Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is an action game inspired by the movie of the same name. Originally released in arcades by Atari Games in 1985, versions were later published for numerous home computers and game consoles including the Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and more. In the game players control Indiana Jones in several different types of levels which recreate scenes from from the movie.

As the famed Indiana Jones, players will need to infiltrate the thuggee cult temple and defeat their leader, Mola Ram. The goal in doing so is to rescue the numerous children being held captive and to return with the stolen Sankara Stones. Indy is equipped only with his trademark whip which can be used for defense against enemies, opening cages where captives are held, and swinging across gaps in the platforms. The game is broken up into several types of sequences which are loosely based on scenes from the movie:

• Mines: A maze of platforms, ladders, conveyor belts, and other challenges, the mines are where the children are being held captive. The goal is to locate and open all of the cages where children are held before heading to the exit to the mine carts. Numerous rattlesnakes, thuggee guards, bats, and occasionally Mola Ram himself appear and must be whipped or simply avoided. On more difficult levels, deadly spikes appear from the ground in some locations. Players lose a life if they come into contact with any of the enemies, are hit by the spikes, fall off of a ledge from too great a height, fall into lava, or are crushed by the rollers at the end of a conveyor belt.
• Mine Carts: In this section of the game Indy needs to escape the mines in a mine cart! Players need to guide the mine cart down the tracks without it crashing. The tracks have multiple paths and occasionally split into different routes or merge back into one; dead ends also need to be avoided. Players need to avoid obstacles that cause the mine cart to flip over including damaged tracks, thuggee guards in pursuit, dead ends, oil drums or dynamite, and more. The mine cart can be tilted left or right to avoid some of the obstacles and can speed up or slow down. Indy still has his whip available to knock over some obstacles such as the oil drums and the thuggee guards.
• Temple of Doom: In the temple players can recover one of the Sankara Stones. The stone is located in the center of the temple in front of a statue of Kali; a pit of lava surrounds the statue. Players can either cross a bridge or use the whip to swing over the pit. Just in front of the statue is a trap door which opens and closes; players need to time retrieving the stone when the door is closed, or they will fall into the lava and lose a life. Once the stone is acquired, players can exit the temple via one of four doors which will open.

These three sections repeat twice allowing Indy to recover the first two of the three Sankara Stones; the layout of the mines and mine cart tracks changes each time and increases in difficulty. The third and final iteration ends with the bridge sequence instead of the temple; in this final challenge, players need to cross a rickety bridge while defending from thuggee guards and flaming hearts. At the end of the bridge is the final stone along with Mola Ram; if successful, players recover the stone, Mola Ram falls into the ravine, and the game continues to a bonus round where players can collect additional treasures for bonus points.

The game include three difficulty levels. At the start of the game, players are presented with three tunnels with the difficulty indicated above the door; Players can choose their preferred level of difficulty by entering the corresponding tunnel. Points are earned in the game for rescuing captives, recovering stones, eliminating enemies, and completing levels. Extra lives are awarded for crossing certain point thresholds.