Another visitor! Stay awhile, staaaaaaaay forever! is the first thing you hear when starting one of the greatest odysseys in the video game world. Because Impossible Mission, as its name clearly indicates, is an impossible mission, and that's no joke! Well, well... maybe not THAT impossible, but certainly very, very difficult. Because this game is not for the faint-hearted, that's for sure.
Are you faint-hearted? Do your legs tremble at such a challenge? Do you pee with fear? Do you want to be part of the elite and defeat the terrible Professor Elvin Atombender in his own domain? Well, I have good news for you! You can do it right now, just click here. But... wait! Don't leave without reading what follows, or your life will be in grave danger.
Remembering Impossible Mission
Originally released for Commodore 64 by Epyx Games in 1984, Impossible Mission is, to say the least, a cult game. With remakes for a wide variety of systems, including some more modern ones like Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, this puzzling platformer and puzzle game still resonates strongly in the collective human consciousness. And rightfully so!
It was one of the first games to use "digitized speech" and realistic physical animations (long before Prince of Persia by Mechner), as well as a complex premise that will test your skill (and your brain) like few other games. To animate the main character, Dennis Caswell -the programmer- used athletics books, which is why the protagonist looks like an Olympic athlete and moves so well.
The voices, both Atombender's and the protagonist's, were created by Electronic Speech Systems and are one of the most memorable things about the game. I mean... how could you forget the terrifying scream of agony when the protagonist falls into the dungeon pits?
But then... what is the impossible mission? If you decide to accept it, you must gather the 36 pieces of the puzzle hidden in the furniture of the place.
Each room, interconnected by long elevator shafts that go back and forth, has several pieces of furniture to search, all guarded by terrible killer robots.
Most of those pieces of furniture will be empty, but you can't leave any unsearched, because you never know where the last puzzle piece will be hidden.
The robots will always follow the same pattern. Some simply go back and forth, others will chase you as soon as they see you, some will remain silent until you get close to blast you with a surprise destructive ray, etc.
Studying the patterns of each robot in each room is vitally important and your only hope to survive. But don't study them for too long, because in Impossible Mission time is vital.
And that's... you have "only" six hours to finish the game! Hey, it may seem like a lot, yes, but keep in mind that each time you die, 10 minutes are deducted from that total time. And you are going to die a lot, oh yes... a lot.
If you were to find all 36 pieces of the puzzle, which I doubt, the thing isn't over yet. You'll have to assemble the puzzle and find the door that leads to Professor Elvin Atombender's personal lair.
To assemble the puzzle, you just need to leave the room you're in, go to one of the elevators, and press the "space bar". There, the "puzzle construction" mode will be enabled, with several options to do it the right way (color changes, piece rotation, etc.).
That's why it will be vitally important to get all the pieces with some time advantage, because the process will take time (especially if it's your first time playing). Once you have the puzzle assembled, you just need to search for the room in the image below and go through the door to see your host's scared face.
As I said, an impossible mission. The good news is that you can play this classic of classics in a native remake for the browser, with absolute accuracy, without the complications of an emulator (online or offline). Just click here and start traversing the endless corridors of Professor Elvin Atombender's fortress.
Remember: you move with the arrow keys and jump with the "space bar". Want a little help? I'll leave you a video with the full walkthrough. But don't get your hopes up; only skill will let you survive, no matter how many video guides you watch. Good luck, friend! You're going to need it!
