History VideoGame / ImpossibleMission

** Actually subverted. The PSG was being used to play back digital recordings- Epyx actually contracted a company called ''Electronic Speech Systems''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Mission#Development]], who got a member of their staff to perform a series of recordings on their behalf.

* ShoutOut: WordOfGod has confirmed that the title is a blatant shout-out to Series/MissionImpossible.

** Actually subverted. The PSG was being used to play back digital recordings- Epyx actually contracted a company called ''Electronic Speech Systems'', who got a member of their staff to perform a series of recordings on their behalf.

** Actually subverted. The PSG was being used to play back digital recordings- Epyx actually contracted a company called Electronic Speech Systems, who got a member of their staff to perform a series of recordings.

** The code rooms in the first game. They seem to be a simple Simon-type game, but the way to solve them is actually [[spoiler:to order them from low pitch to high]].

* {{Unwinnable}}:
** As noted above, a GameBreakingBug in the NTSC version of the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}} port can make it truly impossible to win.
** There are many ways in ''Impossible Mission II'' to get stuck, such as running out of robot-disabling or platform-moving items in a tower, preventing access to a passcode number needed to access the next tower, or accidentally blowing up a safe with a landmine, preventing you from completing the musical sequence to unlock the control room elevator.

* CollisionDamage: The player dies whenever he touches a robot.

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A video game created by Creator/{{Epyx}} for the {{Commodore 64}} and a few other contemporary systems. Dr. Elvin Atombender, the resident MadScientist, is plotting to blow up the world in six hours, and you play a secret agent who has to stop him. You do this by running and jumping through a large number of rooms to search the furniture in each. Hidden in the furniture are thirty-six punch cards; combining four of these will give you a letter of the nine-letter password you require to enter the mad scientist's lair.

* GameBreakingBug: The Atari port of the game is known to be (randomly but often) actually impossible, because some of the cards you need can be behind computer terminals, which cannot be searched.

** A bug in the NTSC version of the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 7800}} port makes it impossible to win; some of the code pieces are placed underneath computer terminals, which the player cannot search, since attempting to do so will access the terminal. The bug was fixed in the PAL version.

A video game created by Creator/{{Epyx}} for the {{Commodore 64}} and a few other contemporary systems. Dr. Elvin Atombender, the resident MadScientist, is plotting to blow up the world, and you play a secret agent who has to stop him. You do this by running and jumping through a large number of rooms to search the furniture in each. Hidden in the furniture are thirty-six punch cards; combining four of these will give you a letter of the nine-letter password you require to enter the mad scientist's lair.

* {{Unwinnable}}: Alongside the aforementioned bug in the Atari 7800 version of the first game, there are many ways in the second game to get stuck, such as running out of robot-disabling or platform-moving items in a tower, preventing access to a passcode number needed to access the next tower, or accidentally blowing up a safe with a landmine, preventing you from completing the musical sequence to unlock the control room elevator.

-->''Another visitor. Stay awhile. Stay FOREVER!''

A video game created by Creator/{{Epyx}} for the {{Commodore 64}} and a few other contemporary systems. The resident MadScientist is plotting to blow up the world, and you play a secret agent who has to stop him. You do this by running and jumping through a large number of rooms to search the furniture in each. Hidden in the furniture are thirty-six punch cards; combining four of these will give you a letter of the nine-letter password you require to enter the mad scientist's lair.

Of course, the rooms are also filled with laser-shooting robots, that disintegrate you at a touch. You didn't think a game by this name was going to be ''easy'', did you?

* MagicCountdown: In the first game, the clock counts forward to 6:00:00 until DoomsdayDevice activates, as well as advancing 10 minutes with each player death. In the sequel, the clock counts down, but there's a per-section countdown and a global countdown.

* ThePasswordIsAlwasSwordfish: The punch-cards always form a coherent nine-letter password such as "albatross" or "cormorant". Unfortunately, you need the punch cards themselves to enter the lair, so you can't really take advantage of this fact.

* NintendoHard.

* VideoGameLives: You ''seem'' to have infinite lives, but you really have six hours before the bomb goes off, and each death subtracts ten minutes from the clock. (By the math, you can have no more than thirty-six lives in one game, but unless you can complete the game in less than ten minutes ''total'', if you're ''on'' life #36 you've already lost the game.) When time is up, Elvin's maniacal laughter sounds and the screen fades to white.

