Montezuma's Revenge Reviews

A piece of art. A masterpiece. Timeless. The real essence of gaming. There are no words that can truly describe Montezuma's Revenge. This is the game that every gamer should try for real, at least once in life.

Absolutely perfect! My favorite childhood game. I played on the Atari 2600 and TK3000. Yellow monitor. Yes! Yellow and black!

So this is an old platformer from the 80s. Do not expect revolutionary mechanics. I used to play this on an ATARI and I love the experience of the retro mode. The modern mode adds side-scrolling which makes the game less static. There is no vertical scroll for some reason. The spider enemy looks terrifying, the skull is neat and the snake is ok. The player character is awful and breaks the experience. You really can't put this into a game in year 2020. The retro mode has some interesting differences from the original version. In the 1983 original there was some clipping so that a small part of the character model could be inside the chain without this resulting in death. The hitbox has been corrected in this version, however. Also there appear to be been some additions that I have not completely reviewed yet. Overall, I am happy to own this version of the game.

Montezuma's Revenge is an ancestor of Spelunky. It was released in 1984 and four decades later it is still fun to play. It's an early Metroidvania. Metroid and Castlevania came out two years later, so maybe the genre should be called Montevania instead?! Or Metrozuma? Great game, highly recommended. If you like this game I can also recommend "Hero of the Golden Talisman" for C64.

This game is exactly as I remember it from my childhood. You fall and fall to death over and over again because you are clumsy, and you get lost and confused at the later end of stage 1 and then never get past it. The irony is of course that I always thought I got to level 2, but it apparently always was just second part of stage 1. Much room for improvement on my end.

[h1]1983 is long ago...[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3217755351 Oh god. I remember as i played Montezumas Revenge back on my C64 when i was like 8 years old. I never got far and it was to hard for me as little-boy-me. It still is a hard game, trust me there, but it sure is easier if you understand how sometimes "less can be more" and in this case, Montezumas Revenge shows that perfectly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QogDK6gmAsc [h1]THE "based" Metroidvania[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3217755215 For a lot people, there are different aspects what counts as metroidvania and what not. Some people would sure say that Montezuma might "counts" as such game but is very bare bones and "based" in that if you really think about a metroidvania-styled "game". I would not really call said game here a Metroidvania tbh but i can understand if people do so, never the less, it is a hard game and very easy to pick up and play but hard to master-like games. I mean your character can only move left and right, up n down and jump so whats not to understand...right? Well... First of all, youre very fragile. [b]One hit and youre dead from anything[/b] - We are talking about an SUPER early 80s game infact and if its not the enemies which kill you, gravity will do the job or fire. I mean you can only fall down your own height or you will lose a life, fire burns you on contact and Lasers (or "chains" as they are called) basically turns you into ashes on slight touch. Else what do you do in this game? Well basically you run around Montezumas "palace" (or how ever you call it) from the very top to the bottom and try to get his riches. Thats all. Yea it is as basic as it sounds X3 The way down there is filled with snakes, spiders and skulls which sure wanna stop you to the way down next to the ever growing "darkness" for which you need a torch to see in because without torch, you literally see NOTHING anymore the further you go down and in the later levels, you basically have to know what and which room were is because the very last level HAS NO TORCH and is nearly impossible because of that - 80s game remember haha. So dont get me wrong, the game is sure fun and has a bit of nostalgia for me and i sure enjoy playing it but im 100% sure it might not be everyones cup of tea - mostly the people which "Might" want more from a game. [h1]Its still a great game after all![/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3217755257 After over 40 years, Montezumas Revenge is still a great game but sure a hard one. Simple to play, easy to understand but again, might be to based for a lot people nowdays. Im also glad that they added a "Retro" opinion to the game because, and i have to be honest here, the "modern" version looks like a bad early flash game. It kinda lost the "flair" of the old classic game somewhat. I mean you saw some screenshots, now look at how the modern one looks here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3217755323 Im srsly no fan of it, it looks a bit off. I know they sure tried their best but it feels...weird and off. So the Retro style it is for me. [h1]Do i recommend it?[/h1] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3217755286 So just alone because of the nostalgia factor, [b]it is a sure recommendation worth from me.[/b] Yes, it lacks grafic of course and looks like an atari game, duh, but the fun factor of how simple the game "is" is just great. It doesnt "need" to have 100+ abilities, 8 different buttons to use and what the hell you have to collect to get forward - [b]just get some keys and open doors, thats it.[/b] Its still a hard game, as i said we are talking about [b]early 80s hard video game[/b] so some people might will not enjoy it. Still, for "old farts" like me which grew up with it in the late 90s and remembers it from the golden days, [b]i can recommend it without a doubt.[/b]

