Raid on Bungeling Bay#Ports
{{short description|1984 video game designed by Will Wright}}
{{Lead too short|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Raid on Bungeling Bay
| image = Raid on Bungeling Bay Cover.jpg
| caption = Commodore 64 cover art
| developer = Will Wright (C64)
Hudson Soft (FC/NES/AC)
ZAP Corporation (MSX)
| publisher = {{vgrelease|NA|Broderbund (C64/NES)|EU|Ariolasoft (C64)|JP|Hudson Soft (FC)|JP|Nintendo (AC)|JP|Sony (MSX)}}
| designer = Will Wright
| programmer = Will Wright (C64)
| artist =
| platforms = Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade, MSX
| released = Commodore 64{{vgrelease|NA|December 1984{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/popular-computing-weekly-1984-12-20|title=Popular Computing Weekly (1984-12-20)|date=20 December 1984}}|EU|1985}}NES{{vgrelease|JP|February 22, 1985{{cite web|url=http://www.hudson.co.jp/game/view.php?id=10046034|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116053902/http://www.hudson.co.jp/game/view.php?id=10046034|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-01-16|title=バンゲリングベイ {{!}} ゲーム {{!}} 株式会社ハドソン|publisher=Hudson Soft}}|NA|September 1987}}Arcade{{vgrelease|JP|April 1985}}MSX{{vgrelease|JP|1985}}
| genre = Shoot 'em up
| modes = Single-player
| arcade system = Nintendo VS. System
}}
Raid on Bungeling Bay (バンゲリングベイ lit.: Bungeling Bay) is a shoot 'em up for the Commodore 64 published by Broderbund in 1984 and by Ariolasoft in the UK in 1985. It was the first video game developed by Will Wright and inspired him to create the 1989 game SimCity.
Gameplay
File:Raid on bungeling bay.gif
Raid on Bungeling Bay is a 2D shoot 'em up. The player controls a helicopter launched from an aircraft carrier to bomb six factories scattered across islands on a small planetoid occupied by the Bungeling Empire (frequent villains in Broderbund games), while fending off escalating counterattacks by gun turrets, fighter jets, guided missiles, and a battleship. There is also a hidden island for the player to reload on. Failure means that the Bungeling Empire develops a war machine to take over the planet Earth. Players have to attack its infrastructure while defending the aircraft carrier which serves as home base.
Over time, the factories grow and develop new technologies to use against the player. There are visible signs of interdependence among the islands, such as supply boats moving between them. In order to win the game, the player must prevent the escalation by bombing all the factories as quickly as possible, keeping them from advancing their technology. If left alone for too long, the factories create enough new weaponry to overwhelm the player.
Ports
Raid on Bungeling Bay was ported to the Famicom/NES by Hudson Soft, who published this version and released it in Japan on February 22, 1985. A conversion for the arcade-based VS. System was created based on this port, and it was distributed to arcades in Japan by Nintendo.{{cite magazine|title=Raid on Bungeling Bay|magazine=Game Machine|issue=258|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 April 1985|page=21|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19850415p.pdf#page=11}} Although a United States release was planned for the Summer of 1985,{{cite web|url=https://www.flyerfever.com/vs-system-making-money-is-no-sweat/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201054/https://www.flyerfever.com/vs-system-making-money-is-no-sweat/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 24, 2021|title=VS.-Pak Library of Proven Best Sellers|date=20 February 2021 |publisher=Flyer Fever}}{{cite magazine|title=The Great Screen Test of 1985: Nintendo|magazine=The Cash Box|volume=49|issue=11|publisher=The Cash Box Publishing|date=1985-08-24|page=41}} Will Wright stated in an interview that he was not sure if it actually did get released.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjAZjLWw0LA&t=4368|title=Will Wright's lost arcade game lost in a fire. Nintendo Vs. Raid on Bungeling Bay arcade. INTERVIEW|website=YouTube|date=2015-12-07}} An MSX version was developed by Zap and published by Sony. The Japanese releases of the game are alternatively titled {{nihongo|Bungeling Bay|バンゲリングベイ|Bangeringu Bei}}.
Reception
Raid on Bungeling Bay for the Commodore 64 sold about 20,000 to 30,000 units in America, while the NES version sold about a million units in Japan. Will Wright attributed this large discrepancy to the lack of software piracy on the NES due to its cartridge system, along with Raid being one of the first American games published in Japan. Sales of the game gave Wright the financial freedom to create SimCity.{{cite news |last=Donovan |first=Tristan |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/the-replay-interviews-will-wright |title=The Replay Interviews: Will Wright |work=Gamasutra |date=2011-05-23 |access-date=2017-02-19}}
Stating that Raid "blows Choplifter away!", Creative Computing in 1984 said that the game "push[es] the animation capabilities of the Commodore 64 to their very limits". The magazine concluded that it would become "one of the all-time great computer games".{{Cite magazine |last=Linzmayer |first=Owen |date=September 1984 |title=Raid on Bungeling Bay |url=https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1984-09/page/n100/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2025-03-21 |magazine=Creative Computing |pages=99,102}} Compute! wrote in 1985 that Raid "possesses all the virtues needed to appease the demanding gamer", with "amazingly detailed" graphics.{{cite news | url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue61/316_1_REVIEWS_Raid_On_Bungeling_Bay.php | title=Raid on Bungeling Bay | work=Compute! | date=June 1985 | access-date=6 October 2013 | author=Trunzo, James V.}} Computer Gaming World in 1988 approved of the Nintendo version's graphics, calling it a "high adventure with realistic overtones" that did not involve dragons or elves.{{cite magazine | title=Video Gaming World | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=June 1988 | author1=Katz, Arnie | author2=Kunkel, Bill | author3=Worley, Joyce | pages=40–42}} The magazine named it the Action-Strategy Game of the Year for Nintendo, writing that Raid had been "rescued from Broderbund's computer software vaults, updated slightly, and sent out to challenge all the bright new [Nintendo games and] blew them out of the water ... a delightful game experience".{{cite magazine | title=Video Gaming World | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1988 | author1=Kunkel, Bill | author2=Worley, Joyce | author3=Katz, Arnie | pages=54}} In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Raid on Bungeling Bay the 24th-best computer game ever released.{{cite magazine | author=Staff | title=150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time | magazine=Computer Gaming World | date=November 1996 | issue=148 | pages=63–65, 68, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 84, 88, 90, 94, 98}}
Legacy
Wright continued to develop the editor for the game as a personal toy because he enjoyed it so much. He researched urban planning and realised that others might enjoy constructing and building cities themselves. The result, initially named City Planner, was a more advanced simulation that eventually became SimCity.{{cite episode | title=Interview with Will Wright | series=Good Game | airdate=2008-03-10 | season=4 | number=5}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{moby game|id=/raid-on-bungeling-bay}}
- [https://archive.org/details/games-58-1984-december/page/56/mode/2up Review] in GAMES Magazine
{{Sim series|simcity=yes}}
Category:Helicopter video games
Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games
Category:Nintendo Entertainment System games
Category:Nintendo VS. System games
Category:Video games developed in the United States
Category:Video games set on fictional islands