Tape 18: The Gate Escape + Whack-a-Mole

The Gate Escape + Whack-a-Mole © 1983 WaveMakers

The Gate Escape
You will be moving your hero (Little Novos) using the joystick to collect the x's and avoid the villain. