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Montezuma's Revenge

aka: Montezuma's Revenge: Featuring Panama Joe, Panama Joe, Predatore

Description official descriptions

You play as a treasure hunter named Panama Joe, whose goal is to find an ancient treasure hidden by Aztec warrior deep inside catacombs. But beware, the catacombs are a large maze inhabited by monsters. Bouncing and rolling skulls, dancing spiders, disappearing and re-appearing chains and tons of fire await you. You'll have to find many keys and unlock doors in order to reach your goal. Panama Joe can jump and climb ladders, but doesn't have much to offer in terms of combat. That's why the monsters in the game should be avoided: a collision with an enemy leads to a premature death. He will also find amulets which make him invulnerable for a short time. Except for the Master System version, they are activated directly when picked up.

The Atari 2600 port is a truncated version of the game and has only 24 rooms instead of 100. The room layouts are more of an approximation of the original version than being a direct copy due to the limited power of the console. The ZX Spectrum version has identical room layouts, however, the rooms are arranged differently and a few were removed. The Normal Distribution port has both a retro and modern mode. While the retro mode attempts to be faithful to the original version, the modern mode offers enhanced visuals plus has scrolling instead of the flip-screen of the original.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (ZX Spectrum version)

4 People

Software (c)
  • Parker Brothers
  • Division of CPG Products Corp.
Documentation and Packaging (c)
  • Sinclair Research Ltd 1984
Illustration (c) 1984

Reviews

Trivia

Prototype version

A 35kb prototype version of the game was created by Robert Jaeger based on the concept given to him by his friend Mark Sunshine. Robert Jaeger began making the game at the age of 15. The game was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1983. The game was bought by Parker Brothers. Parker Brothers decided to release Montezuma's Revenge in 1984, but the game was adapted to the version that required only 16kb of RAM by removing some game elements. Parker Brothers made ​some ​cuts to the graphics, removed the intro, simplified maze construction, and changed the name of the main character from Pedro to Panama Joe.

Graphics

Montezuma's Revenge is one of the few PC titles that supports 16 colors exclusively in PCjr mode.

Awards

  • Commodore Format
    • April 1991 (Issue 7) - listed in the A to Z of Classic Games article (Great)

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Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1178

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Will D.

Apple II, Atari 8-bit, ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Windows added by lights out party. ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 2600 added by Servo. SEGA Master System added by Katakis | カタキス. Atari 5200 added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Martin Smith, formercontrib, LepricahnsGold, Neville, nicholas mccolm, Karsa Orlong, Jo ST, FatherJack.

Last modified February 27th, 2023.