Originally released by MicroGraphic Image for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1983, the game was ported to the Commodore 64 and re-released by Broderbund in 1984, with European publishing rights licensed to Ariolasoft.

It was released on arcade in 1985, on the Nintendo Entertainment System on December 7, 1985 in Japan and September 1987 in North America, and on the MSX in 1986.

The player must walk and jump through increasingly challenging parts of the cave, all while working with a finite supply of fresh air, which can be replenished at various points.

The Arcade version uses additional game elements (such as shooting and scuba diving) and has an original level design, and the same is true for Spelunker HD.

[4] The splash screen of the original Atari version features an excerpt of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition as title music.

Three former programmers from this company – Tim Martin, Robert Barber, and Cash Foley – subsequently formed MicroGraphicImage.

Martin and Barber's expertise was with the Atari 2600,[5] and they were dissatisfied with the money being made through contract game development.

At the January 1983 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they developed a relationship with Gary Carlson, one of the founders of Broderbund.

Although MicroGraphicImage was able to maintain a steady stream of contract work, the company was not profitable due to the overheads of financial business focus going into publishing.

Martin continued working with Broderbund on a business level and was able recover all debt through NES and coin-op versions of Spelunker.

[10] The game was re-released for Virtual Console in Japan on August 28, 2007, and in 2008 for North America on March 17,[11][12] and Europe on September 5 on Wii.

The game was made available for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in Japan on December 19, 2012, and in 2013 for North America on June 27, and Europe on July 18.