Post by wafflerevolution on Sept 11, 2013 18:03:22 GMT
by CodingGenius
Want to learn valuable life lessons like pepper can repel six foot pickles? Read on!
Arcade, LCD Handheld, Aquarius, Atari 2600, PC, Apple II, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Commodore 64, NES, GameBoy...
In 1982, Data East released the arcade game Burgertime. Back in the 80s, arcade machines could be found everywhere - corner stores, pizza parlors, even burger restaurants. What could be more American than a game about making burgers?
What could be more American than a game about making burgers? You play as Peter Pepper, a chef who has a lot of burgers to make. It is like a never-ending nightmare where your job never ends! You walk through a maze of ladders and platforms strewn with buns, burger patties, and condiments. Walking completely across a food item causes it to fall to the level below, squashing enemies below it and forcing the rest of the food below it down a level.
Once the burgers are complete, so is the level. This would be easy and monotonous, were it not for the enemies that stalk your every move. There is the bent hot dog, who attacks in teams. An unexpected foe is the fried egg. According to various sources, the egg was chosen as a villain because a fried egg can be added to hamburgers in Japan, where the game was invented. In later levels, the sinister pickles rear their ugly heads. These flipping, undulating condiments are perhaps bitter that they were not included in the burgers being prepared?
Should you find yourself cornered, you can temporarily stun them with pepper. You start with 4 peppers, but can pick up extra ones in the form of hamburger related foods: ketchup, french fries, ketchup, ice cream cones, or a milkshake. It is unclear why some items choose to assist you, yet others taunt you.
2 players could play against one another, one at a time. This game caused intense rivalry in my house, as I am sure it did in many arcades!
Burgertime spawned sequels like Diner (Intellivision) and Super Burgertime (arcade), and inspired many cheap knockoffs. Unfortunately, Data East went belly up in 2003. Its rights were bought by a mobile provider out of Japan, so it is likely that any future incarnations will appear on mobile phones.
Odds are, if you own any system made in the 80s or 90s, there is a version of this game for you. Pick it up!
