popular enough that Atari's arcade division would follow up with the similarly conceived System 2.

Temple of Doom for Arcades: Save children by whipping open their cages (left).
Free them all before heading to the mine-cart entrance (right).

Displayed in an almost top-down viewpoint, The Temple of Doom has Indy move in eight directions while hunting for captured children. Thuggee guards and the evil fireball-spewing Mola Ram himself will try to stop you by killing you in one hit. Unfortunately, you cannot do the same as a whip in the face will only stun them for a short time. Each hit will edge them down a little so enough whacks could knock them down a ledge or two. You'll even get extra points for this and being an arcade game, you know that's all that matters. Children are locked up in cages which must be whipped open and once you've freed all on a given stage, you can travel to the top of the map where the mine cart entrance resides. You'll then be taken to the second of three gameplay segments; the mine cart chase. Here, you'll need to make it to the end of the track unscathed as Thuggee guards try to hit you from the side lines or chase you in their own carriage. Rocks and oil-drums can be whipped to trap them, but watch out for broken or missing tracks. Leaning the car on two wheel will get you past the former, but it's too late for the latter. You'll have to start the stage again and turn down a different route.

The third section takes place in the titular temple. You have to take the Sankara stone before exiting through an open door, but it's not as easy as that. A river of lava flows between you and Mola Ram, bats and Thuggee guards do their damndest to stop you. You may get lucky and have a pathway to the stone right in front of you, or it may just burn instantly. Your best bet is to whip across from the left or right making sure there's no-one around that could break your momentum. It's the shortest and easiest of the three stages, but it does make for an exciting finale - until you realise you have to do it all again on a harder level.

Temple of Doom for NES: Freed children leave behind a variety of power ups (left).
Interlocking doorways lead to different areas including ones with mine-carts and conveyor belts (right).

After some altered 8-bit ports for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and MSX in 1987, the first 16-bit port arrived towards the end of 1988 for Atari's own Atari ST - a year before the Amiga. It was a boon for the system, reviewing quite well to holds up nicely be honest. It would've been the envy of Amiga users everywhere had it not come to that system some time later (Atari missed an exclusivity trick for their own game!). To be fair, nearly all the micro-computer ports play atrociously, specifically the achingly slow and monochromatic likes of the ZX Spectrum and MSX. Atari Games chose to go down its own path for Nintendo's NES by creating a completely new game. In my view, it fared a little worse because of it despite having an interesting existence. With Nintendo's super-strict licencing contracts demanding limited releases for each publisher as well as a year's exclusivity, Atari's console subdivision Tengen bypassed this by releasing their games unlicensed. Their Tetris was probably the most infamous to be released this way but this along with After Burner, Fantasy Zone and a slew of others lead to a lawsuit against the company. To recoup costs, Mindscape would later re-release Temple in an official capacity. If you have an Amiga, an Atari ST or the arcade cabinet, it wasn't worth it. These are the best versions.

Last Crusade for Amiga: Collect torches to light up the area so you can see where you're going (left).
One false move and you can easily fall from a great height. The further you fall, the more damage you take (right).

By the time the Amiga got Temple of Doom in May of 1989, the movie's sequel would be busting blocks at the cinema. A few short months later, the video game tie-ins would come out. Just in time for Christmas that year, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had both an adventure game and an action game ready to be wrapped under the tree. We all know the adventure game was awesome (and available to buy on GOG), but Lucasfilm Games wanted to capitalise on the increasingly important console market. While games on PCs were doing well, they weren't doing Mario-style numbers and as the sales numbers for Zak MacKracken weren't looking good in America at least, they wanted to hedge their bets. Plus, adventures don't translate well to a joypad. In comes Tiertex Ltd, a for-hire development company known for its long list of arcade ports made since its founding two years prior (at a preliminary glance, I count 18 from this period alone). They would create a platformer for an exhaustive 12 platforms (though later console ports were outsourced to US Gold and NMS Software).

Last Crusade for Commodore 64: Watch out for other climbers when ascending ropes (left).
This version is different to the others. It adds a level where you sprint on top of a circus traing (right).

