Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger is a video game that was released in 1993 and 1994, and is based on the film of the same name. The game supports one player.

Plot
A plane filled with terrorists attempting to steal money from a treasury plane while airborne is shot down by an FBI plane. The terrorists survive and send out a distress signal, which the main character, Gabe, responds to. However, Gabe does not know that the mayday signal is coming from a group of terrorists, and after reaching them, the terrorists capture Gabe's partner, Hal, and hold him hostage. Gabe must then set out and retrieve the money in order to save Hal.

Gameplay
The game begins with Gabe responding to the call, before Hal being captured. In order to progress through the game, the player must watch out for enemies and either avoid them by jumping or defeat them by attacking with various weapons, such as a knife or a gun. There are also bosses after every few levels, the final boss being Qualen, the leader of the terrorist group.

Reception
Cliffhanger was awarded Worst Movie-to-Game of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Trivia
There are major gameplay differences between the 16-bit and 8-bit versions of the game. The Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES and Mega-CD/Sega CD versions are almost identical and feature gameplay similar to street brawlers like Double Dragon and Final Fight. The Mega-CD/Sega CD version contains a 3D snowboarding sequence where the player has to escape from an avalanche. Otherwise the gameplay on the 16-Bit systems is the same across the board.

The NES, Game Boy and Game Gear versions however contain lower resolution graphics and a simpler side scrolling gameplay. Stallone's NES counterpart is represented as a small green t-shirted stick figure whose only defense is a punch and jump kick. Obstacles include freezing to death if left immobile for long periods of time and, hawks, wolves, boulders and the terrorists from the film.

David Jaffe (the man behind God Of War and Twisted Metal) was one of the testers for this game.