BurgerTime
| Burger Time | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Data East |
| Publisher(s) | Bally Midway |
| Designer(s) | Data East |
| Release | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Retro/Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
Burgertime ( バーガータイム) is a 1982 Japanese arcade game created by Data East Corporation for their DECO Cassette System. Data East Corp originally named the game Hamburger in Japan but they quickly changed the name to Burgertime. The player assumes the part of a chef, "Peter Pepper." This game was very popular for several years, unlike its sequels. On its arrival in the United States, Burgertime was distributed by Bally Midway under license from Data East USA. Data East produced the original version of the cabinet in the same year as Bally Midway but their game did not obtain the same success as Bally Midway's although both versions are identical with the only difference being the manufacturer name on the title screen. The artwork does differs substantially though; the Data East marquee is a smaller size with completely different depictions of Peter and his foes.
- The game does not ever indicate, whether through in-game or cabinet instructions, that the restaurant, where this game takes place, has a name.
Description
The game field consists of ladders and catwalks interspersed with oversized hamburger ingredients such as buns, cheese, patties, and lettuce. The ingredients are arranged vertically in such a manner as to construct four enormous burgers.
Object
The object is to make four hamburgers per level by running over ingredients. The player assumes the role of the chef, desperately trying to assemble the hamburgers by running over the ingredients. When the player has walked along the entire width of an ingredient, the ingredient falls down one level. If an ingredient falls atop another, the lower ingredient will also fall down by a level. The fastest way to assemble a burger, then, is to repeatedly traverse the top-most ingredient.
While assembling the burgers, the player must dodge animated "enemy" foods: Mr Hot Dog, Mr Pickle and Mr Egg. Enemies may be temporarily killed by crushing them under falling fixings or luring them onto a partially-traversed ingredient and then causing the ingredient to fall. In this situation, the added weight of the enemy makes the ingredient drop farther down. Enemies destroyed in this manner regenerate and re-enter the playfield after a few seconds.
The players's defense is limited to running and to spraying pepper. Enemy foods are briefly paralyzed by the pepper, making it possible to get away. The supply of pepper available to the player is limited. The player may obtain extra shots of pepper by obtaining bonus foods which occasionally appear, such as coffee, an ice cream cone or french fries.
Legacy
Due to this game's success, it spawned two sequels: Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory and Super BurgerTime. Neither were widely released or very popular.
Ports
Due to this game's success, it was ported to several home computers and consoles: DOS, Apple II, NES, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, TI99/4A and Intellivision. More recently, it can be found on mobile phones.
Popular culture
Mr. Egg made an appearence in an episode of Matt Groening's Futurama.