SNK Brings Marvin’s Maze Back to Life on PSN
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (or ESRB) has listed this SNK classic among upcoming releases on the Playstation Network, to be played on PS3 and PSP. Soon to be restored, the Playstation Store will offer this game (after almost thirty years from its original release!) as part of a major plan to revive SNK games.
Marvin’s Maze is an arcade game released in 1983 by SNK. The player takes control of Marvin, this weird alien-like creature that has to clear a series of mazes while fending off the hostile Robonoids.
The mazes consist of two floors (from which Marvin can go up and down by means of elevators located at the foremost corners) of intricate hallways that sometimes connect to each other by bridges that change orientation or position. To clear the mazes, Marvin can either eat up all the Dots scattered through them, or destroy a certain number of Robonoids. This number is shown at the bottom of the screen, and increases as levels are cleared. To destroy the Robonoids, Marvin can shoot them, but only after having obtained a Super Dot; or, open the floor right below them to perform “the Trick”.
Getting Dots, Super Dots, and clearing a stage is awarded with a regular amount of points, while destroying Robonoids provides more and more points with each kill, plus a bonus from performing “the Trick”.
To get a feel of how the game was back in the day, check this clip. Just sit back and listen to the music, and tell me later if you can get it out of your head.
Modern-day games owe everything to oldies like this one. Not only a feeling of respect fills my heart when I contemplate it: it is also admiration. Back then, games needed to be simple: there simply weren’t enough resources. And yet brave people managed to make entertaining and challenging works of audiovisual art out of them. More classics will surely reach immortality with the help of the PSN, so let’s stay sharp.
For example, check out these Hits From The Neo Geo to Come to the Playstation Network, or these TurboGrafx-16 Classics.
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