While the first iteration came out in 1989, the last of the ports came to the GameBoy in 1994. Each have their own quirks, and some even have their own level design, but generally speaking they got more playable as the years went on. The early micro-computer releases (specifically the achingly slow and monochromatic ZX Spectrum and MSX) were borderline unplayable. The Commodore 64 does well with a slight change up to its level design but my favourite to play was the Amiga, and its not just because I found some cheats to make it more playable. Being a more capable machine, it looks and controls a lot better while still keeping to the level design of the original. You have a little more control when jumping and it is a little more forgiving when taking damage. That being said, there are still some questionable design choices. A bullet to the head would take a couple of bars from your health while merely touching a goon results in an insta-kill. Banging you head on a ceiling takes health, fall damage increases exponentially when falling with no means to manoeuvre or save yourself mid-fall and whip attacks are limited as if requiring ammo. To be a little kinder, other touches such as finding torches to light up the area or the final stages being entirely focused on platforming make for varied gameplay but if you can barely reach the first checkpoint without cheating it's not worth it. The poster child of poor movie-licenced games.

Last Crusade for SMS: SEGA's console versions include an addition circus train (left).
Last Crusade for Genesis: The SEGA port is also improved, with more gameplay differences even in the new stage (right).

In a twist of fate, the Nintendo NES got two versions. While this Tiertex release was ported by Ubi-Soft in 1993 (making the half-decade-old game look even worse considering the SNES and Super Mario World had been wowing gamers for three years by now), Software Creations got there first with their own crack at the licence to be published by Taito in 1991. By this point, they had already made a few games for the system, including some Marvel-licenced titles for LJN (don't hold that against them), but I have to say I think their take on Indy is definitely one of the better games in the package. It takes a non-linear approach to the story with a multitude of gameplay mechanics. At times, you will be able to select where to go next which could lead to a sliding puzzle to collect a picture of the grail or a punch-out on the back of a tank. Even the traditional platforming levels are less traditional, with one stage on a swaying ocean liner requiring you to defeat a number of goons before collection an artefact while another is a maze of doorways in a gothic castle. It's not perfect, but when the other isn't either, this one does stand out.

Last Crusade for NES: The Taito version is a better game. You can choose levels out of order (left),
and also try out a variety of gameplay styles that effect the end game (right).

The movies may have ended, but Indy's adventures sure haven't. In mid-1992, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis became one of the best adventure games out there (and a must-buy on GOG), but much like The Last Crusade, LucasArts (as they are now called) felt it wouldn't translate well to other markets. After successfully publishing NightShift, they would hire Attention to Detail (who would later birth the Rollcage series) to create an action game based on the original story. It arrived on all personal and micro-computers at the time and I suspect console ports were touted at one point too. Perhaps the fact that the adventure game overshadowed the action one to such an extent many people didn't know it exists played a hand in its cancellation if it was ever a consideration to begin with. Or maybe it's because the game has some of the most baffling design choices I've ever seen in any game.

This is not merely an action game, but an isometric action-adventure. We play as both Indiana Jones and Sofia Hapgood simultaneously, switching between them at will. By selecting "Stop" or "Go" from the other player, we can force them hold still or wander off using their questionable AI. There's nothing like trying to solve a puzzle only for your other half to get themselves killed or worse; lost. The levels are large and generally confounding. Starting in a multi-level casino, every craps table looks the same and when you can rotate the camera 90 degrees, an altered angle can disorientate you no end. This stage also doesn't have much action in it, requiring you to gamble to make enough money to buy artefacts from the guy running the joint. All the while, Nazi henchmen wander the floors beating you up on sight. Indy can retaliate with his fists or whip, but all Sofia can do is a quick kick to the shins. After three or four hits, the bad guy is down but only for a few short seconds. I hope you can place that bet or get whatever he dropped in that time. It makes for a confounding first impression.

Fate of Atlantis for Amiga: Text is written in pictograms. The manual will awkwardly translate them (left).
Your health will gradually deplete even if you haven't taken damage. Eating chocolate will heal you (right).

