The game takes place over three zones that are based on the movie's plot, where the objective is to free the slave children and recover the Sankara stones.

The second version, released by Tengen after the rights reverted from Mindscape,[1] came in a black cartridge that was different from Nintendo's traditional grey color format.

By this point, Tengen had split from Nintendo and was releasing unlicensed games that attempted to circumvent the need for a 10NES lockout chip.

In addition, the entire style of play is different and bestows upon the player more weapons and items for Jones to collect from the slave children he frees.

At the onset of the game, Jones has just reached the Pankot Palace featured in the movie and is preparing to free the slave children, recover the missing Sankara Stones and defeat Mola Ram and his Thuggee entourage.

[4] The player advances through 12 levels (called "waves"), the first nine of which require Jones to travel through the palace and recover the Sankara Stones.

In addition, if Jones lands in any of the lava pits, crashes a mine cart or hits a boulder or spike trap, he loses one life.

[6] Although hyped up in Nintendo Power's "Video Shorts" section as an upcoming release,[7] Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom met with generally negative reception.

Also cited as flaws are poor controls, unappealing graphics, the number of enemies, and the text-only ending screen.

The reviewer admitted, however, that the game's "respectable attempt to preserve John Williams' musical score" was one of its only highlights.

The arcade game, like the console adaptation, obtained its theme music (as well as sound effects that were absent on the NES version) from the film itself.