Burgertime
Encyclopedia
is a 1982 arcade game
created by Data East
for its DECO Cassette System
. The game's original title, Hamburger, was changed to BurgerTime before its introduction to the US. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients located across a maze of platforms while avoiding pursuing characters. The game was popular in arcades. In the US, Data East USA licensed BurgerTime for distribution by Bally Midway
. The Data East and Midway versions are distinguished by the manufacturer's name on the title screen and by the marquee and cabinet artworks.
According to Twin Galaxies
, the record high score on BurgerTime is 11,512,500 points, set by Bryan L. Wagner in 2008.
When Data East went bankrupt in 2003, G-Mode
bought and currently owns most of Data East's intellectual properties
, including BurgerTime, BurgerTime Deluxe, Super BurgerTime, and Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory.
When Peter Pepper walks the length of an ingredient (bun, meat patty, tomato, etc.), it falls one level. If it lands atop another ingredient, the latter in turn falls one level. A burger is completed when all vertically aligned ingredients have been dropped out of the maze and onto a waiting plate. Once all burgers are completed, the screen is finished.
While making burgers, Peter Pepper must deal with three enemies: Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle, and Mr. Egg. Enemies can be dodged, killed, or temporarily stunned. Killing occurs when an ingredient is dropped atop an enemy, or when support for an ingredient is completely removed and the enemy falls with the piece. In the latter case, the piece will fall much farther than normal, depending on how many enemies are on it. Scoring depends heavily on killing enemies. The more enemies killed with a single sequence of falling ingredients, the higher the score. Therefore, to obtain the best score the player must endanger Peter Pepper by allowing more than one enemy to move onto the ingredient the player is on, just before the player drops it.
Peter Pepper has pepper shots to shake on nearby enemies to stun and render them harmless for a few seconds. Extra shots are obtained by collecting bonus foods, such as coffee, an ice cream cone, or French fries, which appear in the center of the maze when a certain number of ingredients have dropped.
There are six screens of increasing difficulty, with more burgers and enemies, burgers that have more parts, and/or layouts that make it easier for Peter Pepper to be cornered and harder for him to reach the ingredients. Completing all six screens takes the player back to the first one.
A console-only sequel, Diner, was created after the 1984 purchase of Intellivision
from Mattel by INTV Corp. This game was programmed by Ray Kaestner, the programmer of the Intellivision version of BurgerTime.
, BurgerTime Delight, was released by Namco
in 2007. The enhanced version is similar, but includes "new graphics, characters and power-ups". There are six "arcade levels" and eight enhanced mode levels with perils of falling ice and rising fire from the grill. Perils kill the player as well as enemies. Besides the pepper of the classic game, there is now a salt shaker, that when collected stuns all enemies on the screen. Finally, letters appear briefly at various places; when collected to create certain words, the player gets two extra lives and automatically completes the level. BurgerTime Delight has an option to change the game to be slower or faster than the arcade version.
, Xbox Live Arcade
, PlayStation Network and Microsoft Windows
in late March 2011. Developed by Frozen Codebase
, the new game is fully updated to 3D
, and was released on November 2, 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade and November 15, 2011 on PlayStation Network. It is also due to be released on the other platforms later this year.
ed to several home computers and consoles: Apple II
, Atari 2600
, ColecoVision
, Commodore 64
, MS-DOS
, Intellivision
, Mattel Aquarius
, MSX
, NES
, and TI-99/4A
. More recently, it can be found on mobile phones and Pelican's VG Pocket Caplet. A version was also released for the original Nintendo
Game Boy
and remade on the 3DS Virtual Console
titled as . The arcade version was included in the Midway Arcade Greatest Hits Volume 2 for the PlayStation
, due to being published in North America by Midway Games.
As of 2007, BurgerTime is available through the subscription online game service, GameTap
.
achieved a record score of 7,881,050. It was beaten on September 5, 2005 by Bryan L. Wagner of Turbotville, Pennsylvania
with a score of 8,601,300 and improved to exactly 9,000,000 on June 2, 2006
According to Twin Galaxies
, he improved it further to 11,512,500 points on September 19, 2008 at the Challenge Arcade in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
.
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
created by Data East
Data East
also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...
for its DECO Cassette System
DECO Cassette System
The DECO Cassette System was introduced in 1980 by Data East and was the first standardised arcade system that allowed arcade owners to change games.The arcade owner would buy a cabinet, while the games were stored on standard audio cassettes...
. The game's original title, Hamburger, was changed to BurgerTime before its introduction to the US. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients located across a maze of platforms while avoiding pursuing characters. The game was popular in arcades. In the US, Data East USA licensed BurgerTime for distribution by Bally Midway
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
. The Data East and Midway versions are distinguished by the manufacturer's name on the title screen and by the marquee and cabinet artworks.
According to Twin Galaxies
Twin Galaxies
Twin Galaxies is an American organization that tracks video game world records and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. It operates the Twin Galaxies website and publishes the Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, with the Arcade Volume released on June...
, the record high score on BurgerTime is 11,512,500 points, set by Bryan L. Wagner in 2008.
When Data East went bankrupt in 2003, G-Mode
G-Mode
is a Japanese company that provides mobile network game contents that specialize in Java game software in Japan. It develops and distributes games for Java-compatible mobile phones. The company also licenses contents for mobile telecommunications operators, as well as involves in the original...
bought and currently owns most of Data East's intellectual properties
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
, including BurgerTime, BurgerTime Deluxe, Super BurgerTime, and Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory.
