Arcade Video game published 45 years ago:

Space Dungeon (c) 1981 Taito America Corp.

Space Dungeon is a single-screen shoot-em-up in which the goal is to guide an armed craft through enemy-infested dungeons, collecting as many treasure items as possible before finding the exit to progress to the next level.

Each level consists of 36 rooms, arranged in a six-by-six grid. An auto-map is displayed at the top of the screen, together with any items of treasure currently carried. The rooms are connected by open doorways of varying sizes and players can choose which rooms to visit next by choosing the relavent exit from the current room.

The game utilises a dual joystick control system, with the left stick controlling player movement and the right controlling the direction of fire. The player's craft is armed wity a laser cannon that fires a pulsing, solid beam in any one of eight directions.

To exit a level, players must find the "Collect Bonus" room, which contains a rectagle. Entering the rectagle ends the level, with bonus points awarded depending on how many treasure items the player is carrying at the time. If the player's ship collides with an enemy or any of their projectiles before reaching the "Collect Bonus" cube, all collected treasure is dropped in the room in which the ship was destroyed. This room is designated on the map by a flashing cross symbol.

A 10,000-point bonus is awarded if the player visits every single room on the level, whether or not all treasures on the level have been collected. An extra ship is awarded to the player every 10,000 points.

Player layout in our catalog: 2P alt.

If you are exploring by feel rather than by title, jump from the tags above into the matching genre rooms, or return to the Arcade hall for the full wall.

Open Play on this page to start Space Dungeon. Keyboard, USB/Bluetooth pads, and the on-screen touch gamepad all work inside the emulator bar. Save states and fullscreen live on that same bar so you can pause mid-session and resume later.

Space Dungeon is filed in our catalog as a 1981 release.

Player layout on this cabinet: 2P alt.

Genre tags on Classic Arcade Games: Shooter.

Credit line lists Taito America Corporation as developer.