Joystiq

Despite sounding like something we might want to play, our time with the title didn't earn it any new friends. The game can be unforgiving at times; perhaps because the design incorporates not only a retro look and structure, but many archaic and rigid design mechanics of days gone by. Think of this title as presenting another old-school mechanics revival a la Mega Man 9. The controls seem rather broken, unfortunately, as it's easy to overshoot jumps towards ladders simply by accidentally tapping a directional button after latching on. Death occurs frequently if you forget that you can't drop down the seemingly shallow pits – remember, we're back to instant-death traps with this one.

In that respect, gamers who played this game back in the day will probably end up loving this update. To them, things like the classic boulder chase scenes should easily tap into those feelings of nostalgia. It's not all old stuff, though, as Spelunker seems to feature all-new, four-player split-screen gameplay.

Despite such a boon, Spelunker still feels too much like a niche title that perhaps only a few could truly enjoy. So far Irem hasn't made any announcements about taking it out of Japan, though it would make a great deal of sense if it did -- in fact, the HUD is already in English.