Caverns of Mars

Caverns of Mars is an arcade shooter developed by Greg Christensen and published by Atari Program Exchange. Released in 1980 for Atari 8-bit and Atari 800, it places you in control of a ship descending through narrow, glowing caverns.

Use the ship’s twin cannons to destroy emplacements and fuel silos. Fuel steadily decreases from 100, while each destroyed fuel silo restores 5 units, making fuel management essential to survival. Moving closer to the edge of the screen increases your descent speed but also raises the danger.

Further into the cavern, rocket ships and Martian fighters attack. At the bottom, you reach a reactor, set it to detonate, and must ascend through the cavern before the countdown ends. Later caverns add defensive fire, opening and closing doors, and floating mines. There are five caverns in total, each more difficult than the last.