Roc'n Rope

Roc'n Rope^[a] (written as Roc 'N Rope on the American flyer and in Konami Arcade Classics) is a 1983 platform video game developed and published by Konami for arcades. It was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara, later known for his career at Capcom.^[5] The player controls a flashlight and harpoon-gun equipped archaeologist who must ascend a series of rocky platforms to reach a phoenix bird.

Roc'n Rope
European arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami Kosuka NA: Interlogic[1] Coleco (ports)
Designer(s)	Tokuro Fujiwara
Platform(s)	Arcade, Atari 2600, ColecoVision
Release	Arcade JP: March 3, 1983[2] WW: April 1983[3] 2600, ColecoVision 1984[4]
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Coleco released versions of Roc'n Rope for the Atari 2600^[4] and ColecoVision in 1984.

Gameplay

The player has to avoid ferocious man-sized dinosaurs and red-haired cavemen without any direct means of offense. The only ways to defeat the opponents are to either daze them with the flashlight, or wait for them to be suspended on a harpoon rope and cause them fall down, an element which adds a certain complexity to the game. Bonus items to collect include fallen phoenix feathers and phoenix eggs, which grant the player invulnerability from the prehistoric denizens for a short period of time.

Reception

Roc'n Rope was among Konami's early arcade hits, including Scramble (1981), Frogger (1981), and Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1984).^[6]

Legacy

Roc'n Rope was the first "wire action" game. It became the basis for Capcom's 1987 game Bionic Commando, which Tokuro Fujiwara intended to be an expanded version of Roc'n Rope.^[5]

Notes

1. Japanese: ロックンロープ, Hepburn: Rokkun Rōpu