| Bugaboo (The Flea) | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Paco & Paco (Paco Suarez and Paco Portalo -Indescomp) |
| Publisher(s) | Quicksilva |
| Platform(s) | Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX, Amstrad CPC |
| Release date(s) | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Bugaboo (The Flea), originally released in Spain as La Pulga, is a computer game released in 1983 for the Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64 and MSX. It was the first computer game ever made in Spain.[1] It was ported to the Amstrad CPC under the name Roland in the Caves, to exploit the CPC's recurring Roland character. It's publication marked the official beginning of the Golden Era of Spanish Software. A second part was released in Spain by Opera Soft under the tile Poogaboo, made by the same authors of the first part.
The player takes control of a flea who has fallen into a cavern, and must escape.
Contents |
The game begins with an animation depicting Bugaboo, a small, yellow creature with two extremely long legs, jumping around on a colourful planet before accidentally falling through a crack in the planet's surface and falling to the bottom of a cavern.
The player must control Bugaboo and guide him back to the top of the cavern, and out to the safety of the planet's surface.
There are only two control keys: left and right. When a key is held down a gauge at the bottom of the screen begins to fill up. When the key is released, Bugaboo will jump in that direction, with the strength of the jump being determined by how long the key was held down. The cavern is made up of various rocky ledges which Bugaboo may land on; however he can only stand on a flat area and, if a jump is mistimed, Bugaboo may end up on an angled area of rock, or miss the ledge altogether, which will cause him to fall straight down, landing on whatever is below.
Bugaboo may fall from any distance without dying. The only way for the player to lose a life is for Bugaboo to make contact with the large, yellow dragon which appears periodically. Bugaboo can escape the dragon by carefully leaping away, or by taking refuge inside one of the smaller caverns that are located around the play area.[2][3][4]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| CRASH | 92%[2] |
| Computer and Video Games | 8/10 (Game of the Month)[4] |
| Personal Computer Games | 7/10,[3] |
Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with CRASH giving the game 92%,[2] Computer and Video Games awarding it 8/10 and their Game of the Month[4] and Personal Computer Games giving it 7/10.[3]
CRASH said that "Bugaboo is a high quality arcade standard game, and it’s highly addictive too. This game will definitely be a top seller!"[2] while Personal Computer Games said that "...if you like a challenge, then this is it. Be patient though. It's not that easy to get back to the top."[3] and Computer and Video Games praised the game's "Breath-taking graphics" and "perfect animation" and decided that "... a fresh and original approach to game design have been combined to produce yet another top rate game."[4]
The game's popularity spawned the creation of a book in 2009 entitled Bugaboo, un hito en la Historia del software español by Francisco Portalo Calero and published by Universidad de Extremadura, which is available online.[5]
Bugaboo (The Flea) at World of Spectrum