Gameplay
While making burgers, Peter Pepper must deal with three enemies: Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle, and Mr. Egg. Enemies can be dodged, killed, or temporarily stunned. Killing occurs when an ingredient is dropped atop an enemy, or when support for an ingredient is completely removed and the enemy falls with the piece. In the latter case, the piece will fall much farther than normal, depending on how many enemies are on it. Scoring depends heavily on killing enemies. The more enemies killed with a single sequence of falling ingredients, the higher the score. Therefore, to obtain the best score the player must endanger Peter Pepper by allowing more than one enemy to move onto the ingredient the player is on, just before the player drops it.
Peter Pepper has pepper shots to shake on nearby enemies to stun and render them harmless for a few seconds. Extra shots are obtained by collecting bonus foods, such as coffee, an ice cream cone, or French fries, which appear in the center of the maze when a certain number of ingredients have dropped.
There are six screens of increasing difficulty, with more burgers and enemies, burgers that have more parts, and/or layouts that make it easier for Peter Pepper to be cornered and harder for him to reach the ingredients. Completing all six screens takes the player back to the first one.
Sequels
An arcade spin-off, Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory, and an arcade sequel, , were not widely released. Super BurgerTime stars Peter Pepper Jr. and allows two players to play at once and is fairly true to the original BurgerTime but with many added features and greatly improved graphics. Another planned sequel, PizzaTime, was in development when the video game market crashed; the game was not released.A console-only sequel, Diner, was created after the 1984 purchase of Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
from Mattel by INTV Corp. This game was programmed by Ray Kaestner, the programmer of the Intellivision version of BurgerTime.
BurgerTime Delight
The mobile gameMobile game
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....
, BurgerTime Delight, was released by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
in 2007. The enhanced version is similar, but includes "new graphics, characters and power-ups". There are six "arcade levels" and eight enhanced mode levels with perils of falling ice and rising fire from the grill. Perils kill the player as well as enemies. Besides the pepper of the classic game, there is now a salt shaker, that when collected stuns all enemies on the screen. Finally, letters appear briefly at various places; when collected to create certain words, the player gets two extra lives and automatically completes the level. BurgerTime Delight has an option to change the game to be slower or faster than the arcade version.
BurgerTime World Tour
A next-generation update of BurgerTime was announced by MonkeyPaw Games for the WiiWareWiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
, Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
, PlayStation Network and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
in late March 2011. Developed by Frozen Codebase
Frozen Codebase
Frozen Codebase is an independent video game developer founded in 2006 by Ben Geisler. The company develops games for Microsoft's Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii and WiiWare.-Teams:...
, the new game is fully updated to 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
, and was released on November 2, 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade and November 15, 2011 on PlayStation Network. It is also due to be released on the other platforms later this year.
Ports
Due to this game's success, it was portPorting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
ed to several home computers and consoles: Apple II
Apple II series
The Apple II series is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II...
, Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
, ColecoVision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
, Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
, Mattel Aquarius
Mattel Aquarius
Aquarius is a home computer designed by Radofin and released by Mattel in 1983. It features a Zilog Z80 microprocessor, a rubber chiclet keyboard, 4K of RAM, and a subset of Microsoft BASIC in ROM. It connects to a television set and uses a cassette tape recorder for secondary data storage...
, MSX
MSX
MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...
, NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, and TI-99/4A
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A was an early home computer, released in June 1981, originally at a price of USD $525. It was an enhanced version of the less-successful—and quite rare—TI-99/4 model, which was released in late 1979 at a price of $1,150...
. More recently, it can be found on mobile phones and Pelican's VG Pocket Caplet. A version was also released for the original Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
and remade on the 3DS Virtual Console
Virtual console
A virtual console – also known as a virtual terminal – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some operating systems such as UnixWare, Linux, and BSD, in which the system console of the computer can be used to switch between...
titled as . The arcade version was included in the Midway Arcade Greatest Hits Volume 2 for the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
, due to being published in North America by Midway Games.
As of 2007, BurgerTime is available through the subscription online game service, GameTap
GameTap
GameTap is an American online video game service established by Turner Broadcasting System . Dubbed by TBS as a "first of its kind broadband gaming network", the service provides users with classic arcade video games and game-related video content...
.
Scores
In 1984, Billy MitchellBilly Mitchell (gamer)
Billy L. Mitchell, born July 16, 1965, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, is best known for recording high scores in classic video games from the Golden Age of Arcade Games. He has been claimed by some as the "greatest arcade-video-game player of all time". His achievements include the first perfect score...
achieved a record score of 7,881,050. It was beaten on September 5, 2005 by Bryan L. Wagner of Turbotville, Pennsylvania
Turbotville, Pennsylvania
Turbotville is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 691 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Turbotville is located at ....
with a score of 8,601,300 and improved to exactly 9,000,000 on June 2, 2006
According to Twin Galaxies
Twin Galaxies
Twin Galaxies is an American organization that tracks video game world records and conducts a program of electronic-gaming promotions. It operates the Twin Galaxies website and publishes the Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records, with the Arcade Volume released on June...
, he improved it further to 11,512,500 points on September 19, 2008 at the Challenge Arcade in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, established on July 2, 1906. The population was 8,587 at the 2000 census, but after the January, 2002 merger with neighboring Wyomissing Hills, the combined 2000 Census estimate was 11,155 making it the most populous borough in...
.
External links
- Official Burger Time series website, a BurgerTime clone.