All interactions you can perform - such as attacking, gambling or healing - are mapped to one button. This uses whatever action or item you have highlighted from your inventory. For example, have the fist highlighted and you can punch. Select the money and you can pay for something. It's way too cumbersome for something pertaining to be an action game such as this, and the gameplay doesn't pause when you do. Gotta get that gun out quick before any bad guy can get the upper hand. Must press Space, then tap left or right to scroll through the inventory one by one, then Enter to select and Enter again to use. Oops I was facing in the wrong direction! There goes my health bar. Another poor decision in this context is tank controls. Tank controls where you cannot step backwards!

One final gripe is that there is no text whatsoever in the game. Instead, in a misguided attempt to simulate a foreign language (or an excuse to not hire a translation team), speech is spoken in symbols. Direct translations are found in the manual but I still question why? What's worse is that there's a shadow of a good game in there - perhaps even a great one. The graphics are charming and detailed when looking at the more advanced ports (stay away from the achingly slow and monochromatic ZX Spectrum) and the proto-Resident Evil puzzle design could be engaging had everything else about it not done their best to mess up your plans and concentration. One Let's Play on YouTube says it takes an hour to complete, so I suppose they could've made it difficult and confusing to artificially lengthen the game, but either way it's the biggest of missed opportunities.

Young Indiana Jones for NES: Doors will lead to secret rooms where a bunch of power ups await (left).
The torch mechanic found in Last Crusade is also here, but much better implemented (right).

Beyond Atlantis, Indy seemed to stick with consoles for a while and in doing so he unleashes some his best and most interesting games of the entire package. We begin with Young Indiana Jones Chronicles for the NES released at the end of 1992 by Jaleco. While the outlier of The Last Crusade was a hodgepodge of gameplay styles, this one takes the Contra-style platformer into the Indiana Jones universe, though there are a lot less bullets flying around that's for sure. Funnily enough, some ideas from that other Last Crusade game makes its way here. While in an underground cave, torches need to be collected to light up the area while ropes and ladders are often the go-to mode of transport. It handles those elements much better here, with the loss of sight caused by the torches being deliberately positioned to force you to consider your surroundings and fall damage in the vertically designed stages being mercifully absent. You even get a touch of variety too, both in its well realised graphics and a nice shoot-em-up stage that plays decently well. A rarely talked about hidden gem on the NES.

Instruments of Chaos for Genesis: Using the whip to swing is annoyingly imprecise (left).
Classic British weather awaits in the London Bridge level. Good luch getting through unscathed (right).

This wasn't the only game based on the good doctor's youth. Instruments of Chaos starring Young Indiana Jones also saw a release on SEGA's Genesis two years later in 1994 (though only in the US and Brazil it seems). By now the bloated and expensive show on which it was based had been cancelled thanks to its need to educate audiences instead of entertain (I found it bemusingly boring back then, wishing it would be the same fantasy action found in the movies but on the small screen). Developed by Brian A. Rice, Inc (whose previous credits include Tongue of the Fatman and Home Alone), the team took an experimental route for this side-scrolling platformer that doesn't pay off. Indy's main weapon of choice is his whip and a lot of effort has been put into programming its physics. In a similar way to Super Castlevania IV on the SNES, our young archaeologist holds out his arm to stand firmly in place and extend his whip. The d-pad will now swing the whip in whatever direction you want it to, and if you get the timing and momentum right it will let out a crack. You can also tether yourself to poles and hooks to swing across gaps or climb up walls. Good in theory. In practice, it's unpredictable and uncontrollable, especially when you're bombarded by a menagerie of fast birds, crawling snakes and annoying monkeys from all directions at all times, each one respawning almost instantly. The level design tries to do interesting things, such as whipping cogs to open a door or climbing up a tall building on the top of a mountain, but this mechanic prevents you from getting anywhere. Even with invulnerability cheats turned on, the whole thing is a frustrating mess. Halve the enemies, eliminate respawning and closely study the whip physics of Super Castlevania IV a bit longer and we might be getting somewhere.

