Skull & Crossbones is a 1989 Pirate-themed Beat 'em Up arcade game developed by Atari.
In the The Golden Age of Piracy, two of the most feared pirates terrorizing the seas, One-Eye (player one) and Red Dog (player two), have completed their raiding of a Spanish fortress. Leaving with their booty, they're unexpectedly attacked by an enemy ship full of rival pirates, led by a powerful wizard who whisks away their loot. Defeating the enemy pirates, One-Eye and Red Dog (and their annoying parrot sidekick who's coming along for the ride) must track down and defeat the wizard and his minions - whose ranks somehow include ninjas and Medusa herself - across multiple levels. The game received pelts to various computers of the time, as well as a NES port that is one of the few games released in stores that didn’t have Nintendo’s seal of approval.
Skulls, Crossbones, Booties and Tropes:
- 1-Up: Collecting fifty coins nets an Extra Life for the player.
- Adaptational Heroism: Some of the ports of the game downplayed the treasure stealing in favor of saving captured women. The NES version of the game especially centers around saving a princess with treasure hunting being an afterthought.
- Ambushing Enemy: The final stage, the wizard's cave, have tunneling monsters which stick their heads out from underground in an attempt to claw at your character. You can spot and avoid them by noticing the Worm Sign on the floor though.
- Anti-Hero: Goes without saying given that you're assuming the role of a pirate. The first stage has you raiding a Spanish castle, killing the conquistadores around it, and making off with its loot. You are still far more noble than most of the folk you are robbing which include actually bad pirates, an evil wizard, and Medusa herself.
- Booze-Based Buff: Given that you're playing a pirate, appropriately enough drinking rum will increase your Life Meter.
- Boss Rush: Before facing the Evil Wizard, you will need to face resurrected copies of the three previous bosses (the Executioner, the Ninja Master and Medusa), one at a time, outside the Wizard's quarters.
- Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: Your parrot will repeatedly urge you to continue the game, constantly, during the entire game.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Enemies which really have no reasons for exploding, like pirate mooks, conquistadores, skeletons, will all explode in a harmless "POP" after they're killed. Most likely because of graphic limitation.
- Dem Bones: Skeletons will emerge from underneath the sands in one level as you dock on a beach. And as you advance further into the coastline you'll be assailed by green skeletons, more durable versions of the common white ones.
- Evil Wizard: An unnamed evil sorceror (the game simply called him "Evil Wizard") serves as the game's Big Bad. After you looted the Spanish fort in the first level, he whisks away your booty with his magic, and you'll spend entire stages pursuing him while fighting assorted enemies.
- The Executioner: The game's first boss, a masked executioner wielding a massive axe and flanked by plenty of conquistadores.
- Gratuitous Ninja: For most of the game, you're battling pirates and undead in an otherwise European setting. Except for the third stage that has you raiding a ninja castle (at no point did your character take a detour halfway across the world to Japan), somehow, and you then spend one whole level facing enemy ninjas.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Occasionally, you'll be assaulted by pirate enemies who hurl empty bottles at a distance. Getting hit by those bottles results in as much health loss as being hit by a sword.
- Medusa: Medusa herself (she's even named as such by the game) is the boss of the caves level after you dock on a beach full of skeletons. She's seen behind a cauldron in her quarters, full of her skeleton mooks, and after defeating her skeletons she then fights you.
- No Name Given: While the player characters do have names (in the manual), none of the major characters are named onscreen. There's the Evil Wizard, the wench, the executioner, the Ninja Master...
- Off with His Head!: The Evil Wizard lose his head after he is defeated.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The two playable pirate heroes are called One-Eye (player one) and Red Dog (player two).
- Pirate: You assume the role of one (or two on two-player mode), and several rival pirates are your enemies in a few stages.
- Pirate Booty: There are areas in-game marked with crosses, where treasure and booty are buried. After clearing an area of enemies, you can stand on the cross and press the "attack" button to dig up those treasure, gaining yourself a higher score in the process, but be warned that you'll need to stay on the spot even as more enemies come at you.
- Pirate Parrot: Your parrot companion will fly around you during levels, staying well out of range from enemy attacks while telling you "Let's move! Let's move! Squawrk!" if you take too long to finish an area.
- Player Versus Player: On two-player mode, at the end of each stage, the players can duel each other for claiming a larger share of the booty. They don't kill each other, but the winning player gets a higher score at the end of the level.
- Storming the Castle: The game's first stage, in which you raid a Spanish fort for its booty.
- Timed Mission: Each area must be cleared within a given time limit, though collecting an hourglass will add extra time.
