Jumpman

The Good
I always enjoy games more if they have simple plots, and one of them is Jumpman, a 1-4 player game in which you must make your man collect the brown bombs to defuse them. This game involves a lot of jumping, as some platforms just cannot be reached by foot.

While defusing the bombs, you need to avoid the white bullets that appear on the screen, which will quickly shoot down at you if you are at the same level as them. Besides bullets, you need to watch out for enemies that are scattered throughout the game, including robots, nuclear bombs, vampire bats, UFOs, and more. When defusing the bombs, unusual things happen like parts of ladders and platforms disappearing, so watch your step.

The game itself consists of 30 levels, and it has three difficulty settings. Once you have complete the game with the easiest difficulty setting, it is recommended that you play the game at the harder difficulty settings, as these settings will contain more challenging levels. Jumpman also has two other options: "Grand Loop" and "Randomizer", which lets the game more or less select random levels for you to play. The game involves a bit of strategy, in which you need to analyze the level by choosing the path that will allow you to complete the level quicker, so that you can get some bonus points at the end of the level.

Jumpman was released for various home systems. The graphics were great for its time, though it cannot be compared to today's state-of-the-art 3-D graphics. I enjoyed watching the introduction, where Jumpman brings out different colored letters that are in his name one-by-one, and puts them down on the vines, but has a bit of trouble when he deals with the "N".

The sounds are also excellent. I really liked the sound when Jumpman walks, as when he does, it sounds like a clock ticking. I also liked the short "death march" theme that is heard after he falls.

The Bad
The game can get a bit boring after a while.

The Bottom Line
If you like jumping games with simple plots, then I recommend playing Jumpman for the Commodore 64. It has great sound and graphics, and sure beats the other versions hands down.

Rating: ***

The Good
Lots of action for a typical "ladder" game of that era. The character moved and animated at a fast rate, which resulted in a game less boring than slow-mo Big Top which was also released in about the same time. It was funny to see it flow on your screen with its arms and legs moving in a cartoonish manner.

The game actually featured balls floating around the screen that hit you if you didn't move fast enough. Don't try it on a 386 without slowing it up though, as you'll get killed instantly.

Like most similar games, Jumpman was not complex and you learned how to play it in a matter of minutes.

The Bad
The noise the character made while moving, while being one of the elements which contributed to give you lots of action for your money, got annoying over time. You couldn't just play it with someone else sleeping in the house. To my knowledge, there was no way to turn off the sound, so I actually hooked my speaker on an on/off switch just to play this game late at night.

The Bottom Line
A classic. Most of those who have owned PC's and XT's in the mid 80s remember this game for sure. Even those I knew who came out too late to see lots of self-bootable games had a good chance of having a copy of good old Jumpman in their diskette box.

A must if you have a computosaur floating around and want to see what "fast & simple" meant in 1983!

The Good
This was Jumpman's first and only foray into gaming (his son had one later on). After leaving Hollywood, or being booted out, he was approached by Epyx to star in this game.

Jumpman did most of his own stunts (except for the Dragonslayer level) so the man you see jumping from rope to ladder and reaching for those dots is really him.

While this game was popular, the injuries Jumpman sustained in production crippled his career. He was interviewed about a possible sequel at Pitfall Harry's retirement and had this poignant statement to make: "Jumping for dots is a game for the young. I had my shot and I took it, you always have to hope for the best but those days are gone. Still sometimes when I'm up on a ladder, changing a lightbulb or something, I'll hear that music, that wonderful midi music."

The Bad
Critics hated this game. "What's this, he just jumps?" New York Times. "What does he do with those dots?" Washington Post. But this was a simpler time, before the Hollywood types took over the gaming industry.

The Bottom Line
In a world of ladders and ropes, how can one man survive? Jumpman can.

One man, one way, Jumpman! (alternate tag line)