Bounty Bob Strikes Back!

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Bounty Bob Strikes Back!
Bounty bob strikes back.jpg
Developer(s) Big Five Software
Publisher(s)
Programmer(s) Bill Hogue
Artist(s) Curtis Mikolyski
Bill Hogue
Platform(s) Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Atari 7800
Release1985: Atari 8-bit, [1] 5200, C64, CPC, Spectrum
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Bounty Bob Strikes Back! is the sequel to Miner 2049er published in 1985 [1] for Atari 8-bit computers. The game adds a pseudo-3D look to the platforms and increases the level count from 10 to 25. As with the original, the Atari 8-bit version was released on ROM cartridge. [2] A port for the Atari 5200 was released the same year, followed by versions for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum also in 1985.

Contents

In 2001, [a] Bill Hogue, the game's developer, released the game and its prequel, Miner 2049er, for free online with an embedded Atari 8-bit computer emulator. [4]

Gameplay

Atari 8-bit gameplay Bounty Bob Strikes Back! Atari 8-bit PAL screenshot.png
Atari 8-bit gameplay

Gameplay is similar to Miner 2049er in that the player must inspect every section of 25 mines within a set time while avoiding mutants. One difference from the original game is that, after losing a life, sections on platforms remain covered and destroyed enemies do not reappear, thus making it easier to complete a level.

Development

Following the critical and financial success of his game Miner 2049er , programmer Bill Hogue began work on a game titled Scraper Caper which would have had Bounty Bob become a fire fighter. Although the game was heavily advertised, it was never released; Hogue instead created Bounty Bob Strikes Back. [5]

Bounty Bob featured enhancements from the first game, such as a slight 3D effect on the platforms to add depth and retaining the level's progress when the player lost a life. [5] The game also expanded to 25 levels versus the original's 10. [6]

On Atari systems, it was a bank-switched cartridge of 40KB total program and data mapped onto 16KB of address space. [7] [1]

The game was shown at the January 1985 CES and then, in April 1985, ads began appearing in magazines. [1]

Reception

The game reached number nine on Billboard's list of top-selling entertainment computer software in June 1985, [8] despite clocking in at a hefty $49.95 (equivalent to $146in 2024). [1]

In Steve Panak's column for ANALOG Computing , he found the large number of screens and the different elements in them to be a strong point: "It is this variety which saves Bob from mediocrity." [9] He didn't like the unskippable animations when a new entry is added to the high score table, especially as the scores only persist until the computer is turned off.

In the final issue of Your Sinclair , the ZX Spectrum version was ranked number 56 on "The Your Sinclair Official Top 100 Games of All Time." [10] In 2004, the ZX Spectrum version was voted the 19th best game of all time by Retro Gamer readers in an article originally intended for a special issue of Your Sinclair bundled with Retro Gamer. [11]

Legacy

On reflecting on the sequel, Hogue said he thought it was a great follow-up to the original game, but "perhaps not the groundbreaking game we wanted it to be and I guess that still disappoints me." [5]

In 2024, Atari published an Atari 7800 cartridge that also works on the Atari 2600+ and the Atari 7800+. [12] [13]

Notes

  1. ↑ The first version of the emulator, published in 2001, contains the "20010720" timestamp on its "Help/About..." window. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Leyenberger, Arthur (1985-04-01). "Winter CES: Part 2". ANALOG Computing . Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  2. ↑ Friedland, Nat, ed. (May 1985). "New Products". Antic. Vol. 4, no. 1. San Francisco, CA: Antic Publishing. p. 90. ISSN   0745-2527 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ Hogue, Bill. "Big Five Software - Emulator". Big Five Software. Archived from the original on 9 September 2001.
  4. ↑ Hogue, Bill (18 January 2007) [2001]. "Big Five Software - Emulator". Big Five Software. Archived from the original on 14 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Hawken & Jones, p. 37.
  6. ↑ Hawken & Jones, p. 38.
  7. ↑ Stehlik, Petr (2023-04-29). "Atari800 emulator supported cartridge images". GitHub . Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  8. ↑ Billboard Publications (2 June 1985). Borg, Donald G (ed.). "Software best sellers". The Record. Vol. 90, no. 305. Hackensack, NJ: John Borg. p. O-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Panak, Steve (June 1985). "Panak Strikes". ANALOG Computing. No. 31. p. 68.
  10. ↑ Nash, Dennis, ed. (September 1993). "Let the People Decide! The Results". Your Sinclair . Vol. 1, no. 93. Future Publishing. pp. 11–12 – via Internet Archive.
  11. ↑ Whitehead, Dan (25 June 2009). "The 50 Best Speccy Games Ever!". The YS Rock'n'Roll Years. Nick Humphries. Archived from the original on 13 July 2009.
  12. ↑ "Bounty Bob Strikes Back! 7800". Atari. 2024. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  13. ↑ Gardner, Matt (2024-08-20). "Atari 7800+ Remakes Classic Console With 2600 Game Compatibility". Forbes.

Sources

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