1985 · First Star Software
Boulder Dash II
Rockford returns: new caves, meaner layouts and boulder physics turned up a notch in the official 1985 sequel.
- Year
- 1985
- Genre
- Puzzle action
- Original
- Atari 8-bit
A year after the original conquered the 8-bit world, First Star Software sent Rockford back underground. Boulder Dash II keeps the rules that made the first game a classic — dig, collect diamonds, beat the clock, don't stand under anything heavy — and rebuilds everything around them: sixteen fresh caves and four bonus intermissions, each designed to punish the instincts you learned in the original.
The sequel is, by common consent, the harder game. Layouts are tighter, diamond quotas crueller, and several caves are built entirely around chain reactions — one deliberate dig setting off an avalanche that must land exactly right. Where the first game taught you the physics, the second one examines you on it.
For anyone who has cleared the original's caves from A to P, Boulder Dash II is simply more of one of the best puzzle-action designs ever made — with the safety wheels off. Newcomers may want to start with the first game; veterans should head straight down the mine.
As with the original, the version linked below is the official browser release at boulder-dash.com, made for web browsers on desktop computers — no installation, one click and you're digging. It needs a keyboard, so it cannot be played on phones or tablets.