Turtles, the Video Game by Stern Electronics

Type of the machine : Video Game
Turtles © 1981 Stern Electronics.

Turtles is your standard maze game (one of dozens released in the wake of "Pac-Man"), with a few twists. The game begins by showing your turtle entering a building (a very early 'cut scene'), you are then presented with the first maze. Each maze has several boxes (with question marks on them), scattered around. You most open these boxes one at a time by walking on to them. Each box contains either an enemy bug (who will pursue you), or a 'KidTurtle'. The 'KidTurtles' are what you are looking for here. When you find one it will climb onto your back, and take it back to the turtle house which will be located in one of the corners. After you rescue a few turtles the game becomes more difficult because of the amount of baddies that you will have released, but luckily a star will appear in the center of the screen to help you out. Grab this star to gain land mines. You can drop these in the path of a baddie, and cause him to freeze temporarily (you can safely walk over frozen baddies). A new game screen starts after you rescue all the 'KidTurtles'. After 8 levels you get to watch a small ending sequence, and then the game starts over with increased difficulty.

Main CPU : Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 1.78975 Mhz)
Sound Chips : (2x) AY8910 (@ 1.78975 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.61 Hz
Palette colors : 106

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 1

Released in December 1981.

Konami originally wrote this game (which they mysteriously titled "600 [GX353]"), but it was licensed to Stern for US and European distribution), and only a limited number of games were made bearing the 600 name. Konami also licensed this title to Sega as well, which they released under the name "Turpin".

Turtles came in an upright cabinet. This game used the standard 'Stern' cabinet that most Stern titles used, sideart was often just a painted 'Stern' logo on these. The marquee, monitor bezel, and control panel overlay all feature delightful cartoon turtle graphics in a very distinct style. The control panel has a single ball-top 4-Way joystick mounted in the center, with bomb buttons way off to each side.

Entex Industries released a boardgame based on this videogame (same name) in 1982 : It's each player's goal to rescue as many cute little turtlettes as possible and bring'em safely back to the home pond. But watch out for the evil beetles 'cause they're out to getcha!

Enemy Bug runs into mine : 50 points.
Uncover an Enemy Bug : 80 points.
Uncover a KidTurtle : 100 points.
Bring KidTurtle Home : 150 points.

Consoles :

Entex AdventureVision (1982)
Emerson Arcadia 2001
G7000 Videopac

Others :

VFD handheld game (1982) released by Entex : Play against the computer, or head to head with another player. This game has a headphone jack, volume control, and a knob that will speed up the gameplay. Pretty cool features for an old 80's handheld game!

Game's rom.
Machine's picture.