[h3]Reviewing this as someone who played it on the Atari 8-bit computers almost 40 years ago.[/h3] [b]Short summary:[/b] Game is good, not much different from the original. Not just emulation of an old computer port, everything has been redone here. Minor gameplay / quality of life changes, a few updated sounds and effects. Compatible with Steam Deck and there are 9 Achievements for passing each of the levels. Don't bother with the updated graphics. They aren't great to begin with and the re-skinning of the game is distracting and makes positioning / timing jumps much more difficult. The screen scrolling makes it way harder than it already is as well, I'd leave that off. [b]More detailed review for specific differences:[/b] [u]Graphical / Sound Changes:[/u] [list] [*]Most objects in the game have been tastefully redrawn and recolored (Pedro, enemies, conveyor belts, pickups, etc). [*]Snakes now rotate to face you [*]Doors have a couple frames of opening animation instead of instantly flying open. Does not affect gameplay. [*]You’re Pedro from the demo game, not Panama Joe from the Parker Bros release. Pedro's sombrero is taller than Joe's fedora, however the character hit box is more similar to Joe's. Your hat can touch enemies a bit as you climb the ladder or jump through a floor. [*]There are in game lighting effects such as for the torch, fire, walls and background art, there's a non-pixelated Aztec looking symbol in treasure room. [*]New pickup sound effects - the torch (sounds like horns playing), the sword (like a sword being unsheathed), the amulet (sounds like a woodwind instrument blowing) [*]Screen shakes a bit when pedro falls from too high and smashes his head, the sound may be a bit different on impact. [*]New sounds for burning to death in the fire. [*]Different treasure room music. [/list] [u]Gameplay Changes from the Atari / Commodore:[/u] [list] [*]Around level 5 if you take a long time to finish a screen, a white bat will appear. If it catches you it carries you away and you lose a life. The timer shortens before it appears as the level increases. [*]The bug where you can’t get gems if you have a full inventory (despite them not taking an inventory slot) seems to be fixed. [*]There are now some dimly lit screens in addition to pitch black screens (that require the torch to see the walkable areas) [*]The “yellow” key is no longer a palate swap of the white key - meaning you will need to get the yellow key in the room just before the treasure room to progress each time and can’t simply carry an extra white key with you as in the original. [*]Every level has 3 masks hidden in it that grant 10k points (an extra life) when picked up. A tiny arrow under the level number top of screen points to where the closest one is hidden. They only appear on specific screens and are positioned in random spots throughout the game (these change between playthroughs of the same difficulty). You can make it impossible to pick some up if you venture too deep into the maze and can't climb or navigate back. Some placement combinations are tougher than others to pull off and would involve tricky maneuvers to get to. If you collect all 3 in a level, the game notes this on the level select screen. If you get all 27 masks... Nothing happens so don't bother. [*]The game is over after last hat in your inventory is gone rather than after dying with no hats left in the inventory. [*]Burning ropes are present now that get shorter with time - I think this was from the beta version of the game. [*]Despite it being modeled more after the beta version, there is no stomping God of Montezuma at the bottom of the maze, unfortunately. [/list] This was really fun to revisit to try to find all the masks and worth picking up for $3. Looks like there's a new version coming out called "Montezuma's Revenge Director's Cut" - not sure if it will be DLC for this game or something completely separate. The new features look fun, will be excited to try it.

This game takes me back. This was one of my favorites that I had back in the 80's on the Apple //e on a 5.25 inch floppy disk lol. I used to play this like crazy on a monochrome Apple Monitor III green monitor long before I got the RF color adapter for my system to play on a regular TV or monitor and seeing it then in color. Wow...those were the days. Back then, I was using a joystick to play the game instead of using a keyboard. The keyboard controls are basic and responsive but takes a little getting used to for some areas of the levels. I haven't tried the game yet with a controller to see if it would work or not but so far, it's quite playable and I'd recommend the advanced graphics over the retro look. For the nostalgia factor for me, it's a keeper. 04/Dec/2020 Edit: I've tried the game with a controller and it works well too. Logitech Sony PS2 style USB game pads, generic USB styled game pads (Just make sure it's plugged in before starting the game.) I do have some take-away's to add that I wish could be added / improved. These haven't hampered my enjoyment of the game though - Game audio needs in-game volume adjustment, not just an on-off toggle rather than using the operating system's volume mixer - Needs more than one continuation (unless these are earned as you progress..) - Needs key remapping in options instead of using default cursor keys for movement and space for jump. ---- End of update.

Even with "Retro" turned on (which you will want to do immediately), this is still not quite the same game that I had on my Apple ][ in the good old days. Which is a good thing, as the slightly adjusted game systems prevent more "stupid deaths" without actually making the game, per se, easier. Wholeheartedly recommended to retro gamers, still a nice diversion for you kids these days. And the price point's irresistible.

First played this on the Colecovision and later on on the Commodore 64 way back when it first came out 83/84? I thought it was one of the best games around at the time extremely well done memorized the whole thing 'cause I played it so much. The controls in this are very well done I believe the game might have been slowed down slightly for modern analog sticks. There's global leaderboards and possibly other features coming soon. The game is basically a platform game like Donkey Kong, Jumpman and Atari’s Pitfall. The cool thing back then was the level design which would take you several attempts to figure out in order to complete the game. The puzzle aspect of it is discovering various colored keys that open their respective doors as well as finding (but not required) a valuable torch to light your way the deeper you go. Once you reached the final level down below, you'll know you've beaten the game and start all over with a slightly more difficult path (more darker levels which makes the torch even more valuable). It's a hidden classic gem and well worth the price tag.