Classic of the Month - BurgerTime

Manufacturer:	Data East
Genre:	Platformer
Board:	DECO Cassette System
Year:	1982

This month, MonkeyPaw Games released their update of BurgerTime for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.  It's not bad, but lacks the purity of Data East's original, so I decided I should make it this November's CotM.

The setup for BurgerTime is simple enough: as chef Peter Pepper, you must assemble burgers while avoiding contact with the pursuing food-related enemies, which included frankfurters, fried eggs and pickles.  The problem (and therefore the challenge) was that the burgers were enormous, person-sized affairs, with their constitute parts (top bun-half, salad, burger meat and bottom bun-half) spread across different platforms.  To put these elements together you had to run across them (don't mention health and safety) to make them fall down to the next tier of the level.  The parts could be made to cascade, which was risky, but did save time.  For example, if you ran across the top bun-half, it would fall on the salad, which in turn would fall on the meat, which would land on the bottom bun-half.  However, you had to walk across each layer completely, otherwise it wouldn't fall.  To help you keep up your pace, you start each round with 6 twists of a pepper grinder, which can be used to temporarily stun the enemy food that chased you around the level.  Other than that, all you could do to avoid losing a life was to turn tale and climb up or down a ladder to another tier.

As with most arcade games from that period, BurgerTime was fun, simple, irreverent and above all, challenging.  Let's take a look at it in action:

As well as the recent console sequel, there were a number of arcade sequels, most notably Super BurgerTime, which added the jump mechanic that has stay with the franchise ever since - for better or worse.

MTW

What are dip switches?

Dip switches are small switches that can be found on lots of different circuit boards, from computer motherboards to engine management systems in cars to air conditioning systems. They allow engineers to turn on different operating modes by selecting different combinations of switches. These different modes may may be something simple like a diagnostic mode to something that fundamentally changing how the machine works.

They can also be found in the system boards of arcade machines. Dip switches on arcade machines allow arcade operators to things like how many credits are required to play or turning sounds on and off in attract mode. They often even allowed operators to change the gameplay, with options for how many lives players start with, when to award bonus lives and even difficulty.

Here's a pic of dip switch banks 6K and 6J on a Galaga system board, highlighted by a red border:

As you can see, they are pretty small -- too small to change with your finger tip, so people usually use a small flat screw driver or even a pen, if they're feeling lazy.

If you play games on MAME, go into the options and you will usually find dip switch settings you can change in there too.

MTW

Attack of the Clones

Years before I ever played games like Asteroids, Pac-Man or Defender in the arcade I played a number of very (very) similar games on my older brother's BBC Micro B. Only, they weren't called Asteroids, Pac-Man or Defender, they were called Meteors, Snapper and Planetoid and they were some of the many clones created by companies like Acornsoft, Micro Power and Superior Software. I never questioned the similarities at the time, but thinking about it now, the BBC B had rather a lot of blatant rip o— ahem, I mean clo— err, I meant homages to classic arcade games. And although I cannot speak for many other computers and consoles of that era, I'm pretty sure systems like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum had their fair share of clones too.

Here are a few of the BBC B games I can remember — see if you can work out what arcade games they were based on:

 

 

 

I think you'll agree, all rather blatant and I doubt, in today's more copyright conscious society, Acornsoft, Micro Power or Superior Software could have got away with it. Still, as my memory serves, they were generally pretty good clones.

For more classic BBC B games check out http://www.bbcmicrogames.com

MTW

Creepy Classic of the Month - Ghosts 'n Goblins

Manufacturer:	Capcom
Genre:	Platformer
Board:	Capcom Z80 hardware
Year:	1985

Halloween is upon us once again, which means it's time for another spooky Classic of the Month.  Last year I talked about the dreary Splatterhouse, which can hardly be called a classic, unlike this year's game, Ghosts 'n Goblins.

