Weird Arcade Games: Jump Coaster (Kaneko, 1983)

In this game, you maneuver a caped man along roller-coaster tracks, grabbing money bags and trying to save your girlfriend, all the while avoiding cops and gorillas (which either swing on the ropes and throw deadly bananas and apples at you, or ride in roller-coaster cars, intent on hitting you.)

The game has four screens in each level. Each screen is completed in one of two ways: getting to your girlfriend, or grabbing all the money bags on the screen, then getting the large money bag which appears. Oddly enough, you receive only 1000 points for saving your girlfriend, but 10,000 points for claiming the bonus money bag -- are they somehow implying that the money is more important?

Everything -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- in this game is out to get you. Making contact with a cop or gorilla, getting hit by a thrown apple or banana, having a roller coaster car hit you, or falling off the ledge all make you lose a turn... I'm surprised you're not also racing against a timer.

One of the first things you'll notice is the repetitive, annoying sound effects... everything you do makes an an annoying effect , whether you're just walking, climbing a ladder, or traveling across a rope. As far as the music... you call that background music?

Jump Coaster was ported to the Japanese MSX computer in 1984, but other than that, this game remains largely unknown outside of emulation circles.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• jump
• coaster
• arcade
• video
• game
• kaneko
• 1983

[imDAman930]

For some reason, if you watch it all the way through, by the end you'll be kind of hypnotized! And that ending was HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!! Good vid... i guess.