Barney's Hide & Seek Game

Last updated

Barney's Hide & Seek
Barney's Hide & Seek Game cover.jpg
Developer(s) Realtime Associates [1]
Publisher(s) Sega (North America) [2]
Tec Toy (South America)
Designer(s) Ann Lediaev
Jesse Taylor
Programmer(s) Michael Dimambro
Artist(s) Darin Hilton
Connie Goldman
Ellen Drucker
Composer(s) Eric Swanson [2]
Platform(s) Sega Genesis
Release
Genre(s) Two-dimensional platformer [1]
Mode(s) Single-player

Barney's Hide & Seek Game is a video game that was released on June 1, 1993, by Sega of America for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.

Contents

This game was released exclusively in the North and South American markets. It was based on the children's television series Barney & Friends . Educational concepts taught in the game include counting, matching, and problem solving. There is a self-play feature that guides the player to the objective without input from the player. [4]

The voice of Barney was recorded by Bob West, who also did it on the television show. There are more than one hundred words and two hundred phrases spoken by Barney the Dinosaur. [4]

Gameplay

Barney finds one of the kids in a "hide and seek" game. BarneysHideandSeekGameGenesisScreenshot.gif
Barney finds one of the kids in a "hide and seek" game.

In this game, the objective is to move Barney around four themed levels and locate five children and five presents that are hiding throughout the level. [2] Should the player find all the children and presents in different levels, they would be rewarded with a "special surprise". During the surprise, the purple balloon pop and confetti and streamers fall from above onto excited children, as well as Barney and Baby Bop. Players are unable to lose in the game, even if they did not retrieve all the objects and find all the missing children in the level.

When nowhere near an object to interact with, Barney can blow kisses in the air complete with flying heart symbols. Locating a child results in giving him or her a hug. Barney can fly on balloons, float on clouds, and jump on nearby platforms. The inability for Barney to die is indicated by his refusal to fall off floating platforms; instead there is a safety lecture handed out by Barney so kids can learn to be careful like him. Cloud jumping is only possible when the traffic light is showing a green signal. [5]

Favorite things are always mentioned by name by Barney when the player helps him discover them. Most of the lines for the game were recorded with the nouns and verbs being fractured, resulting in one-second pauses between non-crucial words and words crucial to gameplay. [6]

Reception

The game received mixed reviews based on its very simplistic gameplay. Brett Alan Weiss of AllGame gave it a rating of 4/5, stating that the game was "perfectly suited" for its target audience. On the other hand Vince Thornburg of Sega-16 stated that the game "did its purpose of being a simple game for kids, and that’s about it."

Speedrunning interest

The game received attention from the speedrunning community due to its unique self-playing feature. The game will beat itself even if given no input by the player, but random elements cause playthroughs to take different amounts of time despite the lack of player interaction. This prompted the creation of a speedrunning category called "Any% No Controller", in which players do not touch the controller, and instead wait for the game to play itself to completion. [8] Inconsistencies in the hardware seem to make it so the world record of 9 minutes and 9 seconds (as of January 2020) can only be achieved via a physical console, and not on an emulator. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glitch</span> Short-lived fault in a computer system

A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among players of video games. More generally, all types of systems including human organizations and nature experience glitches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speedrunning</span> Act of playing a video game as quickly as possible

Speedrunning is the act of playing a video game, or section of a video game, with the goal of completing it as fast as possible. Speedrunning often involves following planned routes, which may incorporate sequence breaking and can exploit glitches that allow sections to be skipped or completed more quickly than intended. Tool-assisted speedrunning (TAS) is a subcategory of speedrunning that uses emulation software to slow the game down and create a precisely controlled sequence of inputs.

A tool-assisted speedrun or tool-assisted superplay is generally defined as a speedrun or playthrough composed of precise inputs recorded with tools such as video game emulators. Tool-assisted speedruns are generally created with the goal of creating theoretically perfect playthroughs. This includes but is not limited to the fastest possible route to complete a game and/or showcasing new ways to optimize existing world records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Analog stick</span> Input device for a video game controller

An analog stick, also known as control stick, joystick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation to the default "center" position. While digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement, analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers to measure the exact position of the stick within its full range of motion. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the D-pad in both prominence and usage in console video games.

Speed Demos Archive is a website dedicated to video game speedruns. SDA's primary focus is hosting downloadable, high-quality speedrun videos, and currently has runs of over eleven hundred games, with more being added on a regular basis. SDA additionally used to host two annual speedrunning charity marathons, Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) and Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ), before Games Done Quick LLC started holding the event independently in 2015. It hosted nine marathons in total, and raised over $2.7 million for various charities, with the most successful one being AGDQ 2014 which raised just over $1 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Glitching is an activity in which a person finds and exploits flaws or glitches in video games to achieve something that was not intended by the game designers. Players who engage in this practice are known as glitchers. Some glitches can be easily achieved, while others are either very difficult or unperformable by humans and can only be achieved with tool-assisted input. Glitches can vary greatly in the level of game manipulation, from setting a flag to writing and executing custom code from within the game.

<i>Wonder Boy III: The Dragons Trap</i> 1989 action-adventure video game

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, known as Monster World II in Japan, is a platforming action-adventure video game developed by Westone as part of Sega's Wonder Boy series. It was published by Sega and released for the Master System in 1989 and for the Game Gear in 1992 as Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. It was ported by Hudson Soft and released in 1991 for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine under the name Dragon's Curse. It was also ported in 1993 by Brazilian company Tec Toy under the title Turma da Mônica em o Resgate, with the game retooled to include characters from Brazilian comic book series Monica's Gang. A remake developed by Lizardcube and published by DotEmu, titled Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, was released in April 2017.

