Wacko

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Wacko
Developer(s)	Steve Meyer
Publisher(s)	Bally Midway
Designer(s)	Steve Meyer, Scott Morrison
Release date(s)	1983
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players
Platform(s)	Arcade
Input	Trackball, 4-way joystick
Arcade cabinet	Upright, custom
Arcade CPU(s)	Bally Midway MCR 2 hardware. Z80 (@ 2.496 Mhz)
Arcade sound system(s)	Z80 (@ 2 Mhz)
Arcade display	Raster, 512 x 480 pixels (Horizontal), 64 colors

Wacko is a 1983 arcade game by Bally Midway. It debuted during the "Golden Age of Arcade Games". It featured a unique angled, or "sloped" cabinet design and a combination of trackball and joystick controls.

[edit] Description

The player assumes the role of Kapt'n Krooz'r, a small, green alien within a bubble-topped spaceship. The goal of each level is to eliminate the monsters, accomplished by shooting twin pairs in succession. As the player progresses, shooting monsters out of order creates mutants that must be unmatched before they can be eliminated.

[edit] Gameplay

The player moves Kapt'n Krooz'r with the trackball and fires using either joystick. (A similar shooting scheme was used in Robotron 2084, although in 8 directions rather than 4.) Shooting a single monster causes it to spin. Krooz'r must then shoot the monster's twin before the first one stops spinning to eliminate the pair. Shooting a different monster, on later boards, results in the two becoming a mutant -- the head on one joins with the torso on the other, and vice versa. These mutants must be unmixed before they can be properly eliminated. At more advanced levels a third stage is introduced where the monsters become tiny and sprout wings.