Konami has made great games for a long time. As a matter of fact, they've ALWAYS made great games, even during the days before the great video game crash of 1983. They made quite a few original games with interesting traits about them, and this game is no exception.
Roc 'n Rope was one of a couple of early arcade games published by Konami in the early '80s. In this game, you play an archaeologist who climbs mountains in search of the legendary bird, the Phoenix. Along the way, you have to climb the mountains with your rope as you avoid cavemen and man-sized dinosaurs who call this seemingly lost-to-time land home.
The rope can be shot diagonally upwards, and it lets you get higher into the level. However, it can also be very unstable. Enemies can grab the rope and shake it, causing you to fall off...sometimes to your death. To make things worse, when you use the rope, the dinosaurs and cavemen can climb on it and use it to make their way to you. Thankfully, you can only have the rope in one location at a time, and the rope disappears whenever you use it to reach another area. Because of this, you can wait for the bad guys to get on the rope, wait for them to get above an empty space that leads to a bottomless pit, and use the rope again to make the rope they're climbing disappear, sending them into the abyss. You also have a flashlight that you can flash for a second at whatever's in front of you, stunning any enemies for a few seconds. If they're coming towards you on the rope, you can stun them and cause them to let go, causing them to fall right off the rope! It's like something in an old action movie.
You'll also see falling rocks being carried by pterodactyls, who will wait for a second as soon as you're directly underneath them before dropping the rock.
There are three stages in the game, and after you beat the third stage, the game loops back to the first one and starts all over again.
In the first stage, the enemies can climb up and down the walls, and also hide in the caves whenever necessary. You'll also see these caves in the other stages.
In the second stage, you'll see a windmill-like platform that has four places to stand on. It reminds me of the carousel at the end of the fortresses in Super Mario World that the Reznors stand on when you fight them. You can use this to get higher whenever necessary, but you'll need to use your rope to get off.
In the third stage, you'll be dealing with a waterfall. If the waterfall touches you as you're climbing, you'll automatically be sent into the bottomless pit and lose a life.
You'll be picking up phoenix feathers and eggs for points. The phoenix feathers give you points, and you don't have to collect them to end the stage. The eggs make you invincible for a few seconds whenever you grab them, giving you the ability to destroy enemies by simply walking into them.
The original second stage, which consisted of the rows of long platforms with a gap in each one, is missing in this port, so you go straight to the third stage in the original after completing the first one.
There are four skill levels, and on the easier levels, the rope is more stable and can't be shaken, leaving you invulnerable to rope shakes. There are also fewer enemies and you start out with more lives.
It shouldn't be a surprise to say that the game is an excellent addition to anyone's video game library. Addicting gameplay, a full soundtrack, interesting character design for its time (hey, the phoenix is in there, but I'm assuming it's a roc, hence the title) and hazards that were never really seen in a game before, such as instant death waterfalls and enemies that could use your only tool against you, and a decent hardest skill level that is a welcome challenge is more than enough to keep you coming back, even if there's only three stages compared to the original version's four. As mentioned before, Konami made rock-solid games and has done so for years, and even their earliest creations are no exceptions. This game doesn't disappoint.
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