| Big Bird's Egg Catch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Children's Computer Workshop |
| Publisher(s) | Atari, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Educational |
| Mode(s) | Players: 1-2 |
Big Bird's Egg Catch is a video game for the Atari 2600 developed by Atari, Inc. and Children's Computer Workshop and published by Atari in 1983.
In Big Bird's Egg Catch, the player controls Big Bird from Sesame Street he saves eggs produced by chickens at the top of the screen. These eggs travel down variously contorted chutes to land safely in the basket perched on Big Bird's head. Most eggs count for a single point, but a golden egg will periodically appear that is worth five points. When an egg is dropped, a number of points are lost. At higher levels, the eggs move faster, the chutes become more convoluted, there are more egg-laying hens, and the chutes may even flash invisible. "Turkey in the Straw", the song that plays during the egg-catching, also increases in tempo.
Periodically, Big Bird will exit the screen to count his eggs. During this stage, Big Bird is seen with his basket and numbers flash on the screen progressively faster as he counts. When the total is reached, a song is played and Big Bird dances. The game ends when too many eggs are dropped or a set number of counting sessions is performed.
Big Bird's Egg Catch bears many similarities to other games of the time, such as Kaboom! . What sets it apart is that this game does not use a paddle controller common to games with similar gameplay.
Suzan D. Prince for Electronic Fun with Computers & Games said "Big Bird will definitely be a hit with the kindergarten set, while parents might just find themselves sneaking in a round every now and then." [1]
Joust is an action game developed by Williams Electronics and released in arcades in 1982. While not the first two-player cooperative video game, Joust's success and polished implementation popularized the concept. Players assume the role of knights armed with lances and mounted on large birds, who must fly around the screen and defeat enemy knights riding buzzards.
Pitfall! is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose lives or points.
Miner 2049er is a platform game developed for Atari 8-bit computers by Bill Hogue and released by his company, Big Five Software, in 1982. The player controls Bounty Bob through multiple levels of a mine, with the goal of traversing all of the platforms while avoiding or defeating enemy mutants. At a time when "climbing games" such as Donkey Kong had four screens, Miner 2049er had ten.
Gorf is an arcade video game released in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing, whose name was advertised as an acronym for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force". It is a fixed shooter with five distinct levels, the first of which is based on Space Invaders and another on Galaxian. The game makes heavy use of synthesized speech for the Gorfian robot which taunts the player, powered by the Votrax speech chip. Gorf allows the player to buy two additional lives per quarter before starting the game, for a maximum of seven lives.
Chuck Norris Superkicks is a video game produced by Xonox in 1984. It was later sold as Kung Fu Superkicks and Super Kung Fu when the license for the use of the name Chuck Norris expired. The game was produced for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 2600, and ColecoVision as part of Xonox's double-ender cartridge line.
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, known as Zoom 909 in Japan, is a pseudo-3D rail shooter released as an arcade video game by Sega in 1982. The player controls a spaceship in a third-person perspective, adapting the three-dimensional perspective of Sega's earlier racing game Turbo (1981) for the space shoot 'em up genre. It uses the Buck Rogers license, referencing the space battles, though Buck himself is never seen.
Robert S. Harris, nicknamed RoSHa, is an American designer and programmer who created several 1980s home computer and console games, including War Room and Killer Bees!.
Killer Bees! is an action video game written by Robert S. Harris for the Magnavox Odyssey2 and published in 1983.
One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, commonly known as One on One, is a basketball video game written by Eric Hammond for the Apple II and published by Electronic Arts in 1983. It was initially ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and IBM PC compatibles. Versions followed for the TRS-80 Color Computer, Classic Mac OS, Amiga, and ZX Spectrum. In Europe, the publisher was Ariolasoft. Atari Corporation released an Atari 7800 port in 1987.
M*A*S*H is an action game, based on the film, written for the Atari 2600 and published by Fox Video Games in 1983. It was designed and programmed by Doug Neubauer. Ports to the Atari 8-bit computers, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, Intellivision, and ColecoVision followed.
Blue Max is a scrolling shooter written by Bob Polin for Atari 8-bit computers and published by Synapse Software in 1983. It was released for the Commodore 64 the same year. U.S. Gold published the Commodore 64 version in the UK in 1984 and ported the game to the ZX Spectrum. In 1987, Atari Corporation published Blue Max as a cartridge styled for the then-new Atari XEGS.
Pressure Cooker is a video game for the Atari 2600 designed by Garry Kitchen and released by Activision in 1983. The player is a short-order cook at a hamburger stand who must assemble and package hamburgers to order without letting ingredients or hamburgers fall to the floor.
Avalanche is an arcade video game designed by Dennis Koble and released by Atari, Inc. in 1978. The object is to catch falling rocks with a controllable set of paddles that diminish in number and size as the rocks fall faster and faster. The concept gained a much wider audience after Activision released an unauthorized adaptation in 1981 as Kaboom! for the Atari 2600. The only official home port of Avalanche is for Atari 8-bit computers.
Cosmic Ark is an Atari 2600 game designed by Rob Fulop and published by Imagic in 1982. The objective is to gather specimens from different planets in a spaceship which contains the survivors from the city of Atlantis. There are two versions of the cartridge. One allows the player to toggle the starfield display with the Black & White / Color TV switch. In the other the starfield cannot be disabled.
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.
Capture the Flag is a 3D first-person perspective, two player, video game, released for the Atari 8-bit computers and VIC-20 by Sirius Software in 1983. It was written by Paul Allen Edelstein as the follow-up to his 1982 game, Wayout, which has similar maze-based gameplay for one player. Along with its predecessor, Capture the Flag was among the first 3D maze games to offer the player full 360 degree movement, and one of the earliest multiplayer games from a first-person perspective within a 3D rendered environment.
Chicken is a video game for Atari 8-bit computers written by Mike Potter and published by Synapse Software in 1982. The game is similar to Atari, Inc.'s. 1978 arcade video game Avalanche, replacing the buckets and boulders with a hen trying to catch her eggs.
Sorcerer's Apprentice is a video game for the Atari 2600, based on a sequence from the film Fantasia.
Bandits is a 1982 fixed shooter written by Tony and Benny Ngo for the Apple II and published by Sirius Software. The game is a clone of Taito's 1980 Stratovox arcade video game where the goal is to prevent aliens from stealing objects. Bandits was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, and VIC-20.
Boulders and Bombs is a video game for Atari 8-bit computers published on cartridge by CBS Software in 1983. It was written by Keith Dreyer and Torre Meeder who previously developed the Berzerk-clone K-Razy Shoot-Out. In Boulders and Bombs, the player must dig tunnels so three people can cross from one side of the screen to the other. Bird-like creatures, flying in the upper portion of the screen, launch projectiles into the dirt to thwart the player. While there isn't a separate multiplayer mode, joysticks plugged into each of the remaining 1-3 ports can each control one of the birds. The game generally received poor reviews, with reviewers citing control issues and the lack of excitement.
