Q*bert - MAME software

Atari 2600 cart. published 42 years ago:

Q•bert © 1983 Parker Bros.

With Q•bert, your goal is to score as many points as possible by changing the color of every cube in the pyramid into the pyramid's "destination" color. To do so, you must hop onto each cube in the pyramid one at a time, while avoiding the nasty creatures that lurk there. These creatures want nothing more than to stop your progress.

You'll start the game with four Q•berts. Whenever you reset the game, Q•bert #1 appears on the highest cube. The remaining three backup Q•berts await their turn under the scorekeeper at the top of the screen. You'll lose a Q•bert if you accidentally jump off the pyramid into space or if you run into trouble with certain nasty creatures. If you fall off the pyramid, your next Q•bert will appear on the highest cube. If Q•bert is squashed by a red or purple ball, or by Coily the snake, your next Q•bert continues playing where the last one was.

After you transform the entire pyramid, the round is over. As long as you have at least one remaining Q•bert, you'll earn points and advance to the next round. There you'll find a new pyramid, a new destination color, and a new pack of revitalized creatures.

The game has five game levels, each having four rounds. As you proceed through each round, both Q•bert and the creatures speed up, and the path you must follow to reach the destination color becomes more and more difficult. The backup Q•berts and scoreboard display the destination color for each pyramid.

The game is over when you run out of Q•berts. If you reset the game, you'll begin at level 1, round 1.

If you complete all five game levels, the game repeats level 5, beginning with round 1.

In this port: (differences from the arcade version)

• The pyramid has six rows instead of seven.
• You get no points when Q•bert changes a cube to the intermediate color. In the arcade version, changing a cube from the starting color to the intermediate color scores 15 points.
• Ugg and Wrong Way do not appear.
• Sam appears, but Slick does not.

TECHNICAL
Model PB5360

SCORING
Q•bert changes a cube to the destination color: 25 points.
Q•bert catches Sam: 300 points.
Q•bert catches the green ball: 100 points.
Q•bert lures Coily off the pyramid: 500 points.
Bonus points for every round you complete: 3100 points.

TIPS AND TRICKS
Nasty Creature Strategies:

• Red Ball: When the ball starts rolling, get out of its path or it will squash you!
• Purple Ball: Get out of its path. When it reaches the bottom of the pyramid. it will hatch Coily the snake!
• Coily: Stay away from Coily, or you'll get squashed! Lure him off the pyramid by hopping onto one of the flying disks. Just before Coily reaches the exit cube, jump onto the disk. Coily will follow and fall into space.
• Sam: Watch out for Sam. He poses no direct threat to Q•bert, but this crafty little fellow changes the cubes back to their original colors, forcing you to retrace your tracks. You can stop this prankster by running into him. if you do, you'll earn bonus points.
• Green Ball: The green ball can't hurt you. When you touch it, all the creatures except for Q•bert will freeze for a few seconds. You can keep on hopping while they're frozen, and you'll win bonus points. You can even hop through Coily and the red balls.

STAFF
Graphics: Tom Sloper
Programmer: Dave Hampton

CONTRIBUTE
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