The game begins with our hero, Sir Arthur and his beloved Princess Prin Prin, relaxing in a graveyard (for some reason) when a winged demon swoops down and steals the girl.  Who hasn't been there - am I right?  Quick as a flash, Sir Arthur dons his armour (did I mention he's just in his boxers at the beginning?) and immediately finds himself waist deep in the undead.  And so begins an epic and absolutely rock-hard run and gun (well, javelin) adventure, which quickly cemented itself in the collective conscience of arcade gamers around the world.  A big part of its appeal was it's personality, like the way Sir Arthur could take two hits from enemies, but the first hit knocked off his armour.

If you play it today, you will still enjoy it, but you may well be put off by its difficulty - especially since part of that difficult is imposed by the sluggish controls.  You cannot actually fire javelins and run at the same time; instead, Sir Arthur pauses for a split second, which gives the zombies, demonic crows, skeletons, vampires and other monstrosities plenty of opportunity to do you in.

Three years after its release, Capcom brought out a sequel, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, the one and only arcade sequel.  Capcom did bring out numerous ports, sequels and updates, across dozens of different platforms, but for me, the one to play was the Maximo series on the PlayStation 2.  It was the perfect reimagining of the game for (then) modern consoles, with gorgeous 3D polygonal graphics, but all of the gameplay, charm and of course difficulty that made the original so great.

MTW

Daytona USA port hits consoles

Sega's Daytona USA hit the arcades in 1993 and at the time it was a technical marvel, as it was one of the first games to use textured polygonal graphics.  If you have any fondness for the clunky, but nonetheless historically significant racer then you can now play it on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.  Unlike Sega's ports of After Burner, Outrun 2 and Sega Rally, Daytona USA has not been given a makeover, beyond upping the resolution.  To be honest, taken out of its arcade environment and placed on a platform that has a lot of its equally nostalgic, but significantly updated brethren, some people may be put off of Daytona's dated looks. However, it's still a fast-paced and thrilling game, plus there's a demo (at least there is on the Xbox), so it's worth checking it out, if only to marvel at how far 3D graphics have come and to sing along to the title music.

MTW

What is screen burn?

Back in the 70s and 80s, people were not quite so energy conscious and as such arcade machines would be left on for 12+ hours a day, with the phosphor on the back of the monitor sizzling away from the constant beam of the cathode ray in the back of the unit. If an image was left firing at back of the screen for long enough, the phosphor layer would erode, leaving a ghost image known as screen burn, burn-in, after image or ghost images, pictured below:

Domino Man title screen (left) and the "screen burn" effect on a CRT monitor (right)

The mainly affected early arcade games, as manufacturers quickly discovered what was happening and started adding "attract modes" to their games, with constantly moving images to prevent the phosphor damage. This, incidentally, is precisely why computers have screen savers.

MTW

Raiden Fighters compilation finally coming to UK

Back in March 2008, Japanese Xbox 360 gamers were treated to a compilation of Seibu Kaihatsu's sublime shmup series, Raiden Fighters.  The compilation was called Raiden Fighters Aces and contained ports of Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive and Raiden Fighters Jet, which were released in arcades between 1996 and 2000.

The compilation came to America in 2009, but I had given up hope of it coming to Europe.  However, several online stores here in the UK are saying it's out in July and priced between £14 and £20, which is a bargain as far as I'm concerned.  And talking of concerned, if you're worried these are shoddy ports, just check out the American reviews.  Other than the short length of the games, the lack of online multiplayer and the fact the gamees look there age, nobody can fault Gulti's conversions.

So until July, here's a video to whet your appetites.

UPDMTWE (02/07/2011): Looks like the release date has slipped.  Most online stores are now saying September, but the actual date varies, which makes me think it won't be out that month either. Oh well.

UPDMTWE (01/10/2011): September has come and gone and still no EU release for this compilation.  I think it's vapourware and I won't bother covering it again until I have a PAL copy in my Xbox!  Thank you for your time.

MTW