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Dark Chambers [Model CX26151]

Atari 2600 cart. published 36 years ago by Atari Corp.

Listed in MAME

Dark Chambers [Model CX26151] screenshot

Dark Chambers © 1988 Atari Corporation.

Players must work their way through twisty mazes, shooting (throwing daggers) at monsters and their generators, while trying to collect treasures and food. There are keys and locked doors, food and poison, and even bombs (which take the place of potions) that can kill all monsters on the screen.

TECHNICAL

Model CX26151

TRIVIA

At first glance it's easy to pass Dark Chambers off as a mere Gauntlet clone. However it's Gauntlet that's the clone. Dark Chambers is actually based off an 1983 APX (Atari Program Exchange) game by John Palevich called Dandy. Two years later Ed Logg created his arcade mega hit Gauntlet, using Dandy as inspiration. John was none too happy about this and planned to file a lawsuit, but later settled out of court (rumor has it he received a free Gauntlet machine). A few years later in 1988, Atari re-published Dandy for the 2600, 7800, and XE under the name Dark Chambers. This time however Atari gave John proper credit and no lawsuits were filed.

Although Dark Chambers may be similar to Gauntlet, it's actually a little less complex. The first (and probably most noticeable difference) is that Dark Chambers only supports two players at once instead of four. Also of note is that the players are the same, there are no special job classes in DC. DC also lacks the special power ups and theme levels that made Gauntlet so interesting. There are no rebounding shot amulets, no 'Don't touch any food' levels, and sadly no fire breathing dragons.

SCORING
Slay the ghouls and pick up treasures and potions to score points. Scores appear at the bottom of the screen, next to your strength bar.
GHOULS AND CURSES
Spawner slaying: 100 points
Grim reaper
slaying 100 points
touching -5 energy units
Wizard
slaying 50 points
touching -4 energy units
Skeleton
slaying 30 points
touching -3 energy units
Wraith
slaying 20 points
touching -1 energy unit
Trap touching: -6 energy units
Poison touching: -4 energy units
TREASURES AND POTIONS
Gold chalice 3000 points
Amulet 1000 points
Silver chalice 500 points
Strongbox 100 points
Potion +3 energy dabs
STAFF
SOURCES

Game's ROM.