Lode Runner

Lode Runner offers you 150 levels of skull-numbing difficulty where you control a guy that has to collect treasure while avoiding other guys chasing him through strategic use of platforms, ladders, and your single ability to create pits. The first two levels are quick and intuitive, but the brunt of the levels make for immense logic bombs that are more fun and engaging to solve on pen and paper than execute them on the fly, which is where these days the game can seem tiring. The fortunate thing is that it comes packed with a level editor where you can make easier or more nightmarish levels for your friends(and a package of 50 fan-made levels got issued in Championship Lode Runner). For 1983 and an Apple II game, it was even graphically impressive.

The NES port is a more palpable fix for those who can't handle a huge number of hardcore puzzles, as the levels are slightly easier by making the enemies' patterns more manipulative, the controls are more intuitive, and you can easily tell blocks apart unlike in the Apple II version. It is rounded to a more manageable 50 levels, meaning it's more likely you'll complete it, although the difficulty curve is a jumble.

The SG-1000 port is also interesting. It too is limited to just 50 levels, but it retains the same graphical presentation as the Apple II game, with all of the map displayed at once. The maps to me seem like an abridged retelling of the Apple II levels, for those who want to cut their 150-level experience by two thirds.

Go around collecting gold and evade enemies by digging holes in the ground. The level design is good enough to offer you several routes of escape, so if you use your brain you can survive. What's most impressive about this game though is the AI of the enemies, and how they often separate to block your path off in multiple routes. It feels like an improved version of the pacman concept at times. Its somewhat lacking visually and in terms of sound.