Elevator Action

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

Elevator Action
Developer(s)	Taito
Publisher(s)	Taito
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release date(s)	1983
Genre(s)	Action, Side-Scrolling, Platform game
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players
Cabinet	Upright
Display	Raster, standard resolution 256 x 224 (Horizontal) Colors 64

Elevator Action (エレベーターアクション, Erebētā Akushon^?) is a 1983 arcade game by Taito. It debuted during the "Golden Age of Arcade Games". Innovative in gameplay, this game was fairly popular for many years. The musician was Yoshino Imamura. The game was followed by a sequel, Elevator Action II (also known as Elevator Action Returns).

Description

The player assumes the role of a spy who infiltrates a building filled with elevators. He must collect secret documents from the building and traverse the 30 levels of the building using an increasingly complex series of elevators. The player is pursued by enemy agents who appear from behind closed doors. The player must outwit them via force or evasion. Successful completion of a level involves collecting all the secret documents and traversing the building from top to bottom. In the lower floors of the building, the elevator systems are so complex that some puzzle-solving skills are needed.

The game cabinet was a standard upright. The controls consisted of a 4-way joystick and two buttons, one for "shoot" and the other for jumping and kicking. The graphics are extremely simple, 2D color graphics. The maximum number of players is two, alternating turns.

Gameplay

This article may contain material discouraged by the guidelines for video game subjects, such as lists of minutiae or a detailed description of how to play a game. Please help by removing or rewriting content in an encyclopedic style. (July 2009)

Screenshot of Elevator Action.

The player assumes the role of Agent 17, codename: "Otto", a secret agent for an unspecified organization or government. As Otto, the player must "acquire" (steal) a series of secret documents from a tall building which Otto enters from the roof. Otto must traverse the building's numerous levels via a series of elevators and escalators while acquiring the documents. After retrieving all the documents, Otto must escape via the getaway car at the bottom of the building and thus progress to the next level of the game.

The documents are located behind red closed doors which the player enters to retrieve. Enemy spies appear from behind some doors and the player can evade them or attack them in a number of ways. Using his gun he can fire at them or sever a hanging light above their heads, dropping it on them. The player can also kick the enemies (by jumping into them) or attempt to crush them with an elevator Otto is riding. The player loses a life if hit by enemy fire—physical contact with the enemies themselves will not affect him. Otto may jump over low enemy fire or duck to evade higher enemy bullets. The environment itself also creates danger for Otto; the player will lose a life if he falls into an empty elevator shaft, or is crushed between a descending/ascending elevator and the floor/ceiling. However, these hazards also threaten enemies; slaying hostile agents using the elevator scores large bonuses. The player may safely jump across an open shaft if the elevator is above him, and he may ride on top of a moving elevator (though he will not be able to control it).

The upper levels of the buildings are fairly easy to traverse and sparsely populated with enemies. As the player progresses downward, enemies become more numerous, some escalators appear for travel between levels, and some floors are completely dark, making it harder to see enemies in the halls. On the lower floors of the buildings (which, since the building is traversed from top to bottom, is actually further into the level), the elevator system becomes very complex and traversal more difficult. On these floors, not only does the player need to manage to get to the bottom floor, they must at the same time evade or dispatch the numerous enemy agents attempting to apprehend them. Traversing these lower floors requires some puzzle-solving skills and this novel gameplay added to its appeal.

Scoring System

• Retrieve secret documents = 500 pt
• Knock out an agent by falling light = 300 pt
• Crush an agent using elevator = 300 pt
• Knock out an agent by jumping/kicking = 150 pt
• Eliminate an agent by gun = 100 pt
• Bonus points are given with completion of each round (1,000 pt x round; up to 10,000 pt)

An extra life is earned when player reaches 10,000 points.

Legacy

The Killer List of Videogames includes this game in its list of "Top 100 Video Games".

Inspirations

Games

The title of the dojin game ElePaper Action is a parody of Elevator Action's title. The game's credits sequence features a mini-game similar to Elevator Action.

Two games for Palm OS, Agent Z and its sequel, Agent Z 2 by Ellams Software, are based on Elevator Action.

Dexter's Laboratory: Robot Rampage! released for Gameboy Color in 2000, is based on Elevator Action II.

In 2007, 505 Games released a game similar to Elevator Action for the Wii. The North American release is called Spy Games: Elevator Mission. It is called Elevator Combat for the European release.

A port to the original Game Boy included the ability to acquire different weapons, such as a machine gun that fired more rapidly.

On March 5, 2007, the NES port of Elevator Action was released on the Wii's Virtual Console.

Revealed at AOU 2009, Elevator Action: Death Parade is a lightgun shooter that uses elevator doors when changing scenarios.^[1]

Other media

Some of the chapters in the Hellsing manga are named Elevator Action.

The "Nintendo punk" band 14 Year Old Girls did a song about this game; the song is also called "Elevator Action".

Ports

Like many games of this era, Elevator Action was ported to some home systems in 1985 for personal use. It was ported to the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy.

A port was planned for the Atari 2600, but never released. However, a prototype of the game was illegally published by CGE Services Corp. and sold in Classic Gaming Expo 2001.^[2] There are some issues with collision detection, and the game is only 95% complete, leading many to speculate that the video game crash of 1983 was a key factor in its non-release.

Sony published a mobile version of the game.

Compilation releases

The original Elevator Action has been included in various compilations, including:

• Elevator Action EX (Game Boy Color)
• Elevator Action Old & New (Game Boy Advance)
• Elevator Action Returns (Sega Saturn)
• Taito Legends (Playstation 2, Xbox, Windows)
• Taito Legends Power Up (PSP)

See also

Similar games:

• Mappy
• Hotel Mario

References

External links

• Elevator Action at World of Spectrum
• Elevator Action at the Killer List of Videogames
• Elevator Action at MobyGames
• Elevator Action at X-Entertainment
• High Score Rankings for Elevator Action from Twin Galaxies