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Keystone Kapers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Keystone Kapers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Activision |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Designer(s) | Garry Kitchen |
| Release date(s) | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600, ColecoVision, MSX |
| Media | Cartridge |
| Input | Joystick |
Keystone Kapers was a 1983 game published by Activision for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and the ColecoVision. Inspired by Mack Sennett's slapstick Keystone Kops series of silent films, the object of the game is for Officer Keystone Kelly (the user) to catch Harry Hooligan before he can escape from the shopping mall.
In this game, Officer Kelly and Harry are in a four story shopping mall. Kelly starts out at the first floor entrance at the lower west right hand corner of the screen. Harry starts out at the second floor elevator door. When the user starts the game, Kelly will run to the left, towards the elevators at the center of the mall. Harry will run towards the escalator to the third floor at the right hand end of the second floor. Kelly has to catch Harry within 50 seconds, and before Harry can escape off the roof of the mall.
Each game begins with Kelly having three lives in reserve. Kelly will lose a life each time the clock runs out without him catching Hooligan, if Harry escapes off the roof, or if Kelly touches one of the biplanes flying through the mall in later levels. Harry will win an extra life every 10,000 points, however the maximum number of lives that can be held in reserve is three. The game is over once all Kelly's lives are lost.
The player will use a joystick to move Kelly. Moving the joystick to the left or the right will move Kelly in the direction selected on the screen. Kelly can jump to avoid obstacles, and the user pushes the fire button to perform that action. He can also duck, which is accomplished by the user pressing down on the joystick. The obstacles include radios, which are stationary. There are also balls bouncing, as well as shopping carts. Touching any of the these objects will cause the user to suffer a 9 second penalty. The aforementioned biplanes however, are deadly to the touch.
Both Harry and Kelly can make use of the escalators to take them up to the next floor. They will then run in the opposite direction towards the escalator towards the next floor. Kelly can also make use of the elevators at the center of the mall. However if he takes the elevator to a floor that is ahead of where Harry currently is, Harry will reverse direction. To use an elevator, stand in front of the door. When the door opens, press up on the joystick to enter the elevator, and down to exit the elevator.
Once Kelly catches Harry, the player will score points based upon the amount of time they have left. On levels 1 - 9, the user will score what's left on the clock times 100 points, on levels 10 - 15 the amount left on the clock times 200 points, and afterwards the amount left times 300 points. Kelly can also pick up bags and suitcases of money for 50 points each.
As with most early video games, there is no end to the game; each level gets progressively harder, adding more and/or faster hazards until Kelly loses all of his lives.
There is a map of the mall at the bottom of the screen. This map shows where both Kelly and Harry are, which direction they are going, what floor the elevator is on, and which direction the elevator is moving.