Space Panic

Space Panic (スぺース・パ二ック, Supesu Panikku) is a 1980 arcade video game developed by Universal. Presented in a side view, the player digs holes in horizontal platforms to trap pursuing aliens, then eliminates them by hitting them with a shovel. A port to the PV-1000 by Casio and a ColecoVision version by CBS Electronics were both released in 1983.

Predating Nintendo's Donkey Kong, and lacking a jump mechanic, Space Panic was the first game involving climbing ladders between walkable platforms. The genre was initially labeled "climbing games" and "ladder games", but by the late 1980s became known as platform games.

The original arcade game was commercially successful in Japan, but an obscure release in North America. A 1981 clone, Apple Panic, available before any official home versions, became a top-seller on the Apple II and was ported to other home computers. There were over a dozen Space Panic clones for home systems, often with "panic" in the title. Lode Runner (1983) later put its own spin on climbing and digging, a lineage which eventually took on the name puzzle-platform games.