Created by Matthew Trimby and first released by Atari Corporation in 1986, Twilight World is an interesting scrolling platform game for Atari 8-bit machines that still plays great today.

The first stage is a simple horizontally-scrolling level, approximately six screens wide, and with an exit teleporter at the end. You must avoid contact with enemies, or destroy them with an extendable hook-shot, and have a life bar that diminishes upon contact with anything hostile. You must also avoid falling into any fiery pits (which are instant death), and you can collect gems as you progress. The gems are actually important because you need to collect a certain number of them for the exit to appear. You’ll hear a sound effect when the condition has been met. Collecting thirty gems also gives you an extra life.

From the second stage onward, the levels become much more complex, with vertical shafts joining rooms together, coloured doors in need of the appropriate keys, moving platforms, and platforms that fade in and out. There are also more traps to contend with. These usually consist of rising and falling beams that will damage you if touched.

The surprising and wonderful thing about Twilight World is that – when you jump – you can keep going upwards, until you either hit the ceiling, or stop pushing up on the joystick. You can also steer left and right while jumping. This is a unique feature that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in another game before, but it works really well and ensures that you don’t get stuck at the bottom of a level, because you can jump up a vertical shaft, to the level above.

Twilight World is playable and very challenging, but is fair to the player. Graphically, it’s decent enough, and the sound effects are simple but effective. The game has three skill levels and eleven different stages, or “dungeons” as it calls them. You can choose which of the first three dungeons to play from the title screen.

Overall, this is a nice little ‘hidden gem’ on the Atari that is well worth looking at if you haven’t played it before.

More: Twilight World on Wikipedia
More: Twilight World on atarimania.com