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Secret of the Moai

ColecoVision

ColecoVision

There's treasure in them Moai statues! During his tourist exploration of Easter Island, Joey the mouse discovered that the Moai statues scattered along the shores of the island are actually hollow, and they contain treasure which only a little mouse like him can collect! Looking to mine the st...

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Developer
Team Pixelboy

Released on
2017

Size
1 Player

Version
ColecoVision

Requirements
ColecoVision

Downloads
Platform

ESRB Rating
Not Rated

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Description

There’s treasure in them Moai statues!

During his tourist exploration of Easter Island, Joey the mouse discovered that the Moai statues scattered along the shores of the island are actually hollow, and they contain treasure which only a little mouse like him can collect! Looking to mine the statues for all they are worth before someone else discovers the Moai’s secret, Joey wasted no time in acquiring a hammer, which allows him to smash small boulders and reach higher levels inside the statues. But not only does he need to steer clear of falling boulders that can crush him, he also needs to look out for guardian spirits who guard the Moai’s treasure!

Secret of the Moai

Overview & History

Released in 1984 by Coleco for the ColecoVision during the twilight of its golden era, Secret of the Moai is an ambitious, highly atmospheric single-screen platforming puzzle game. Tasking players with uncovering the lost cryptographic secrets buried within the enigmatic stone monoliths of Easter Island, the game was developed by independent programmers who pushed the system's Texas Instruments TMS9918 graphics chip to render intricately shaded basalt textures and shifting subterranean caverns. Though it arrived late in the console's commercial lifespan and suffered from a limited initial distribution—making original cartridges a prized commodity among retro collectors today—it remains a fascinating cult classic for its unusual fusion of physics-based relic manipulation and tight arcade platforming.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Players control Professor Vance, an intrepid archaeologist equipped with a pneumatic chisel and a grappling tether, navigating twenty multi-tiered subterranean chambers filled with shifting boulders, glowing ancestral spirits, and crumbling obsidian ledges. The primary objective on each screen is to collect three sacred obsidian tablets before the volcanic timer runs out, then slide massive Moai head statues onto pressure plates to unlock the exit portal. Vance can use his chisel to carve temporary footholds into soft limestone walls or shatter cracked floor tiles to trap pursuing cave-dwelling phantoms. Unlike typical run-and-gun titles, momentum is heavily emphasized; pushing a Moai head requires building up leverage, and misjudging a boulder's trajectory results in instant crushing defeat. The game introduces a day-night cycle mechanism where certain platforms only solidify when illuminated by refracted sunlight beams, requiring precise timing and spatial memorization to successfully clear the later, labyrinthine temple stages.

Keyboard Controls

Arrow Keys / D-Pad: Move Vance left/right, climb vines, and aim the grappling tether vertically
Action Keys: Left Action (Z/X) swings the pneumatic chisel to carve or break blocks; Right Action (Spacebar) fires the grappling hook to pull Vance toward ledges or push heavy Moai blocks
Enter: Start / Pause