Crisis Mountain

Crisis Mountain
Title screen of the game
Game No.	518
Voting	6.00 points, 1 votes
Developer	David H. Schroeder, Lloyd D. Ollman Jr.
Company	Synergistic Software
Publisher	Creative Software
Release	1983
Platform	Apple II, Atari 400/800, C64, VC-20
Genre	Platformer
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language
Information	aka Cavern

Description

Death-defying nuclear bomb defuser

In the game "Crisis Mountain", the player-controlled character must descend into a volcano and defuse a series of nuclear bombs planted there by terrorists within a limited time. The player must be careful not only to avoid falling into one of the vents filled with thin magma, but also to watch out for rolling boulders, red-hot chunks of rock, and the radioactive bat Bertrum. Shovels and other items left behind by the terrorists are helpful in completing the task.

Backstory

In a supposedly extinct volcano in the Northwest Pacific, terrorists have planted a series of nuclear bombs and equipped them with timers. When the volcano suddenly and unexpectedly becomes active again, they leave these bombs, as well as tools and other items, behind in their hasty escape. The player's task is to prevent a nuclear catastrophe by digging up and defusing these bombs one by one before their timers detonate.

Running, crawling, and jumping, our hero moves through the cave system.

The player character defuses the first bomb by digging it up with their bare hands...

...because if the timer isn't deactivated in time, a sudden (albeit unspectacular) end is imminent.

Design

The game world of "Crisis Mountain" consists of two different, screen-filling caves that alternate in successive levels. They are rendered in dark shades of blue, gray, and brown, creating a rather gloomy and menacing atmosphere. At certain points, it is possible to leave the cave system beyond the side of the screen and thus cross to the opposite side of the cave. The numerous boulders are a sight to behold, as they jump, fall, or roll along random paths from platform to platform with realistic physics.

Bonus round in the first cave system...

...and in the second cave

Graphics

The cave system in the volcano is rendered in multicolor bitmap mode (bitmap at address $6000, video RAM at $5C00). The boulders are represented using sprites 0-4; sprite 7 is used for the player-controlled character. Both the tools to be collected and the bat Bertrum, however, are part of the background graphics.

Sound

During the game, important events such as the start of a level, the initial placement of bombs and other items, the loss of a life, or the end of the game are accompanied by short, two-part melodies. Otherwise, the sound is limited to simple, monophonic tones and noises to underscore the gameplay.

Hints

According to the backstory, the primary objective of the game is to defuse a series of time-delayed atomic bombs in a cave system. However, those aiming for the highest possible overall score (for example, to get on the high score list in this article) will soon discover that defusing the bombs is more of a framework that limits the duration of each individual level. Collecting the items left behind by the terrorists is generously rewarded, as the first four items in the following gallery demonstrate — and whenever the player manages to collect all the items, new, increasingly valuable treasures appear (far right item in the following gallery): First, a single object, referred to in the instructions as "Nova", appears with a value of 1000 points, then two worth 2000 points each, three worth 3000 points each, four worth 4000 points each, and finally, five worth 5000 points each appear repeatedly.

100 points Shovel

200 points Pole

300 points Crate

400 points Star

1000–5000 points "Nova"

If the player character collects the shovel and carries it with them as they make their way through the labyrinth, digging up and defusing the bombs is significantly faster and is also rewarded with considerably higher scores.

While making their way through the cave system, the bomb defuser must adapt their movement to the nature of the caves: They can only walk comfortably in passages that are high enough. They have to crawl through low passages — especially across the left and right edges of the screen — and a daring jump is necessary to overcome lava vents and to move to higher platforms.

Enemies

There are only a few places where one can rest safely

On its journey through the labyrinth, the player character must beware of numerous dangers that can drain its strength or even cost it its life. The character starts with a strength of 3 units, allowing it to move forward quickly. Each collision with one of the white boulders costs it one strength unit, weakening it accordingly: With two strength units, it can only walk or crawl slowly. And with one strength unit, it can only stand up briefly and must therefore crawl most of the time. Fortunately, the character gradually recovers after a while: Approximately every 12 seconds, its strength increases by one unit, provided it does not collide with other enemies in the meantime (see animation on the right).

A collision with the red-hot lava rock costs the character two strength units, and a bite from the bat Bertrum — as well as a fall into one of the lava vents — is instantly fatal. Collisions with boulders are best avoided by jumping over them, and you even get generous points for doing so: Jumping over a small boulder earns the player 100 points, over a large boulder 400 points, and jumping over any other rock — whether red-hot or already cold — is rewarded with 200 points. The bat moves randomly through the cave system and can even fly through rock walls, making it difficult to avoid an encounter by simply dodging.

Bat Bertrum

Glowing Lava

Large Boulder

Medium Boulder

Medium Boulder

Small Boulder

Screen Layout

Typical scene from the game

Controls

The game is controlled with a joystick in port 2 and started by pressing its fire button. The keyboard is only used when pressing the spacebar to pause the game:

• : The character walks or crawls to the left
• : The character walks or crawls to the right
• : The character stands up
• : The character goes into a crawling position
• : The character jumps if standing or digs if crawling
• SPACE : Pause (resumes by pressing the spacebar again)

Tips

• Even though the bonus round rewards 10 points per second simply for the passage of time, these rounds should be used strategically for collecting items and jumping over rolling boulders: The additional points that can be earned in this way certainly outweigh the risk of an early end.

