Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Arcade Game

 Whew, this is quite possibly the longest post title in the blog's history. All June, we'll be counting down the days until the man in the hat comes back for one more hurrah with posts about everyone's favorite archeologist, Lara Croft. No, of course it's Indiana Jones! You ever notice when the phrase "everyone's favorite" is used it's almost always the only one that comes to mind?

Anyway, set your Dial of Destiny (or WABAC Machine) to 1985!

Video game adaptations of movies usually get a bad rap in the home console arena, but arcade games based on movies are on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was lucky enough to be able to play Temple at my local arcade and would keep coming back for more adventures.

 

It draws you in right away with the digitized voice of Mola Ram bidding you welcome as soon as you press the start button. One thing I have to call out on this game is the sound design. It's got digitized dialog from Indy and Mola Ram as well as a handful of what sound like gibberish phrases uttered by the Thugee guards. The guards can quickly get annoying with the repetitive sound bites. You've also got the great John Williams music in chiptune form throughout.

To start, you get to choose your difficulty. The skeletons and snakes can all be whipped for bonus points and if you're fast enough to get them all before the clock runs out, you get a bonus! The snakes and lava aren't just decorations, you can lose a life here before you even get into the main game if you're not careful.

There are three main stages to the game. First, you have to free the slave children trapped in cages by whipping the lock. Now, you don't have to free every kid, but you'll get a bonus if you do and each liberated little one delays the arrival of Mola Ram. Much like Evil Otto from Bezerk, if you linger too long, Mola Ram appears to make your life harder by throwing flaming hearts at you. Other than that, you have to contend with Thugee guards, bats, and your worst enemy: bad footing!

The paths don't prevent you from walking off the bottom and falling to your doom if it's too far of a drop. Nor do the ladders keep you from moving too far to one side. You can use this to your advantage by whipping the Thugee so many times they fall off the path or by "jumping" down to a lower level. Higher difficulties bring spike traps, slides, and conveyor belts like in the film, including the spinning rock crushers!

Once you free the kids, it's time to make your escape by mine cart. This is arguably the most difficult part of the game...at least for me. Your joystick controls your speed, lets you lean to one side to switch tracks and also the direction your whip will crack. Sometimes to whip something, you end up causing the cart to go faster which means you have less time to react to changes in the track! Guards in other carts will chase you. If they get too close, you can whip them but have to hit both occupants to cause their cart to flip over. There's also gas drums, dynamite, rock containers, and track switches you can whip to block their pursuit.

The standard Thugee are just hanging around here to be whipped for points but they won't harm you. On the other hand, there's the giant, shirtless Thugee brawler that will knock you out if you don't whip or avoid him. Those pesky bats find their way down here too. In higher difficulties, you also need to keep an eye out for dead ends.

Finally, Indy will let you know, he's not leaving here without the stones so it's time to do some temple raiding and grab a Sankara Stone. This stage is fairly easy as long as you're quick about it. There's a sliding stone floor in front of the stone that opens and closes. Also, that wooden bridge you start on will burn our from under your feet but don't worry, on either side are wall posts you can use to swing over the lava. Then it's back to the first stage two more times.

If you manage to get all three stones, you'll make your escape across the rope bridge. While you run across from left to right, you'll face guards chasing you from one side and Mola Ram tossing burning hearts from the other. Make it to Mola Ram and you'll chop the bridge, sending Ram to his demise, and you'll reunite with Short Round and Willie (the only time you see either in the game). From there, it's off to a bonus round to collect golden idols before starting the whole thing over on a higher difficulty.

The rope bridge for me, was like getting to the dragon in Dragon's Lair. You've been playing for several minutes to get to the end and get all kinds of anxious because you don't want to blow it after getting all the way there!

I played this on MAME to get the screenshots and after a few tries, just didn't have it in me to get to the end but you can watch the below video to see the rope bridge starting around 11:58. If you've never experienced the game, I strongly recommend watching the whole video (or at least skimming it) to see how it plays and how long it takes to get annoyed by the guards' babbling.

I also found this great video that covers the history of the game as well as the home ports that were made.

 

If you want to pick up the whip, head over to Retrogames where you can play this right in your browser! In the bottom left of the game window, there's a controller icon where you can bind the keys you want to use.