The Lode Runner is Back in 3D!
- JP release: 10th July 2003
- EU release: N/A
- NA release: N/A
- Developer: Red Entertainment
- Publisher: Hudson Soft
- NGC Magazine Score: N/A
- Mods Used: None
The first of a series of budget titles from Hudson Soft, released under the “Hudson Select” label. They’re all new versions of some classic Hudson games, starting with Lode Runner. While there have been multiple Lode Runner before, including a 3D one on N64, this brings back the style of the original game, but in little 3D arenas.
This even includes the style of the original enemies, which you may notice look very similar to Bomberman. These stem from the original NES versions of Lode Runner and Bomberman, where Bomberman used recoloured sprites from Lode Runner and the design stuck. The Japanese manual even made Bomberman a prequel to Lode Runner, where the bomb-making robot that manages to escape becomes human – and turns into Lode Runner at the end.
None of that is relevant to this particular game, but it’s fascinating all the same. This is a 3D conversion of the original Lode Runner gameplay, with blasting blocks, climbing along poles and collecting all the gold. The four face buttons represent the four directions that you can shoot a hole in to make your way down to gold or trap enemies, and you can rotate the camera. It all works really well and is a lot of fun.
There are 60 levels to complete, and surprisingly all are unlocked from the start so if one is troubling you, you can carry on and try again later. There’s also an edit mode where you can design your own levels. A really nice package. Considering almost everything is already in English, it’s a shame these games never made it outside of Japan. If they didn’t want to do individual releases, they could have done a compilation.
Fun
This is a slight update of the old nes game LoadRunner, the graphics look very dataed but server there purpose. Its easy to play, and the level editor adds a whole new longtivity to the game. Its worth getting just to relive your old Nes days and its at a good price too.
bond68, PlayAsia Customer
Remake or remaster?
These remakes would be fun in a collection or as downloadable titles.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get Cubic Lode Runner.
Europe
Japan
North America
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