"Indiana Jones-who?"
The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy is a 1990 arcade game produced by Data East, following the Run-and-Gun format, but with a whip instead of firearms.
Set in Europe in the 1930s, players assume the role of Edward Randy, an Adventurer Archaeologist and blatant Indiana Jones-expy, who must defeat a Nazi-like criminal organization led by one General "Dark Ogre".
The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy contain examples of:
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Edward Randy, the game's Indiana Jones Captain Ersatz, complete with his trusty whip as his personal weapon.
- Attack of the Monster Appendage: The giant robot in the mines stage spends most of the level lashing out at Edward with his fists, which Edward must parry with his whip. Causing damage to the arm will only make it withdraw from the screen, and the robot doesn't appear until the end of the level.
- Book Ends: The game's first and last stage have Edward battling "Dark Ogre", the leader of the Nazi-like terrorist organization. When defeated the first time, he pulls a Villain: Exit, Stage Left and the stage just ends.
- Building Swing: Edward can swing from one area to another by grabbing ledges with his bullwhip. Especially handy in the boss battles on the train, the tank, and the fortress-sized excavator.
- Chase Scene: Every single level runs on one of these, with the very first mission throwing Edward in the middle of a boat chase in the canals of Venice. Later on there's a vehicle chase in the desert, and an aerial chase involving biplanes.
- Construction Vehicle Rampage: One of the bosses is a giant bulldozer mounted with various turrets, which will attempt to squash Edward under its wheels. Dodge its initial attack, and Edward spends the entire level jumping above its front loader while fighting mooks and damaging the bulldozer's center.
- Death from Above: One of the harder obstacles in the desert chase level. Prior to fighting the tank boss, the tank will blow up a nearby hill causing a shower of rocks to fall all around Edward, which he must either avoid or destroy (by whipping the rocks into pebbles before they can hit him). Survive long enough and Edward then faces the tank in a boss battle.
- Flash Step: "Dark Ogre" in the final stage uses this ability to dodge Edward's whip attacks, making the final battle suitably hard. He somehow lacks this ability in the first stage.
- Guns Are Worthless: Played absolutely straight, in that the enemy soldiers' guns fire slow-moving, avoidable bullets which Edward can jump over.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: "Dark Ogre" gets sliced vertically in two thanks to Edward knocking him into a biplane's front.
- Humongous Mecha: The boss of the coal mine stage. So huge, half of his body occupies the entire screen!
- One-Man Army: Edward, who defeats gun-totting enemies by the dozens with nothing but his trusty whip.
- Outside Ride: More often than not, like his inspiration, Edward will end up clinging to the exterior of a massive enemy vehicle. Examples include the train he first confronts "Dark Ogre" on, the tank, and the excavator in the desert chase.
- Red Baron: The game's Big Bad, "Dark Ogre", whose true name isn't revealed at any point.
- Recurring Boss:
- "Dark Ogre", the Big Bad. Edward fights him in the first and last stage. He's relatively easy in the former, since the boss arena is on a train with plenty of room to stand. He's much harder in the last stage; Edward has to fight him atop a biplane, which greatly limits his movements.
- The giant robot that first appears in the mines stage seems defeated after its initial encounter, only to show up in the very next stage, Not Quite Dead as the boss as well. Its second defeat is it's last.
- Shout-Out: Being an Indy-Jones send-up, the game takes every chance it gets to reference the Spielberg films in each level. From the hero Edward kicking all sorts of ass with a whip, to the boat chases and tank battle lifted from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as well as a desert chase scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Stepping Stones in the Sky: The plane chase level has Edward jumping from the wings of one exploding plane to another. Miss a jump, and Edward loses a life.
- Tank Goodness: The desert chase climaxes with a boss battle against a tank, lifted from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- This Is a Drill: The hovering robot boss in the biplane chase stage attacks Edward with a pair of extendable drill arms.
- Weak Turret Gun: Probably exaggerated, Edward can destroy the turrets in this game by whipping. Two or three hits should suffice.
- Weapon Specialization: Edward's preferred weapon is a whip, which somehow deals far better damage than the firearms used by mooks. He can even damage enemy vehicles and take down a Humongous Mecha using said whip!
- Year X: The cutscenes state that the year is "193X". That said, the Japanese version explicitly states it's September 14, and a calendar is shown with that day as a Friday. The only year of the 1930s where Sep. 14 was a Friday was 1934.
