How to play Jungle Hunt online
- Move: arrow keys. In the Boulder Field, down ducks, and pushing up just before a jump gives it extra height.
- Jump: X (the upper fire buttons) for one jump per press, or Z (the lower buttons), which repeats while held
- Stab a crocodile: Z, in the Reptile River
- Skill level: = (the keypad’s # key)
- One or two players: – (the keypad’s * key)
- Demonstration: 1
- Start: Enter
- Pause: P
- On-screen keypad: K
Full screen, restart and save states are in the emulator’s toolbar; move the mouse over the screen to see it.
Gameplay
Two cannibals have carried off your friend, and you have 500 seconds on the timer to get her back. The trip has four parts, and each one you finish is worth 500 points:
- Deadly Jungle: swing from rope to rope. Monkeys climb some of the ropes, and you must not land on them.
- Reptile River: swim past crocodiles, stabbing them with your knife or steering around them, while an air meter runs down.
- Boulder Field: climb a slope while boulders of different sizes roll down at you. Jump over them, duck under them, or just run under the big ones.
- Cannibal Camp: leap over the two cannibals and their spears to reach the rope that holds your friend above the pot.
You start with three lives and get an extra one at 10,000 points. Rescuing your friend is worth three times whatever is left on the timer, and then the whole trip starts again. In a two-player game you take turns.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Catching a rope | 100 |
| Stabbing a crocodile, upper river (jaws closed / open) | 100 / 200 |
| Stabbing a crocodile, lower river (jaws closed / open) | 200 / 300 |
| Running under a boulder | 50 |
| Ducking under a boulder | 100 |
| Jumping over a boulder | 200 |
| Jumping over a cannibal | 200 |
| Finishing a section | 500 |
| Rescuing your friend | 3 × remaining time |
Skill levels
There are three. Beginner gives you six lives, Medium and Advanced give three, and Advanced starts straight at a harder level of play.
Tips
- Jump at the end of the swing. Let the rope carry you towards the next one before you let go.
- Come at crocodiles from below. A stab from underneath is safer, and an open-jawed crocodile is worth more.
- Duck more than you jump. Big boulders are easier to duck under than to clear, and ducking still scores.
- Time the spears. In the camp, jump when the cannibals’ spears are down, and keep an eye on the timer: your friend is sinking towards the pot.
The story behind Jungle Hunt
Taito released the game in Japan in June 1982 as Jungle King, with a Tarzan-like hero swinging on vines. The estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs objected, so Taito turned the hero into an explorer in a pith helmet, redrew the vines as ropes and dropped the jungle yell. As Jungle Hunt it reached North America in August 1982 and was topping the arcade charts by January 1983. It and Moon Patrol, released a month apart, are among the earliest games with parallax scrolling backgrounds.
Atari published home versions for the 2600, the 5200 and its 8-bit computers in 1983, naming the hero Sir Dudley and his friend Lady Penelope. The 5200 cartridge (model CX5222) was programmed by Alan Merrell with graphics by Jerome Domurat and finished in late May 1983. Electronic Fun with Computers & Games rated it 3 out of 4 that September, finding it much closer to the coin-op than the 2600 cartridge.
