Big Top (video game)

Last updated
Big Top
Big Top game cover.png
Developer(s) Michael Abrash
Publisher(s) Funtastic
Platform(s) IBM PC
Release 1983
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single player

Big Top is a circus-themed platform game for the IBM PC family of computers, written by Michael Abrash and published by Funtastic in 1983. The game was distributed on a self-booting disk.

Contents

Gameplay

The first ring of the game Big-top-game-screenshot.jpg
The first ring of the game

Big Top features a circus "big top" theme. The user plays the part of a clown with the job of gathering all the hats on each ladder-filled levelwhere, in keeping with the theme, levels are called rings. Each ring spans across at least two screens and has an upper and lower level. Obstacles include evil clowns, cannons, and rolling barrels.

Reception

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmett Kelly</span> American clown (1898-1979)

Emmett Leo Kelly was an American circus performer, who created the clown character "Weary Willie", based on the hobos of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circus</span> Group of entertainers performing circus skills

A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the field of performance, training and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus</span> Traveling circus company

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circus Circus Las Vegas</span> Hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip

Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus includes the largest permanent circus in the world. It features circus and trapeze acts, as well as carnival games, at its Carnival Midway. The resort also includes the Adventuredome, an indoor amusement park.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College was an American circus school which trained around 1,400 clowns in the "Ringling style" from its founding in 1968 until its closure in 1997.

<i>The Great Space Coaster</i> American childrens television series

The Great Space Coaster is a children's television show that was broadcast in first-run syndication from 1981 to 1986.

<i>La Nouba</i> Cirque du Soleil show

La Nouba was a Cirque du Soleil show that ran for 19 years in a custom-built, freestanding theater at Disney Springs' West Side at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was a contemporary circus performance featuring acrobats, gymnasts, and other skilled performers. The show's creation was directed by Franco Dragone, who also directed many of Cirque du Soleil's earlier shows. Its title derives from the French phrase faire la nouba, meaning "to party" or "to live it up".

<i>Circus Charlie</i> 1984 video game

Circus Charlie is an action game originally published in arcades by Konami in 1984. The player controls a circus clown named Charlie in six different circus-themed minigames. It was released for MSX in the same year, followed by ports to the Famicom in 1986 by Soft Pro and the Commodore 64 in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circus clown</span> Clown performing or appearing in a circus

Circus clowns are a sub-genre of clowns. They typically perform at circuses and are meant to amuse, entertain and make guests laugh.

The Big Apple Circus is a circus based in New York City. Opened in 1977, later becoming a nonprofit organization, it became a tourist attraction. The circus has been known for its community outreach programs, including Clown Care, as well as its humane treatment of animals. Big Apple Circus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2016 and exited bankruptcy in February 2017 after its assets were bought by Compass Partners. The Circus was renewed in October 2017 for its 40th anniversary season and returned to start a new season in October 2018 at Lincoln Center, receiving generally positive reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow State Circus</span> Architectural structure

The title Moscow State Circus is used for a variety of circuses. Most commonly, it refers to one of the two circus buildings in Moscow, the "Circus Nikulin" and the "Bolshoi Circus", or to traveling shows which may or may not be directly related to Russia.

<i>JoJos Circus</i> Childrens stop-motion animated musical comedy series from 2003-2007

JoJo's Circus is a stop-motion animated television series created by Jim Jinkins, David Campbell, Lisa Jinkins, and Eric Weiner and produced by the Canada-based Cuppa Coffee Studios and Cartoon Pizza. The series was written by Douglas Wood, who previously worked for Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs as a creative executive. The series' songs were composed by Jeffrey Zahn and Jim Latham, with lyrics done by Judy Rothman. The theme song was performed by BECKY.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circus World (theme park)</span> Amusement park in Florida, United States

Circus World was a theme park built north of Haines City, Florida in Polk County, on the south-east corner of the Interstate 4-US 27 interchange. It was originally a property of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Combined Shows Inc., and was intended additionally to be the circus's winter headquarters as well as to have the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and its museum located there.

<i>Fiendish Freddys Big Top o Fun</i> 1990 video game

Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun is a video game developed by Gray Matter under developer Chris Gray and published in 1990 by Mindscape. It originally appeared on the 16-bit Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga, before later being converted to the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC. The Commodore 64 version was included on cartridge bundled with the Commodore 64 Games System.

<i>Circus Caper</i> 1989 video game

Circus Caper, known as Moeru! Onīsan in Japan, is the title of a side-scrolling Nintendo Entertainment System video game where the player controls a young boy on a quest to save his sister who has been kidnapped by the circus. The game was released in 1989 by Toho and received poor reviews.

<i>3 Ring Circus</i> 1954 film by Joseph Pevney

3 Ring Circus is a 1954 American comedy film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. The picture was shot from February 17 to March 31, 1954, and released on December 25 by Paramount Pictures. The supporting cast includes Joanne Dru, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Wallace Ford, Sig Ruman, Nick Cravat, and Elsa Lanchester.

<i>Clowns</i> (video game) 1978 video game

Clowns is a black and white arcade game released by Midway Manufacturing in 1978. It is similar to Exidy's Circus from the prior year, in which the player controls a seesaw to propel two clowns into the air, catching balloons situated in three rows at the top of the screen. It was released on cartridge for VIC-20 in 1982 and for the Commodore 64 in 1983.

<i>Circus</i> (video game) 1977 arcade game

Circus is a block breaker arcade video game released by Exidy in 1977, and distributed by Taito in Japan. The game is a re-themed variant of Atari, Inc.'s Breakout, where the player controls a seesaw and clown in order to pop all the balloons in the level. The game has been copied and released under different names by numerous other companies in both the United States and Japan.

<i>Big Top</i> (British TV series) British TV series or programme

Big Top is a BBC television sitcom which first aired on 25 November 2009 and was set in and around a travelling circus. The show was broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD simultaneously. The series revolved around the performers and backstage staff of Circus Maestro. There were six episodes, each of which was thirty minutes in length. Big Top was not recommissioned for a second series and was formally cancelled by the BBC in February 2010.

<i>Clowns and Balloons</i> 1982 video game

Clowns and Balloons is a circus-themed video game written by Frank Cohen for Atari 8-bit computers and published in 1982 by Datasoft. The game was also released for the TRS-80 Color Computer, written by Steve Bjork who had released a similar game called Space Ball for the TRS-80 in 1980. Clowns and Balloons is a clone of the 1977 arcade game Circus. A variant of Breakout, the player moves a trampoline left and right to catch a bouncing clown who pops rows of balloons at the top of the screen with his head.

References