Space Panic
{{Short description|1980 video game}}
{{original research|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Space Panic
| image = Space Panic cover.jpg
| caption = ColecoVision port box art
| developer = Universal
CBS Electronics (CV)
| publisher = Universal
Coleco (CV)
| designer =
| released = November 1980: Arcade
1981: PV-1000
Winter 1982: ColecoVision
| platforms = Arcade, ColecoVision, PV-1000
| genre = Platform
| modes = 1-2 players alternating
}}
{{nihongo|Space Panic|スぺース・パ二ック|Supesu Panikku}} is a 1980 arcade video game developed by Universal. Predating Nintendo's Donkey Kong, and lacking a jump mechanic, Space Panic was the first game involving climbing ladders between walkable platforms. The genre was initially labeled "climbing games", but later became known as platform games.{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Steve |title=Video Invaders |date=1982 |publisher=Arco Publishing |isbn=978-0668055208 |page=[https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders/page/n49 29] |url=https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders}}{{cite book |title=Chris Crawford on Game Design |isbn=0-88134-117-7 |last=Crawford |first=Chris |author-link=Chris Crawford (game designer) |year=2003 |publisher=New Riders}} A ColecoVision port by CBS Electronics was released in the winter holiday season of 1982.
The original arcade game was commercially successful in Japan. It was an obscure release in North America, but a clone, Apple Panic, became a top-seller for home computers. Lode Runner (1983) later put its own spin on climbing and digging, a lineage which eventually took on the name puzzle-platform games.
Gameplay
The main character can move along platforms and climb the ladders between them. The goal is to dig holes in the platforms and lure aliens into them. Hitting a trapped alien with the shovel knocks them out of the hole and off the screen. In later levels, two or more holes must be lined up vertically in order to dispose of stronger aliens.
Development
The game's development team included Kazutoshi Ueda, who later designed Lady Bug (1981) and Mr. Do! (1982) at Universal and then Bomb Jack (1984) and Tehkan World Cup (1985) at Tehkan (later known as Tecmo).{{cite magazine |title=Talking Game Design with Fukio "MTJ" Mitsuji |magazine=Gamest |date=1989 |lang=ja |url=http://shmuplations.com/mtjdesign/}}
The game's concept was inspired by Heiankyo Alien (1979), also known as Digger, a top-down maze game with digging and trapping mechanics. Space Panic changed it to a side-view gameplay format, while adding platforms and ladders.{{cite magazine |last1=Thomasson |first1=Michael |title=Space Panic: The Foundation of All Platformers |magazine=Old School Gamer Magazine |date=July 2019 |issue=11 |pages=12–3 |url=https://archive.org/details/old-school-gamer-011/page/n11/mode/2up}}{{cite web |last1=Kalata |first1=Kurt |title=Heiankyo Alien |url=http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/heiankyo-alien/ |website=Hardcore Gaming 101 |date=July 17, 2014 |access-date=20 April 2021}}
Reception
In Japan, Space Panic was commercially successful. It was tied with Scramble and Jump Bug as the 14th highest-grossing arcade video game of 1981.{{cite magazine|title="Donkey Kong" No.1 Of '81 — Game Machine's Survey Of "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" —|magazine=Game Machine|issue=182|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 February 1982|page=30|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19820215p.pdf#page=16}} In North America, Space Panic was commercially unsuccessful, which Electronic Games in 1983 attributed to its concepts' novelty to the audience: "not only the first of the climbing games, it was also the first of the digging games. That's quite a load for a player on a new game. No punning intended when I say that the rungs were too high for the average gamer to scale." The magazine reported that the average play time was 30 seconds.{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_16_1983-06_Reese_Communications_US/page/n81 | title=Closet Classics | magazine=Electronic Games | date=June 1983 | last=Pearl | first=Rick | volume=1 | issue=16 | pages=82–6}}
In a retrospective review of the ColecoVision version for Digital Press Online, Kevin Oleniacz concluded, "Coleco had resurrected several short-lived arcade games and transformed them into home favorites, but they should have let Space Panic rest in peace."{{cite web|last1=Oleniacz|first1=Kevin|title=Space Panic|url=http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/spacepanic.htm|website=Digital Press Online|date=December 2003}}
=Reviews=
Legacy
While the original arcade game was unsuccessful in North America, the concept found popularity in the unauthorized home computer version, Apple Panic (1981), which was more successful than the original game in North America. It also inspired Lode Runner (1983),{{cite magazine |last1=Grannell |first1=Craig |title=Lode Runner |magazine=Retro Gamer |date=January 2013 |issue=111 |pages=20–7 |url=https://issuu.com/michelfranca/docs/retro_gamer____111}} which has a similar look and also uses the basic premise of digging holes to trap enemies.
Universal revisited the genre with Mr. Do's Castle (1983), which expanded upon the play styles explored in Space Panic.
Video game historian Michael Thomasson, writing for Old School Gamer Magazine, considers Space Panic to be the "foundation of all platformers" despite being "a rather obscure" cult classic, stating that it "revolutionized game design by introducing novel game mechanics and birthed a new genre." It was also one of the earliest "digging" type games (after Heiankyo Alien), which are variously called "trap 'em up" or "digging games".
Horace and the Spiders (1983) includes a Space Panic inspired level.{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Matt |title=The Video Games Guide: 1,000+ Arcade, Console and Computer Games, 1962-2012, 2d ed. |date=3 January 2013 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0-7864-7257-4 |page=268 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzMYYrsDaAEC&pg=PA268}}
=Clones=
| class="wikitable" |
| First Published
! Name ! Company ! System(s) |
|---|
| 1981
| Apple II, Atari 8-bit, IBM PC, TRS-80, VIC-20 |
| 1982
| Vic Panic | Bug Byte | VIC-20 |
| 1982
| Panic | Visions Software Factory |
| 1982
| Monsters |
| 1983 |
| 1983
| Bonka | J. Morrison (Micros) Ltd. | Dragon 32/64, C64 |
| 1983
| Spectral Associates |
| 1983 |
| 1983
| Panic 64 | C64 |
| 1983
| Sam Spade | Silversoft Ltd |
| 1984
| Panic Planet | Alligata | C64 |
| 1984
| Monsters 64 | | C64 |
| 1984
| Hektik | C64, VIC-20, Commodore 16/Plus/4 |
| 1984
| Roland Goes Digging | Amsoft/Gem Software |
| 1984
| Psychiatric | Sprites Software | Oric 1, Oric Atmos |
| 1986
| Panik! | Atlantis |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9676 Space Panic] at KLOV
Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games
Category:Multiplayer hotseat games
Category:Science fiction video games
Category:Universal Entertainment games
Category:Video games about extraterrestrial life