Lode Runner: Escape From Empire

This is the fourth Lode Runner arcade game. Released in Japan only, the object is to collect all the gold nuggets in the level and make your way to the exit. Be careful: you will be chased by monsters who not only kill you upon contact, but will steal any nugget you are carrying. You can deal with them by digging holes in the platform you are standing on in an attempt to make the monsters fall into them. Once they are killed this way, they respawn at the top of the screen. After every three levels, a cut-scene is played and new monsters are introduced. There are 30 levels and the game ends when you run out of lives.

The game introduced so called "Pair Game" mode which was a set of 15 screens where two players could compete sharing only one set of lives. Both players played the same level simultaneously, but if either of them got caught by a monster, they both died and had to start the level again.