Pixel Arcade
About this game
Barrel Climb is a single-screen climbing platformer. You start at the bottom of a girder frame, a stream of barrels rolls down toward you, and the only way out is up a chain of ladders while timing your jumps.
Move with the arrow keys and jump with space or up; on touch, the D-pad steers and the FIRE button jumps. Jumping a barrel scores 100 points, and the hammer power-up lets you destroy barrels for about ten seconds — worth 300 each — but it locks you out of ladders while it is active, so grabbing it at the wrong moment strands you on a girder.
The rhythm to learn is that barrels choose randomly whether to roll past a ladder or drop down it. Standing directly under a ladder gap is the most dangerous place on the screen. The safest route hugs the outer edge of each girder, then crosses to the ladder late, once a barrel has committed to its path.
Every completed climb restarts the site with more barrels and a shorter gap between them, so the game is a score run rather than a story. Single-screen climbing cabinets like this were the format that turned the jump button into a genre in 1981.
FAQ
How many stages are there?
One construction site that loops, getting faster and busier each time round.
Does the hammer let me climb?
No. While you hold it you cannot use ladders, so plan where you pick it up.
Keyboard or touch?
Both. The pad under the screen has a jump button.
Related games
Found a bug or have an idea? Tell us on Discord. Join the Discord