Wacko

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Wacko
Developer(s)	Steve Meyer
Publisher(s)	Bally Midway
Designer(s)	Steve Meyer, Scott Morrison
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release date	1983
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players
Input methods	Trackball, 4-way joystick
Cabinet	Upright, custom
CPU	Bally Midway MCR 2 hardware. Z80 (@ 2.496 Mhz)
Sound	Z80 (@ 2 Mhz)
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. To eliminate these mutants one must either "unmix" them, by shooting the same pair again, or produce a second set of identical mutants which can then be paired up with the respective members of the first pair. Eliminating a pair of mutants is worth more points than eliminating a pair of non-mutants.

At more advanced levels a third stage is introduced where the monsters become tiny and sprout wings.