How to play Climber 5 online
- Walk left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Climb up and down ladders: up and down arrow keys (line up with the ladder first)
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game mode: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
A batter has hit the only ball in the park out of the stadium, and it has landed high up in the rafters of a building under construction. You start in the bottom right corner. The building is made of horizontal girders linked by ladders, and you have to work your way up to the ball while avoiding the moving obstacles. If one hits you, you lose a life and start again from the bottom. Reach the ball and the next level begins, a little harder than the last.
Game modes
- Original: plays close to the 1987 Atari 8-bit computer version.
- Normal: the ladders and the moving girders are placed at random, and a countdown timer means you must reach the ball before time runs out.
- Advanced: like Normal, but objects also fall from above. Some of them hurt you, while others are worth catching for a reward.
Tips
- Learn in Original mode. The layout is fixed there, so you can learn the route and the obstacle timing before trying the random modes.
- Wait at the foot of a ladder. Being on a ladder when an obstacle passes is risky. Let it go by, then climb.
- Watch the timer in Normal and Advanced. Waiting is safe, but waiting too long runs the clock out.
History
James Rogers wrote the original Climber 5 in machine language for the Atari 400, 800, XL and XE computers, and COMPUTE! printed it in 1987 with conversions for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Apple II and IBM PC, for readers to type in themselves. The name comes from the number 5 on the ballboy’s uniform. Dennis Debro’s 2600 version came out in 2003–2004 with a label by Jason Dvorak, chosen in a contest on AtariAge, and a 16-page colour manual by Dale Crum that includes a four-page comic. Activision later included Climber 5 in the Game Boy Advance version of Activision Anthology, and it appeared on the Atari Flashback 2 console as Atari Climber.
About the version: the 2600 was sold in NTSC form for North America and Japan and in PAL form for Europe and Australia, and games were often issued in both. The emulator here runs the NTSC version at its intended speed.
