Satan's Hollow

Lore & Background

In Satan's Hollow, the player must shoot flying formations of gargoyles to collect pieces of a bridge that must be built over a river of lava. Once the bridge is completed, the player can cross it to face Satan. Destroying Satan scores bonus points based on the number of waves completed. The player then resumes battling gargoyles and must build a new, longer bridge to fight Satan again. The visual palette remains consistent throughout the game.

As the game progresses, gargoyles throw exploding eggs and rocks that can destroy bridge sections. The player also faces disembodied devil heads that float and spit fire. The player can use a shield that destroys any enemy touching it, but it can only be used for a short time before it must recharge. If an enemy reaches the bottom of the screen, the player loses a life.

Reader's Guide

Satan's Hollow holds significance as a fixed shooter from the early 1980s that combined demonic themes with a unique bridge-building mechanic. Its use of the same flight-controller joystick as Tron highlights a shared hardware design at Bally Midway. The game received a moderate rating of four out of six stars from French magazine Tilt in 1983. A Commodore 64 port was published in 1984. Versions for Atari 8-bit computers and the Atari 5200 were completed and advertised by CBS Software but never released. The game's legacy endures through its inclusion in the Midway Arcade Treasures collection (2003 for PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox; 2004 for Windows) and the Midway Arcade Origins collection (2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), ensuring continued access for retro gaming enthusiasts.

Did You Know?

• Satan's Hollow uses the same flight-controller style joystick with built-in trigger as Midway's Tron, released the same year.
• A Commodore 64 port of Satan's Hollow was published in 1984.
• The game is included in the Midway Arcade Treasures collection (2003) and the Midway Arcade Origins collection (2012).