<i>Exosquad</i> (video game) 1995 video game

Exosquad is a Sega Genesis video game based on the animated television series under the same title and developed by Appaloosa Interactive.

Quake done Quick is a series of collaborative speedruns and machinima movies in which the video game Quake, its mission packs, and related games are completed as quickly as possible without the use of cheats. Most playthroughs use shortcuts or tricks, such as bunny hopping and rocket jumping, in order to achieve a faster time. These movies are available in the game engine's native demo format and in various multimedia formats such as AVI.

There have been a variety of Sesame Street video games released for video game platforms. Most of the Sesame Street video games were published and developed by NewKidCo.

<i>Illusion</i> (video game series) Series of platforming video games licensed by Disney

Illusion, known in Japan as I Love Mickey Mouse, is a series of platforming video games developed and published by Sega for its consoles Master System, Sega Genesis and Game Gear. The series follows the adventures of Disney's cartoon character Mickey Mouse between various fantasy worlds. The series includes Castle of Illusion, and its sequels Land of Illusion, World of Illusion and Legend of Illusion.

Piotr Delgado Kusielczuk, better known as The Mexican Runner or TMR, is a speedrunner who specialises in Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. After three years, on February 26, 2017, TMR was the first player to play through the entire NTSC and PAL NES catalogue, completing 714 officially-licensed titles in a project he called NESMania, which earned him a Guinness World Record. TMR is also known for his speedrunning accomplishments in Contra, Battletoads, and Cuphead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PangaeaPanga</span> American ROM hacker, tool-assisted speedrunner, and Twitch streamer

Alex Tan, better known under the screen names PangaeaPanga, PePanga and formerly penangbenny, is an American ROM hacker, speedrunner and tool-assisted speedrunner. He is best known as the creator of difficult Super Mario World ROM hacks and Super Mario Maker levels. His notable work includes Super Mario World ROM hack Super Dram World and Super Mario Maker levels "P-Break" and the "Pit of Panga" series. He has also played through Super Mario World blindfolded.

<i>The Flintstones</i> (1988 video game) 1988 video game

The Flintstones is a 1988 video game based on the 1960s television series The Flintstones. The game was developed by Teque Software Development and published by Grandslam Entertainments. The game was released in Europe in 1988, for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX, and ZX Spectrum. A version for the Sega Master System was released in 1991.

<i>Three Dirty Dwarves</i> 1996 video game

Three Dirty Dwarves is a 1996 beat 'em up video game developed by Appaloosa Interactive and published by Sega for their Sega Saturn console. It was later ported to PC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheese (speedrunner)</span> Trinidadian speedrunner (born 1995)

Allan Alvarez, more commonly known as cheese, is a Trinidadian-Spanish speedrunner and podcaster known for his Super Mario 64 records.

TASBot is a tool-assisted speedrun mascot created in 2013, developed by a team led by dwangoAC. A replay device takes a list of controller inputs which it then sends to a console such as a Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) directly via signals to the controller ports.

Zfg is an American speedrunner and streamer known for his The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time gameplay. He has held various records in speedrunning the game and its alternative version Master Quest, most notably the 100% completion category for the original game, for which he had held the record since mid-2015. He was the first person to complete Ocarina of Time to 100% in under four hours. He currently holds the record in the 100% SRM category with a time of 3 hours, 0 minutes, and 39 seconds, as of December 2022.

<i>Neon White</i> 2022 video game

Neon White is a first-person shooter and puzzle-platforming game developed by Angel Matrix and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and the Nintendo Switch on June 16, 2022. It was released on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on December 13, 2022. It is also in development for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

<i>Barney</i> (franchise) American childrens media franchise

Barney is an American media franchise targeted at children aged 2–7. Centering around the titular character Barney, a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable and optimistic attitude, the franchise consists of three series: Barney & the Backyard Gang (1988—1991), a direct-to-video series consisting of only eight episodes; Barney & Friends (1992—2010), a television series that ran on PBS Kids; and Barney's World (2024), an upcoming, completely computer-animated series to air on Cartoon Network's Cartoonito and stream on Max. The franchise is currently distributed by 9 Story Media Group, under license from Mattel Television.

References

  1. 1 2 "Developer/genre information". GameSpot . Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gameplay analysis/designer information". MobyGames . Retrieved 2008-12-09.
  3. ↑ "Release date information". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  4. 1 2 "Basic overview". GameFAQs . Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  5. ↑ "Advanced gameplay analysis". IWebLand (through Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 2006-10-25. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
  6. ↑ "Overview of Barney's voice". Just Games Retro. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  7. ↑ Thornburg, Vince (2005-07-14). "Barney's Hide and Seek Game". sega-16.com. Archived from the original on 2018-01-27. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  8. ↑ "Barney's Hide & Seek Game - speedrun.com". Speedrun.com . Archived from the original on 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  9. ↑ SizzylSizzyl (2018-10-01). "No Controller Guide". Speedrun.com . Archived from the original on 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
Listen to this article (3 minutes)
Sound-icon.svg
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 30 April 2019 (2019-04-30), and does not reflect subsequent edits.
(Audio help  · More spoken articles)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.