Saturday, November 20, 2010

Berzerk

Yikes, this game is 30 years old. I still remember it as one of the earliest games that was sitting around at Skateway, and I played it every once in a while even though I wasn't very good. Maybe it was the cool robot voice samples that made this game memorable to me. It certainly would grab your attention with real loud "Kill all humanoids!" samples blaring now and then. It was pretty repetitive, and the only differences were the speed and colour of the robots. I liked how the robots could shoot each other if they got in each other's way, and it certainly made my job easier, which apparently was to kill all robots.

It also was memorable for the giant evil happy face that would come out of nowhere if you took too long trying to dispatch the regular robots. This evil happy face was indestructable and faster than you. You could maybe outrun it if you were near an exit, but otherwise, the evil happy face would run you down and bounce on you with its evil happy face.

There is also a sequel called Frenzy, but I never knew of its existence until emulators came along. Basically the same thing with a few more obstacles, like walls that would ricochet your lasers and differently shaped robots.

This was the easiest creation I've made so far. I mean, 13 pieces, no weird angles, and all one colour. Took me less than five minutes total. Oh well, I already know what I'm making for December, another oldie that appears more difficult than I expected. Stay tuned!

3 comments:

Ralph- said...

This is one of the first games i remember playing on the 2600. It's such a simple concept and would actually like to see one of those HD upgrades. I think it would work perfect with the PS3 dual stick controllers.

pursuit agent said...

As long as they leave the happy face totally pixellated...

Ralph- said...

I like what they did with Tecmo Bowl, where you can switch from classic graphics to new graphics on the fly.