Tozai Games announced today that Spelunker, the fiendishly challenging classic platformer, is available now for Nintendo’s Virtual Console service for Wii U in North America and Europe. The game also launches today in the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS in North America and is expected to be available in Europe on July 18. Notorious for its exacting controls and ridiculous number of ways to die, the game has become a cult phenomenon, especially in Japan, inspiring musical tributes, toys, comics and even sports slang.

Created by Tim Martin in 1983, Spelunker is the weakest action hero in the history of video games, whose colossal spirit for adventure is countered only by his miniscule threshold for pain. Wander through miles of uncharted caves in search of the legendary underground pyramid and its vast treasures. But beware of the scalding steam vents, poisonous bats and the avenging spirits of dead spelunkers that lurk in every corner of this massive underground labyrinth.

"When I served as executive producer on the NES game back in 1985, we had no inkling of how huge the Spelunker phenomenon would become," says Scott Tsumura, Tozai’s co-founder. "For a character who dies so easily in the game, his notoriety has endured for three decades now, and he continues to gain new fans as Spelunker is released on contemporary platforms."