Greatest Adventures for SNES: Swinging is much more intuitive than SEGA's counterpart (left).
Mode 7 is expertly used to create a visually stunning variety of gameplay styles (right).

And now we get to the last game on this list, and it's one that's still officially available online through Antstream so you'll have to source the game files yourself to have it playable here. Released the same year as Instruments of Chaos, Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures is by far the better game. In fact it might be the best game on this list. All three movies are represented in tight platforming form that's as entertaining as it is difficult. The difference here than with most others on this list is that the difficulty isn't artificial. It's not down to some janky controls or poor game design, it's down to deviously designed stages that reward good gameplay. From the iconic boulder chase to the thrilling mine-cart ride to a trap-filled obstacle course to the Holy Grail, it's all here in perfect video game form. There's even some good use of Mode 7 too. Developed by Factor 5, who would later have a close relationship with LucasArts by porting Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine to the Nintendo 64 and creating the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series of games, this Germany-based production house struck gold.

So that's the end of this era of Indiana Jones' action career. From here we would get a trilogy of Tomb Raider-inspired 3D action-adventures which are beyond the scope of this package (you can get them on GOG) but this early period is filled with a range of curiosities at a range of qualities. Even the worst game here - The Fate of Atlantis - has something to spark an interest. I've known of its existence for some time but I could never last more than 5 minutes when playing. Despite this I really wanted to see what it was all about, which sadly is just wasted potential. Regardless, I'm glad I got around to it. I love the Indiana Jones universe, and can even find a lot of good in the two recent movies among the bad. At least there are some bona fide hidden gems here: Temple of Doom (the Arcade original), The Last Crusade (Taito version), Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and The Greatest Adventures are all worth your time.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox to bring the PC games to modern systems. The Amiga games are emulated using FS-UAE with WHDload. Other formats use Retroarch with the Caprice32, MAME 2010, Stella, Hatari, VICE 64, fMSX, Fuse, TGB Dual, Nestopia, Mesen-S and Genesis Plus GX + Wide cores to emulate the remaining console, handheld and micro computer games. X-input controllers supported for most games. Manuals for each game included. Some games in the package are still sold and will instead link to a store page. To play these within the custom menu, the game files must be sourced and implemented yourself. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 465 Mb.  Install Size: 899 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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PC-DOS

AMIGA

AMSTRAD CPC

ARCADE

ATARI 2600

ATARI ST

COMMODORE 64

GAMEBOY

GAME GEAR

GENESIS

MASTER SYSTEM

MSX

NES

SNES

ZX SPECTRUM

REVENGE OF THE ANCIENTS

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

THE LOST KINGDOM

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE LAST CRUSADE (SUPER GAMEBOY)

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE LAST CRUSADE

INSTRUMENTS OF CHAOS STARRING YOUNG INDIANA JONES

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (TENGEN & MINDSCAPE)

THE LAST CRUSADE (TAITO)

THE LAST CRUSADE (UBI SOFT)

YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES

INDIANA JONES' GREATES ADVENTURES (LINK)

THE TEMPLE OF DOOM

THE LAST CRUSADE

THE FATE OF ATLANTIS

Indiana Jones (the movies) are © Lucasfilm

Raiders of the Lost Ark & Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is © Lucasfilm & Atari
Indiana Jones and the Lost Kingdom & Indiana Jones and the Revenge of the Anciencts is © Lucasfilm & Mindscape
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Console) is © Lucasfilm & Tengen / Mindscape
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is © Lucasfilm
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Console Version 1) is © Lucasfilm & Taito
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Console Version 2) is © Lucasfilm & Ubi Soft / US Gold
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Console Version 3) is © Lucasfilm & US Gold
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - The Action Game is © LucasArts Entertainment
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles is © LucasArts Entertainment & Jaleco
Instruments of Chaos: Young  Indiana Jones is © LucasArts Entertainment & SEGA
Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures is © LucasArts Entertainment
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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