The jump to modern times from the eighties wasn’t kind to Spelunker.
The idea of cave exploration shouldn’t be hard to figure out but video games don’t always hit a home run in this department. There is that instance that companies/developers get it right but for the most part, the game misses the mark by a wide margin. Does Spelunker get added to the “rare” column or the “off the mark” column? If you read the title and description, I think you can tell where I’m leaning with this game.
This will be the third time Spelunker has been re-issued to the masses. It was available to download on the Wii, the Wii U, and the 3DS. I decided to give the 3DS version a try and I wasn’t too impressed with what I went through. It would appear that what was challenging in the initial run of the game in the 80’s is just a pain in modern times.
The game is challenging and there is nothing wrong with a game being a challenge, it’s how it’s challenging that’s the problem. The controls aren’t smooth enough and that is a major issue when you lose a spelunker for jumping too far a distance, similar to Mario in Donkey Kong. It’s very difficult to judge jumps and if you hit the edge, you lose a guy. If you fall off a rope, you lose a guy. There are too many ways that you can lose a life by just going through the motions in this game. Like I said before, it’s very difficult to judge jumps and you’ll find yourself repeating the same things over and over as well as memorizing jump patterns.
