Impossible Mission

# Impossible Mission ## "Stay Awhile... Stay Forever!" Impossible Mission, released by Epyx in 1984, was one of the first games to feature digitized speech on the Commodore 64. The game's villain, Professor Elvin Atombender, taunts players with the iconic phrase that became legendary in gaming history. ## Gameplay Innovation The game combined platform action with puzzle-solving in a way that was revolutionary for its time: - Randomized room layouts for infinite replayability - 36 rooms to explore in Atombender's underground lair - Puzzle pieces to collect and assemble - 6-hour time limit (game time) - Security robots with different behavior patterns ## Technical Achievements ### Digitized Speech The game used advanced compression techniques to fit multiple speech samples: - "Another visitor... Stay awhile... Stay forever!" - "Destroy him, my robots!" - Player screams when falling ### Animation System The protagonist's animations were remarkably fluid: - Realistic running and jumping - Somersault moves - Searching furniture animations ## Platform Differences While originally developed for the Commodore 64, the game appeared on many platforms with varying quality: - C64: The definitive version with best sound and graphics - ZX Spectrum: Simplified graphics but retained gameplay - Amstrad CPC: Good port with different color palette - Atari 7800: Later port with enhanced graphics ## Legacy Impossible Mission spawned sequels and influenced countless games. Its combination of action, puzzle-solving, and exploration became a template for many adventure-platform games that followed.