Boulder Dash is a very special game. It is a simple idea, with cute graphics and devious gameplay that combine to make an addictive combination of arcade-style action, survival and puzzle-solving.
Tag Archives: rocks
Boulder Dash: Rocks!, Nintendo DS
Boulder Dash: Rocks! was developed and published by German company 10tacle and released in Europe and Australia in 2007. It is a dual-screen remake of the classic action/puzzle game, Boulder Dash.
Boulder Dash EX, Game Boy Advance
Boulder Dash EX is an updated version of the classic Boulder Dash, developed by Vision Works and published by KEMCO in 2002. And it’s not bad at all.
Boulder Dash III, Commodore 64
Boulder Dash III was developed and published in Europe only by a Swedish company called American Action AB in 1986 (it wasn’t released in North America at all). It was the first game in the Boulder Dash series not to be designed and programmed by original co-creator Peter Liepa, and it suffers as a result of that.
Boulder Dash II, ZX Spectrum
It’s not clear who converted the ZX Spectrum version of Boulder Dash II, but the game was published by Prism Leisure in 1985.
Boulder Dash II, MSX
The MSX version of Boulder Dash II is subtitled “Rockford’s Riot“, which is different to the Commodore 64 version (which is subtitled “Rockford’s Revenge“). It was ported by Orpheus and published by Databyte in 1985.
Boulder Dash II, Commodore 64
Subtitled “Rockford’s Revenge“, Boulder Dash II was again designed and programmed by Peter Liepa and published in North America by Electronic Arts in 1985 as “Super Boulder Dash” (alongside a re-release of the first game). Boulder Dash II was published in Europe as a stand-alone game, though, by Beyond Software.
Boulder Dash II, Atari 8-bit
Boulder Dash co-creator Peter Liepa created Boulder Dash II on Atari 8-bit machines first, before converting it to the Commodore 64. He’s said openly in interviews that he prefers Atari‘s machine when it comes to programming games, so it should come as no surprise to find arguably the best version of Boulder Dash II on the Atari 8-bit.
As far as I know, though, it was only released in North America as part of the “Super Boulder Dash” package from Electronic Arts (alongside a re-release of the first Boulder Dash). The Atari 8-bit version was never released as a stand-alone game. At least not by First Star Software.
Boulder Dash, Atari 2600
This Atari 2600 homebrew port of Boulder Dash was first revealed in 2011 and there was talk of releasing it as a cartridge, but I’m not 100% sure if that actually happened or not (I think it did, from what I can see online).
The only ROMs available online are a two-level demo made by the developers to show off the game, and that is what these screenshots are from.
Boulder Dash, Commodore 16/Plus4
I don’t know for sure if the Commodore 16/Plus4 conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash is official or a homebrew port (my guess is that it’s a homebrew port because I can’t find any reliable information about it online), but it unfortunately has a number of issues.