Name-That-Retro-Game: top-down, moving travellator floors, color coded keys

December 4, 2008 4:01 PM

Name-That-Retro-Game: top-down view, moving travellator floors, possibly color coded keys. Possibly on C64, Amiga A500/600/1200 or Atari ST/E.

I've been trying to remember the name of this old game for a while and it has been nagging at my very soul. I played it years ago (many many years ago). I remember it from my gaming days as a kid - the only platforms I imagine it being on are the Amiga A500/600/1200, Atari ST/E or Commodore C64.

I wish I could narrow it down further. It was definitely top-down perspective, color (not greyscale), had these moving floor strips like little travellators (I want to say they were yellow but that's just a guess). I think the goals were puzzle driven (get the red key to open the red gate that then lets you do X, Y and Z to clear this level). I've spent the entire night trawling screenshots of classic games via Google and have had no luck.

Bonus if you can link to screenshots (then I'll know for certain that's the game!).

Please, help me preserve my sanity!

posted by dcbarker to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Additionally:
It wasn't Marble Madness, Oxyd or Rock n Roll.
posted by dcbarker at 4:03 PM on December 4, 2008

Random guess - Chips Challenge?

(google image search for loads of screenshots)
posted by saintsguy at 4:16 PM on December 4, 2008

Top down? So if the main character was a person, you saw head and shoulders only? Similar view to that of Alien Breed: http://www.lauppert.ws/screen1/amiga/alien_breed.png ?
posted by lundman at 5:14 PM on December 4, 2008

seconding Chip's Challenge. i re-discovered it through nostalgia, too :)
posted by asras at 5:18 PM on December 4, 2008

spindizzy?
posted by jcruelty at 5:48 PM on December 4, 2008

Was it paradroid? Which, if you are interested, has been recoded for linux/windows and even expanded into an RPG. You couldn't make it up. See here.
posted by Admira at 7:03 PM on December 4, 2008

Heres a link for spindizzy - awesome game.
posted by Admira at 7:10 PM on December 4, 2008

Could it be Emerald Mine ? That was a great game I used to play on my Amiga - a German Boulderdash clone. I looked, but couldn't find a screenshot.
posted by rfs at 7:37 PM on December 4, 2008

There are other questions that might help out here.

For instance:

What did you control? A "man"?

How did you play? Keyboard? Mouse? Joystick?

Can you narrow down the years at all?

Commander Keen had keys, but it wasn't top down.

If we don't help enough here, come on over to Digital Press' Classic Games forum. We have a pretty darn good record of finding old classics.
posted by tcv at 7:51 PM on December 4, 2008

Could it be Impossible Mission? We had that on our C64. Terrific game.
posted by Miko at 7:53 PM on December 4, 2008

Cloak and Dagger? ( great childhood flick btw... ahhh nostalgia... )
posted by zap rowsdower at 9:50 PM on December 4, 2008

Thanks a lot everyone! It *was* Chip's Challenge.
Thanks for all your answers (you've even uncovered some other old classics I loved!), you've saved my sanity :) Hip hip hooray!
posted by dcbarker at 3:52 AM on December 5, 2008