Arabian, 1983 Sun Electronics/Atari (20 From 1983 #17)
13Cutesy but fun fixed screen platform-jumping game with you as a Saudi protagonist trying to collect baskets with one letter each of the word ARABIAN. Doing so will end the stage and advance you to the next (out of 4). If you collect them in the correct order to spell ARABIAN, you will get a bonus of 4,000 (and an additional 2,000 for each of the next 4 stages, up to a maximum of 8,000). Screw up the order and you get no bonus. But another way to get some decent points is by kicking (yes, that big foot on the end of your leg is your prime weapon-- even though he brandishes a sword upon collecting the last basket!!!); you can send one enemy flying and it will take out any other enemies in its way, earning bonus points that add up quite a bit! Your main 2 enemies (that re-spawn constantly) are the pink monster OSCAR and the bird ROC. The Oscar will re-spawn from a gooey protoplasm on the ground that eventually forms what looks like an Oscar without eyes, then emerges as a new Oscar. The Roc will either hatch from an egg, or drop from a non-lethal giant bird flying overhead. The cuteness factor is similar to Sun Electronics' (now known as SUNSOFT) earlier game KANGAROO. The 4 stages involve a pirate ship, a cave, flying carpets, and the royal palace where the princess (strangely blonde for a Saudi) awaits your rescue. Upon completion you are treated to a rather lame cutscene and then you start them all over with increased difficulty. An additional enemy is an evil genie which occasionally appears from one of the baskets and throws some sort of projectile (coconuts/rocks/fireballs) at you, and he appears for a few seconds as a puff of smoke before forming fully. He's harmless as smoke so if you're close, quickly nab that basket before he forms. Learning the intricacies of the controls is key-- press down to duck and move left or right to crawl; press up to jump, and if you're under hanging vines you will grab them and hang and you can press left or right to shimmy in that direction; and you can kick while hanging from vines or on a long, singular vine. The enemies seem to speed up even during a single stage, and often fall in your lap right at the most inopportune moments! The graphics and colors are not much to write home about, and the character movements are stiff and the music (though cute) is not terribly impressive. But still, this was popular and fun, and got a Famicom release called SUPER ARABIAN, I believe. Check it out, and I hope to see you soon for game #16! Viva 1983!