Airlock

How to play Airlock online

• Run left and right: left and right arrow keys
• Jump: Space bar (also starts play)
• Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
• Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
• Difficulty: F4 (the Player 1 difficulty switch)
• Save and load: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it

Gameplay

Each deck of the submarine is one airlock level. You jump to collect its two hatch keys, then run all the way to the end wall and touch it, and the elevator lifts you to the next level. There is no points score, only the clock. The manual allows about ten seconds per level; the timer starts at 49 seconds in the five-level games and 99 in the ten-level games. If it runs out, the compartment floods and your escape fails.

Torpedoes shaken loose in the crash roll along the floors. They do not explode, but one hit knocks you out of action for several seconds. You also jump over barriers on every level.

There are four variations: Games 1 and 2 have five levels, Games 3 and 4 have ten, and the even-numbered games are for two players. In the ten-level games, levels 6 to 10 have four barriers instead of two. Unusually, the manual calls difficulty position A the beginners’ setting and B the experts’ one.

Tips

• Jump early for torpedoes. A single hit costs several seconds, a big share of the time one level allows.
• Don’t stop short of the wall. The elevator only rises once you touch it.

History

Airlock (model number DA1004) was part of Data Age’s 1982 range of 2600 cartridges and was also sold in Europe by Game World. Reviews were lukewarm. Critic Frank Lovece felt there was little left once you passed the first level, partly because leftover time carries over. Years later Keita Iida found the graphics drab but still called it “one of the better efforts” from Data Age.