A video game created by Creator/{{Epyx}} for the {{Commodore 64}} and a few other contemporary systems. The resident MadScientist is plotting to blow up the world, and you play a secret agent who has to stop him. You do this by running and jumping through a large number of rooms to search the furniture in each. Hidden in the furniture are thirty-six punch cards; combining four of these will give you a letter of the nine-letter password you require to enter the mad scientist's lab.

* AllThereInTheManual. The mad scientist's name is Elvin Atombender, which is never mentioned in-game.
* BigNo: If you manage to reach the MadScientist's lab in time (in the first game at least), he will do this:

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Downplayed. Any death will advance the doomsday clock by ten minutes and return you to the room's entrance, but at six hours, the DoomsdayDevice will activate--so too many deaths will, hem, ''[[{{Pun}} kill]]'' your chances of winning.

* SyntheticVoiceActor. An early example. ''"Destroy him, my robots!"''
* UnexplainedRecovery. After ''disintegrating'', no less. However, the clock advances by 10 minutes with each death.

* VideoGameLives: You ''seem'' to have infinite lives, but you really have six hours before the bomb goes off, and each death subtracts ten minutes from the clock. (By the math, you can have no more than thirty-six lives in one game, but in practice this will usually be less.) When time is up, Elvin's maniacal laughter sounds and the screen fades to white.

* BigNo: If you manage to reach the MadScientist's lab in time (in the first game at least), he will do this.

A video game created by Creator/{{Epyx}} for the {{Commodore 64}} and a few other contemporary systems. The resident MadScientist is plotting to blow up the world, and you play a secret agent who has to stop him. You do this by running and jumping through a large number of rooms to search the furniture in each. Hidden in the furniture are thirty-six punch cards; combining four of these will give you a letter of the nine-letter password you require to enter the mad scientist's base.

* VideoGameLives: You seem to have infinite lives, but you really have six hours before the bomb goes off, and each death subtracts ten minutes from the clock. When time is up, Elvin's maniacal laughter sounds and the screen fades to white.

A video game created by {{Epyx}} for the Commodore 64 and a few other contemporary systems. The resident MadScientist is plotting to blow up the world, and you play a secret agent who has to stop him. You do this by running and jumping through a large number of rooms to search the furniture in each. Hidden in the furniture are thirty-six punch cards; combining four of these will give you a letter of the nine-letter password you require to enter the mad scientist's base.

* BottomlessPit: Many of the rooms feature these. Of course, forcing one enemy through the pit causes it to WrapAround at the top.

* MagicCountdown: In the first game, the clock counts forward to 6:00:00 until DoomsdayDevice activates. In the sequel, the clock counts down, but there's a per-section countdown and a global countdown.

* ProceduralGeneration. An early example.

* SyntheticVoiceActor. An early example. ''"Destroy him, my robots!"''

* IGotBetter. After ''disintegrating'', no less. However, the clock advances by 10 minutes with each death.

The game shows examples of the following tropes:

-->''Another Visitor. Stay awhile. Stay FOREVER!''

* VideoGameLives: You seem to have infinite lives, but you really have six hours before the bomb goes off, and each death subtracts ten minutes from the clock. When time is up, Elvin's maniacal laughter sounds and the screen fades to wite.
* SyntheticVoiceActor. An early example.

-->''Welcome, visitor. Stay awhile. Stay FOREVER!''

* BottomlessPit. Many of the rooms feature these.
* GameBreakingBug. The Atari port of the game is known to be (randomly but often) actually impossible, because some of the cards you need can be behind computer terminals, which cannot be searched.
* IGotBetter. After ''disintegrating'', no less.
* MagicCountdown: The timer for the DoomsdayDevice decreases by ten minutes with each death.

* VideoGameLives. You seem to have infinite lives, but you really have six hours before the bomb goes off, and each death subtracts ten minutes from the clock. When time is up, Elvin's maniacal laughter sounds and the screen fades to wite.

* SimonSaysMiniGame: Another early example. A computer console lets you gain security console cards as long as you can match a series of musical notes, each success causing the next sequence to be progressively longer and harder to match.

* GameBreakingBugs. The Atari port of the game is known to be (randomly but often) actually impossible, because some of the cards you need can be behind computer terminals, which cannot be searched.

* VoiceSynthesizer. An early example.