Circus Charlie

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Circus Charlie is an action/platform game originally released by Konami in which you control a clown named Charlie. The game was a hit arcade game in 1984, which also had a successful release on the MSX in 1984, the Nintendo Famicom in 1986 by Soft Pro and on the Commodore 64 in 1987. Plans were made to release the game on the Colecovision and the VCS, but these were later scrapped by the publisher of the game for those systems, Parker Brothers. It will be released along with other Konami classic games on the Nintendo DS compilation Konami Classic Series: Arcade Hits.

In the game there are six stages of differing tasks that are to be completed by Charlie. Grabbing money bags, completing dangerous tricks, bopping enemies, completing stages, etc., earns Charlie points. After the sixth stage is completed, the game starts over again but with a faster pace and more difficult (but the exact same in terms of task to be completed) levels.

The six stages for the Arcade and Commodore 64 versions:

Stage 1 - Flaming hoops jump. Charlie rides a lion through the stage jumping through hoops of fire.

Stage 2 - Tightrope walking. Monkeys try to knock Charlie off the tightrope as he navigates to the other side.

Stage 3 - Trampolines. Charlie must jump along a line of trampolines whilst avoiding flames and knives being thrown at him by other circus performers.

Stage 4 - Running ball trick. Charlie must avoid obstacles while on the rubber ball.

Stage 5 - Horse riding stage.

Stage 6 - Flying Trapeze stage (features a sample of Strauss's The Blue Danube waltz).

The NES version only has five of the six stages, but it has a "B" mode, in which all the levels are repeated with added difficulty:

Stage 1 - Flaming hoops jump. Charlie rides a lion through the stage jumping through hoops of fire.

Stage 2 - Tightrope walking. Monkeys try to knock Charlie off the tightrope as he navigates to the other side.

Stage 3 - Running ball trick. Charlie must avoid obstacles while on the rubber ball.

Stage 4 - Horse riding stage.

Stage 5 - Flying Trapeze stage.

The game has been released on Multicart systems, and used copies for the NES are often available at used game stores that sell NES products.

Tricks:

On the "fire hoop" level where Charlie rides a lion, when the level begins immediately back up all the way to the left and jump straight up 3 times. Then move right. The first hoop will have changed to a Charlie icon. Jump to nab it for a free life. Also, when you come to a fire pot, jump over it, then backwards over it and a coin may flip up into the air. Jump again to collect it for a bonus. And lastly, collect all the money bags in the fire hoops and complete the level. A bird will drop bonus coins down on you.

On the tightrope level jump backwards over a purple monkey for a 5,000 point bonus. Also, if you make it to the far right end of the level without jumping on the platform you get a money bag bonus.

Collecting all the money bags on the trampoline level also gets you a visit from a bird dropping bonus coins onto you.

[edit] Free PC Remake

In March 2007, a fan called D-Man began to make a remake of the NES version of the game. The remake is supossed to feature all of the original game components but in a modern style. It is stated that it will run on Vista.