Solution

Even though "Crisis Mountain" only has 9 levels according to the manual, the task of defusing a series of bombs in time is endlessly repeated. Therefore, the game cannot be "solved" but can only be played for as long as possible with practice, skill, and a bit of luck.

Cheats

In the CSDb, there are two cracks with a trainer function. The version "Crisis Mountain +6 +Dox" by Hokuto Force (first image in the gallery below) offers the most extensive customization options.

Trainer by Hokuto Force

Trainer by Tankard (TRD)

Internal Data Structures

Knowledge of memory allocation and internal workings is helpful for developing custom trainer functions and for analyzing or manipulating the data used by the game. The following table therefore compiles a range of information about "Crisis Mountain."

Address	Content	Range of values	Comments
$085B — $085F	Bombs' remaining seconds	0...99	Packed BCD-Format, padded with null bytes when less than 5 bombs
$0897 — $0898	Bonus time	0...9999	Packed BCD format, most significant byte first
$08A0	Strength	0...3	-
$08B5	Level	1...9	-
$08B8 — $08BA	Score	0...999999	Packed BCD format, most significant byte first
$08BC	Number of extra lives	0..2	-

Votes

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
6.00 points at 1 vote. You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
Ready64	6	April 1, 2025 - 2 voti
Lemon64	4,26	November 6, 2024 - 19 votes
Rombachs C64-Spieleführer	10	September 1984 - "Verdict 1"

Critics

Stephan64: "Crisis Mountain is a somewhat dark, but otherwise very beautiful and lovingly detailed game, where simply watching the boulders roll and bounce through the cave system is a pleasure. Unfortunately, the enjoyment is dampened by numerous situations where, even with a lot of practice, a collision with a rock or the bat Bertrum is almost unavoidable. Therefore, I give it 6 points for a carefully programmed game from the early days of the C64, which, however, doesn't captivate in the long run, but rather becomes annoying."

Rombachs C64-Spieleführer: "Crisis Mountain is one of the best cave games in terms of gameplay and graphics (Rating 1)."

TheRyk: "Oof, snore, groan! That's one way to sum it up, translated: Unfair design, fast enemy sprites but a totally sluggish player sprite, and on top of that, some kind of countdown timers... Sorry, but there were much more playable games even back in 1983. Barely 3 points."

Miscellaneous

Cover

An image of the cover can be found in the Wikipedia article for the game.

Theme

The following gallery shows the short melodies that underscore individual events in the game, in standard musical notation. For creative reuse of all the melodies, the sheet music is also available as a PDF document (File:CrisisMountain Theme PDF.pdf) and in ABC musical notation (File:CrisisMountain Theme.abc.txt).

Musical accompaniment of the game start and the placement of tools and bombs, reconstructed by logging all write accesses to the SID

Musical accompaniment of the start of the bonus round, the loss of a life, and the end of the game

Video Recording

Recording from a short but quite successful playthrough

Bugs

Due to a bug, level G follows level 9

When the next level is displayed, level "G" suddenly follows level "9" thanks to a wild mix of decimal and binary arithmetic operations:

; Increase level by 1
80BC: SED       ; Switch to decimal mode
80BD: CLC       ; Prepare for addition
80BE: LDA $08B5 ; Load current level into A
80C1: ADC #$01  ; Increase BCD number by 1
80C3: STA $08B5 ; and write back as new level
80C6: CLD       ; Return from decimal mode

; Calculation of the screen code for the level display
BFE5: LDA $08B5 ; Load new level into A
BFE8: CMP #$0A  ; and comare it to an invalid BCD number (binary ten)
BFEA: BCS BFF1  ; Jump if level not in the 1...9 range
BFEC: CLC       ; Prepare for addition
BFED: ADC #$30  ; Convert level 1...9 to screen code '1'...'9'
BFEF: BNE BFF4  ; Jump unconditionally to the end of the routine
BFF1: SEC       ; else prepare for subtraction
BFF2: SBC #$09  ; and subtract 9 from the level number
BFF4: RTS

The subtraction at address BFF2 takes the number 9 from the new level 10 (stored as a BCD number, i.e., hexadecimal $10) — possibly level 9 is not supposed to be followed by level 1, but rather level 1 again. Instead, the program calculates $10 - $09 = $07 and thus obtains the screen code for the letter "G".

Highscore

The following list invites you to immortalize yourself with your highest score. However, you must be quick when taking the screenshot that documents it: After losing your last life, you only have a few seconds before the game switches back to the start screen and the score is no longer displayed.

Topscore of Ivanpaduano

1. Ivanpaduano - 16.125 - 4 (07.04.2026)
2. Stephan64 - 7.190 - 3 (03.12.2024)
3. Nobody - 0 (tt.mm.jjjj)

	#2 Stephan64		#3 Nobody

Links

Wikipedia: Crisis_Mountain

• C64.com - Game No. 2088
• Crisis Mountain at MobyGames

• ready64 - Game No. 3962
• CSDb Alle Einträge
• CSDb - Release No. 18565, CSDb - Release No. 45228
• C64Games.de - Game No. 4085
• Lemon64 - Game No. 568
• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 1802
• Universal Videogame List

Magazine

• Softalk test report (pp. 150)
• Softline test report (p. 41)
• inCider test report (p. 217)
• Electronic Games test report (p. 82)
• Compute! test report (p. 184)
• Creative Computing test report (p. 88)
• user manual (Apple II version)