Elevator Action

Elevator Action is among the iconic titles of the golden age of arcade machines. Taito released it in 1983, and the player takes on the role of a secret agent who must infiltrate a multi-story building full of armed opponents to retrieve classified documents. Instead of classic running and jumping, the main means of transport here is a network of elevators and escalators, which gives the game a fresh sense of spatial puzzle-solving combined with action and set it apart from most of its contemporaries.

The goal is to visit doors marked with a red secret-files symbol, grab the documents, and then descend all the way to the underground garage, where a getaway car awaits the player. Along the way, agents waiting behind doors and on platforms must be dealt with, their gunfire dodged, and the light above an entrance shot out to briefly blind an opponent and allow a safer passage. The elevator mechanics themselves deserve special attention - the player can ride on top of a cabin, jump down the shaft to the floor below, or get crushed by a descending elevator, so the game requires constant route planning and timing judgment.

Thanks to its concept, Elevator Action received numerous ports to home consoles and computers and became popular enough that a few years later Taito released a sequel, Elevator Action Returns, which expanded the elevator-movement principle with more elaborate platforming elements and more detailed graphics. Today the original machine is valued mainly as an example of how a simple idea - elevators instead of stairs - can create a distinctive game genre and remain playable even decades after its creation.

Why play it: Elevator Action offers an original combination of action and spatial strategy that no one else offered in the arcades of the '80s.