Crisis Mountain

Ports for the FM-7 and PC-8800 series were from Comptiq. In Crisis Mountain, the player must defuse bombs left in a lair below a volcano which was abandoned by terrorists. One of the first games with regenerating health, the player is not always killed by an individual mishap. Health—labeled as strength—is shown as a number from 0–3, and after taking damage it slowly increases over time. Schroeder later developed Dino Eggs for the Apple II.

• Title — Crisis Mountain • Designer — David H. Schroeder • Programmer — Apple II David Schroeder Atari 8-bit Ron Aldrich Commodore 64 Lloyd D. Ollman Jr. • Publisher — Synergistic Software Creative Software (C64, VIC) Comptiq (FM-7, PC-88) • Released — 1982: Apple 1983: Atari 8-bit 1984: C64, FM-7, PC-88 • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, FM-7, PC-88, VIC-20

• Illustration — The player crawled though a tunnel, emerging on the right side of the screen (Atari 8-bit). The player runs, jumps, kneels, and crawls through a volcanic lair, attempting to reach bombs with timed detonators. Digging up a bomb disables it; digging is faster if the shovel has been found. The remaining time on a disabled bomb is added to a bonus clock. After all bombs have been dealt with, the player is given the accumulated time for a "bonus run" where the goal is to collect valuable items left by the terrorists. There are two separate lairs, and the bombs and collectible items are in random locations each play. The player starts with a strength of 3 and dies if it falls to 0. Being hit by rocks ejected from lava pits takes away 1 or 2 units, depending on the type of rock. Falling in the lava or being hit by Bertrum the radioactive bat results in immediate death. Strength slowly regenerates over time.

David Schroeder was inspired to write video games after playing Donkey Kong, and Crisis Mountain started out as a minimalist version of that game in Applesoft BASIC. He chose the Apple II, because they were the only computers in the lab at Seattle Central Community College. Schroeder never owned a computer until he purchased an Apple II Plus with royalties from Crisis Mountain.