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Retro apologists are forever gushing over 'timeless classics' and weeping over nostalgic memories of crusty old games and the passing of their youth - but when you're talking about a title like Boulderdash, such undiluted conviction about its ageless worth is perfectly justified. EA has developed a remake, for gawd's sake.

Like a lot of early C64 games, this had absolutely awwwwful graphics with pixels the size of your face, but what made it so very very special was the beautifully refined gameplay which feels as fresh today as it did when we first laid eyes on it.

Starring the loveable prospector 'Rockford' (arf), the idea was to run around a series of Dig-Dug style underground caves, gather as many diamonds as possible and reach the exit before the time ran out.
'Boulder Dash' Screenshot 1

Based on a true story.

Along the way, you'd have to tunnel through earth, push boulders around and try to carve the most efficient route, not only to reach the exit, but one that avoids death, crushes your enemies, and lets you hoover up as much booty as humanly possible. As a formula, it was pretty much spot-on from the beginning, and was one of the very few games to actually find itself ported to the arcade - something that was completely unheard of at the time.

But it wasn't exactly short on challenge, making progress beyond the first handful of levels quite a feat. If you fancy playing it today, one thing we'd definitely advise is save a ROM image between levels - unless you actually want to continually play the same early rounds over and over again.

Over the ensuing years, the Boulderdash brand was pretty much milked to death, and subsequent sequels merely seemed content to add new levels than do anything new with the core gameplay. How the remake turns out will be very interesting indeed...

MACHINE: CBM 64/joystick
SUPPLIER: Statesoft
PRICE: £8.95

Who needs mega-games when you've got Boulder Dash! It's a really simple game — but this reviewer found it hard to put the joystick down. Boulder Dash will have you glued to your screens.
As I've said, the basic objective is very simple. You have to help a little character called Rockford search through 16 caves picking up jewels along the way — and avoiding getting squashed by the boulders or killed off by the other hazards he finds
You can select various caves at the start of each game from the comprehensive menu. Each cave has five difficulty levels — the time you get to complete each screen gets shorter as you increase the difficulty.
To get from one cave to the next. Rockford needs to collect the right number of gems. This opens the exit door — allowing Rockford to move on tn later screens, Rockford can transform things into jewels — such as butterflies and amoebas.
In between certain screens are little bonus games or "playable intermissions", These take the form of short interactive puzzles. Solve one and Rockford gets a bonus score.
There are so many nice touches in this game that it's hard to pick one that stands out.
The graphics are great fun. Rockford is a graphic gem — he stands and blinks at you if you let him stand still for long. It's well worth doing that just to watch him!
I suppose the closest thing to Boulder Dash would be Dig Dug the arcade game — but Boulder Dash is belter, by miles!
Strangely enough. Boulder Dash is one of the first com-puter games to be transferred to the arcades. Exidy have brought out an arcade machine of the same name.
If you've got a 64 — Boulder Dash is a must. Tell Santa now!
•Graphics 9
•Sound 8
•Value 9
•Playability 10