BurgerTime

The first level of the arcade version, with Peter Pepper at center, climbing a ladder.

The object of the game is to build a number of hamburgers while avoiding enemy foods. The player controls the protagonist, chef Peter Pepper, with a four-position joystick and a "pepper" button.

Each level is a maze of platforms and ladders in which giant burger ingredients (bun, meat patty, tomato, lettuce) are arranged. When Peter walks the full length of an ingredient, it falls to the level below, knocking down any ingredient that happens to be there. A burger is completed when all of its vertically aligned ingredients have been dropped out of the maze and onto a waiting plate. The player must complete all burgers to finish the board.

Three types of enemy food items wander the maze: Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Pickle, and Mr. Egg. The player can score extra points by either crushing them under a falling ingredient or dropping an ingredient while they are on it. In the latter case, the ingredient falls two extra levels for every enemy caught on it. Crushed or dropped enemies return to the maze after a short time.

At the start of the game, the player is given a limited number of pepper shots to use against enemies. Pressing the button causes Peter to shake a cloud of pepper in the direction he is facing; any enemy touching the cloud is briefly stunned, and Peter can safely move through them. Ice cream, coffee, and French fries appear on occasion, awarding bonus points and one extra pepper shot when collected.

There are six boards of increasing difficulty, with more burgers/ingredients, more enemies, and/or layouts that make it easier for Peter to become cornered. After the player completes the sixth board, the cycle repeats. One life is lost whenever Peter touches a non-stunned enemy, and the game ends once all lives are lost.

The development of BurgerTime was led by Akio Nakamura, who had previously worked on other Data East arcade games such as Lock 'n' Chase and Super Cobra. Nakamura came up with the idea for BurgerTime while eating a hamburger and thinking about the process of making it.

The game was created using Data East's own hardware, the DECO Cassette System, which allowed for multiple games to be stored on a single cassette and played on the same arcade cabinet. BurgerTime was one of the first games released for this system.

The game's graphics were designed by Toshio Kai, who drew inspiration from Japanese cartoon characters such as Astro Boy and Doraemon. The characters in BurgerTime, such as the chef Peter Pepper and the food items he must assemble, were designed to be cute and appealing to both children and adults.

The game's music and sound effects were composed by Yoko Osaka, who had previously worked on the sound design for other Data East games. The music features upbeat, catchy melodies that match the fast-paced gameplay.

BurgerTime was a commercial success, becoming one of the most popular arcade games of the early 1980s. It was ported to many home gaming systems, including the Atari 2600, NES, and Intellivision, and spawned several sequels and spin-offs over the years.

Mattel Electronics obtained the rights to BurgerTime from Data East and released the Intellivision version in 1983. That year, they also released versions for the Atari 2600, Apple II, Aquarius, and, as a self-booting disk, the IBM PC.[8] A version from Data East for the TI-99/4A was published in 1984.[9][10] A ColecoVision port was published by Coleco in May 1984.[11][12] Ports were released for the Famicom in 1985, MSX in 1986,[13] and Nintendo Entertainment System in February 1987.[14]

BurgerTime in a Dartmouth, Nova Scotia pub

In Japan, Game Machine listed Hamburger as the 11th highest-grossing arcade video game of 1982.[15] Game Machine later listed Hamburger on their June 15, 1983 issue as being the twenty-third most-successful table arcade unit of the month.[16]

Following its North American debut at the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in November 1982, it was reviewed by Video Games magazine, which listed it as the show's fourth best game, while saying it was the "stupidest, silliest game ever, and that's why you couldn't get people off the Burger Time games with a crowbar!" The review praised the "music, challenging mazes, and comical" characters.[17]

Computer and Video Games gave it a positive review, comparing the level structure to Donkey Kong (1981), stating that BurgerTime has "a charm all its own" and praising the controls.[5] The Deseret News called BurgerTime "one of the real surprises of 1983 for the Intellivision" and gave the ColecoVision version three-and-a-half stars out of four.[11] Computer Games magazine gave the ColecoVision and Coleco Adam versions a positive review, stating that "the terrific flavor" of the arcade game remains but "the playfield has been greatly reduced".[18]

BurgerTime received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Videogame of the Year (Less than 16K ROM)" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards.[19]^: 40

On September 5, 2005, Bryan L. Wagner of Turbotville, Pennsylvania achieved a record score of 8,601,300 and improved to exactly 9,000,000 on June 2, 2006.[41] According to Twin Galaxies, he improved it further to 11,512,500 points on September 19, 2008, at the Challenge Arcade in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania.[42] The MAME world record was verified by Twin Galaxies on December 2, 2016, as 7,837,750 by Roger Edwin Blair III of Mountain City, Tennessee.[43]

• Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2

• BurgerTime at the Killer List of Videogames
• The MS-DOS version of BurgerTime can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive