Buggy Boy

Buggy Boy,[lower-alpha 1] known as Speed Buggy in North America,[3] is an off-road racing game developed by Tatsumi and released for arcades in 1985. The cockpit version of the arcade cabinet has a panoramic three-screen display, a feature previously employed in TX-1, but with Buggy Boy having a larger cabinet.[4] An upright, single-screen cabinet was released in 1986 under the name Buggy Boy Junior.

Buggy Boy
Atari ST cover art
Developer(s)Tatsumi
Publisher(s)
Composer(s)Mark Cooksey (C64)
Platform(s)Arcade, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST
Release
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Arcade version screenshot

The object of the game is to drive around one of five courses (Offroad, North, East, South or West) in the shortest time possible. Each course has five legs, each filled with obstacles such as boulders and brick walls. Points are awarded for driving through gates and collecting flags. Offroad is a closed-circuit course that takes five laps to complete while North, South, East, and West are each a strict point A to point B style course.

The player could also hit logs and tree stumps in order to jump the buggy over obstacles, gaining extra points while airborne. Extra points are also rewarded for driving the buggy on two wheels.

Buggy Boy Junior

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Buggy Boy on their September 1, 1985 issue as being the third most-popular upright arcade game for the previous two weeks.[13] It went on to be one of the Japan's top five highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade games of 1986.[14][15] In the United States, Speed Buggy was one of the top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1986.[16]

Computer and Video Games reviewed the arcade game, giving it a positive review. The review said, "if you've got nerves of steel," prepare "for the ride of your life."[4]

Zzap!64 awarded the Commodore 64 port of the game a gold medal and a 97% score, calling it "a cracking racing game that proves totally compulsive."[17]

Buggy Boy was included as one of the titles in the 2010 book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[18]

Legacy

According to Andy Smith of Advanced Computer Entertainment magazine in 1988, Sega's arcade game Power Drift (1988) combined elements from Out Run (1986) with that of Buggy Boy.[19]

Notes
  1. Japanese: バギーボーイ, Hepburn: Bagī Bōi

References
  1. "Video Game Flyers: Buggy Boy, Tatsumi (EU)". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  2. "Speed Buggy (Registration Number PA0000305579)". United States Copyright Office. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  3. Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 46, 114–5. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  4. "Arcade Action". Computer and Video Games. No. 52 (February 1986). 16 January 1986. pp. 50–1.
  5. "Crash". worldofspectrum.org.
  6. "Computer & Video Games". worldofspectrum.org.
  7. "Sinclair User". worldofspectrum.org.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2012-02-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Zzap!64 100th Issue Pull-Out Special Page 5". Zzap64.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-02-11.
  10. "MicroHobby". worldofspectrum.org.
  11. "ACE". worldofspectrum.org.
  12. "The Games Machine". worldofspectrum.org.
  13. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - アップライト, コックピット型TVゲーム機 (Upright/Cockpit Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 267. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 September 1985. p. 25.
  14. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: '86 上半期" [Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: First Half '86] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 288. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 July 1986. p. 28.
  15. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: '86 下半期" [Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: Second Half '86] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 300. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 January 1987. p. 16.
  16. "Coin Machine: AMOA Announces Awards Nominations" (PDF). Cash Box. August 23, 1986. p. 38.
  17. "Zzap!64". Zzap64.co.uk. December 1986. pp. 20–21.
  18. Mott, Tony (2 August 2010). 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Quintessence Editions Ltd. ISBN 978-1-74173-076-0.
  19. Smith, Andy (November 1988). "Arcades". Advanced Computer Entertainment. No. 14. pp. 84–5.
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