Hyper Crazy Climber (1996)

Hyper Crazy Climber, a PlayStation game based on Nichibutsu's cult classic Crazy Climber, melds the climbing play mechanic of its arcade ancestor with the trappings of Mario-era 2D adventure titles. At the beginning of the game, players choose one of three characters: a human boy or girl, or an insect-like climber. Each has different levels of climbing speed and endurance (which measures how many hits they can take from falling objects before losing their grip). The basic gameplay of climbing structures is the same, though Hyper Crazy Climber has numerous different settings, including an abandoned clock tower, a misty mountain, and even a giant beanstalk, all rendered with some excellent foreground and background graphics. All of these structures have convenient grids on them, analogous to the windows of the original Crazy Climber. Hyper Crazy Climber doesn't offer much of a chance to stop and drink in that nicely drawn scenery, though there are many new dangers, ranging from the original game's nuisance of people throwing objects, to deadly avalanches of large boulders which can dislodge the climber with a single hit. The object of the game is to survive these various levels and settings to reach the final level with its prerequisite boss showdown. The original Crazy Climber is also included with the new version.