Montezuma’s Revenge: Amber-colored delight

I suddenly remembered playing some other game on my old Apple IIc aside from Hard Hat Mack and Taipan. The game was called Montezuma’s Revenge, and it was HOT at the time.

C’mon, don’t tell me you haven’t heard of the adventures of Panama Joe in the catacombs built by Montezuma’s minions (read: Aztec warriors). By Montezuma, I’m not talking about the big boss in the arcade game Zuma. Take a look at the cover art of the game’s box and tell me you don’t remember spending countless hours—even days—in front of your console trying to figure out how to finish the game.

In Montezuma’s Revenge, you play the role of treasure hunter Panama Joe, whose goal is to find an ancient treasure hidden by Aztec warriors deep inside moldy catacombs. The catacombs, however, is large and maze-like and it will take more than guts to solve all the puzzles while dodging pesky monsters such as dancing spiders and bouncing and rolling skulls, and dungeon traps like chains and fire geysers.

If you’re looking for combat, though, Montezuma’s Revenge isn’t for you. The game, which was a hit in several consoles including the Atari family and, of course, Apple and IBM computers, offers much in puzzles, but combat? Nada.

The final goal is described best by an entry in the game’s manual:

If Panama Joe safely navigates through all of the chambers in the fortress, he’ll eventually reach his ultimate goal: the Treasure Chamber. Herein lies the fabulous treasure of the emperor, Montezuma! To enter this final chamber, daredevil Panama Joe must leap into the darkness! Once inside, he’ll find several chains—and the infamous jewels—all awaiting his grasp. In just a matter of seconds, Panama Joe must jump from chain to chain while trying to collect as many jewels as possible. But beware! If Panama Joe misses a chain and jumps onto a pole, he immediately slides into the next difficulty level and misses his chance to collect more jewels. When time’s up, you will automatically advance to the next difficulty level.

I’m proud to say that I reached the end of the game, but failed to complete it the way the manual described it. I kept on jumping to a pole that, as the manual said, sent poor Panama Joe plummeting to a more difficult level.

So why “amber-colored delight”? Because I played the game on an amber monitor. Ouch.