Wacko

For other uses, see Wacko (disambiguation).
For a definition of the word "wacko", see the Wiktionary entry wacko.
Wacko
Developer(s) Bally Midway
Publisher(s) Bally Midway
Distributor(s) Midway Games
Designer(s) Steve Meyer
Scott Morrison
Platform(s) Arcade
GameCube
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Release date(s) 1983
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Up to 2 players
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 featured a unique angled, or sloped, cabinet design and a combination of trackball and joystick controls. The main character also appears in Kozmik Krooz'r.

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.

Although 'wacko' (used as a term to describe those who steal cellphones) had been widely forgotten from the modern vernacular, it seems to be making a comeback in some cities within the U.K.

Gameplay

The player moves Kapt'n Krooz'r with the trackball and fires in four directions using either joystick. Shooting a single monster stuns it for a few seconds. The player must then shoot the monster's twin before the first one recovers in order to eliminate the pair.

On later boards, shooting a different monster results in the two becoming a mutant—the head of one joins with the torso of the other, and vice versa. To eliminate these mutants one must either unmix them, by shooting the same pair again, or produce a second identical mutant which can then be paired up with the first. Eliminating a pair of mutants is worth more points than eliminating a pair of non-mutants.

As the player advances from board to board, the following additional transformations appear, introduced one at a time:

Each new form requires only one shot to be either destroyed or changed into the next one. All monsters on the screen must be turned into the next form before any of them can be destroyed or further transformed.

Ports

Wacko is available as a part of two compilations of arcade games: Midway Arcade Treasures 2, for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox; and Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition for the PC.

Highest score

Steve Harris of Missouri, USA, scored a world record 1,608,100 points playing Wacko at the NKC Pro Bowl in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on March 31, 1983.[1]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Twin Galaxies' Wacko High Score Rankings". 2009-12-27.


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