Name This Game
Encyclopedia
Name This Game, also known as Octopus in Europe
, is a video game for the Atari 2600
manufactured by US Games
.
In the game, the player controls a diver who must protect a treasure from an octopus
at the top of the screen that tries to capture the treasure with its tentacle
s. A shark also tries to distract the diver by swimming back and forth toward the bottom of the screen.
The diver loses a life if he is captured by the shark or the octopus's tentacles, or if the air meter runs out. The diver can refill his air meter by touching a long pole which extends from a boat that appears from time to time.
This game is called Name This Game in North America
because of a contest in 1982 which challenged players to invent a name for the game. However, US Games went bankrupt and the contest was never completed. A common misconception is that the winning entry was called Octopus, the European name of the game. The winning title was actually Going Under (a term which is, perhaps ironically, a synonym for bankruptcy), but no cartridges were ever produced with that name.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, is a video game for the 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...
manufactured by US Games
US Games
US Games was a video game division of then-conglomerate Quaker Oats that formed in 1982 in order to develop games for the then-popular Atari 2600...
.
In the game, the player controls a diver who must protect a treasure from an octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
at the top of the screen that tries to capture the treasure with its tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...
s. A shark also tries to distract the diver by swimming back and forth toward the bottom of the screen.
The diver loses a life if he is captured by the shark or the octopus's tentacles, or if the air meter runs out. The diver can refill his air meter by touching a long pole which extends from a boat that appears from time to time.
This game is called Name This Game in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
because of a contest in 1982 which challenged players to invent a name for the game. However, US Games went bankrupt and the contest was never completed. A common misconception is that the winning entry was called Octopus, the European name of the game. The winning title was actually Going Under (a term which is, perhaps ironically, a synonym for bankruptcy), but no cartridges were ever produced with that name.