Raiders of the Lost Ark
Released February 16, 1982 · consists of 2 releases.
Adventure game based on the popular movie
Overview
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1982 adventure game developed and published by Atari for the Atari 2600. It serves as a game adaptation of the 1981 film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg.
Gameplay
Because Raiders requires more input than is available through a single Atari 2600 controller, both left and right controllers are used in the highly unusual control scheme. The first controller moves the character, and the button uses the currently selected item. Controller two selects and drops items (walking over an item picks it up). In this highbrid action / rpg, A variety of items are acquired and used in various ways to discover the titular Ark. Later games such as Metroid would use the item-based obstacles which block progression in a similar way, many years later.
Developer Howard Scott Warshaw would reportedly dress as Indiana Jones during the development of the game; a sort of method acting for a coder. Although the game received mixed reviews (partly due to poor explanation of the unique control scheme), Raiders informed game design for years to come.
