How to play Montezuma’s Revenge online
- Walk left and right: left and right arrow keys
- Climb up or down ladders and chains: up and down arrow keys
- Jump: Space bar (straight up when standing still, forwards when walking)
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
Each screen is one chamber of the fortress, and the aim is to reach the Treasure Chamber at the end. Coloured doors block your path, and each opens only with a key of the same colour. Room fixtures are dangerous too: laser gates that switch on and off, conveyor belts that push you along, floor sections that appear and vanish, and fire pits. A fall from too great a height also costs you a life.
The creatures are rolling and bouncing skulls, snakes and spiders. You jump over rolling skulls and walk under bouncing ones. Snakes never move, but they can’t be killed either, so you always have to jump them. A sword lets you destroy a skull or spider by walking into it, and an amulet freezes all creatures for a few seconds. In dark chambers you need a torch to see; without one, you have to cross the room from memory. Your inventory holds four items at a time. You start with six lives and earn an extra one every 10,000 points, up to a maximum of six. The 2600 manual describes three difficulty levels, and clearing one takes you straight into the next.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Key or sword | 100 |
| Amulet | 200 |
| Opening a door | 300 |
| Jewel | 1,000 |
| Destroying a skull | 2,000 |
| Torch | 3,000 |
| Destroying a spider | 3,000 |
Tips
- Keep inventory space free. With only four slots, a full inventory means you can’t pick up the key you need for the next door. Use up keys before collecting extras.
- Save swords for spiders. A spider is worth 3,000 points, and spiders can climb ladders, which makes them harder to avoid than skulls.
- Watch the rhythm first. Laser gates and vanishing floors follow a steady cycle. Stand still for a moment and count before you cross.
- Grab the torch. Once you have it, you keep it for the rest of the level, and it is worth 3,000 points on its own.
The story behind Montezuma’s Revenge
Robert Jaeger wrote the original game on an Atari 800 computer when he was 16. A friend, Mark Sunshine, suggested the Mesoamerican setting, and Parker Brothers licensed the game after seeing an unfinished version at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show. That early build ended with a giant King Montezuma who could stomp on the player, but this showdown was cut from the released versions.
The Atari 2600 version is a slimmed-down conversion. It fits on an 8K cartridge and has only half the levels of the other versions, but it keeps the core mix of keys, doors, traps and creatures. Later reviewers have described Montezuma’s Revenge as an early example of what became known as the “Metroidvania” style of exploration game. It is also well known in artificial intelligence research, where the Atari 2600 version was for years one of the hardest games for learning algorithms.
Similar games to play next
- Pitfall! – Activision’s jungle adventure, the other game AI researchers struggled with
- Pitfall II: Lost Caverns – a large cave system to explore, with ladders and treasures
- H.E.R.O. – descend through mine shafts screen by screen to rescue trapped miners
- Tutankham – another Parker Brothers game set in an ancient tomb full of treasure and creatures
- Adventure – Atari’s early room-to-room quest with keys and locked castles