Atari A to Z: Rick Dangerous

The “masocore” platformer, in which you learn by dying repeatedly in seemingly unfair circumstances, has become particularly popular in the age of Let’s Plays and streaming.

The reason for this is that, although playing the damn things tends to be rather frustrating, they’re quite entertaining to watch. And their reliance on puzzle-solving and memorisation make them quite a distinct experience from more conventional platform games and action adventures.

Here’s the Atari ST version of Rick Dangerous, developed by Core Design (of Tomb Raider fame) and published by Telecomsoft imprint Firebird in 1989. Oh, boy, it’s irritating… and yet I found myself trying again and again and again… Waaaaaaaa!!

Follow Atari A to Z on its own dedicated website here!

4 thoughts on “Atari A to Z: Rick Dangerous”

  1. So these were the kinds of games Core Design was making before they hit it big with Tomb Raider. I knew they made adventure games, though I didn’t know one of their other titles seemed highly reminiscent of The Maze of Galious. Given that said game wasn’t particularly well-known in the United States at the time, it’s interesting how two companies could come up with a similar concept independently – even keeping in mind the technical limitations at the time.

    1. Core made some really good stuff in the 16-bit era. They made a particularly great helicopter sim called Thunderhawk that was noteworthy for its extremely smooth frame rate and distinctly “arcadey” feel. I’ll have to revisit that one at some point — it was an old favourite, for sure.

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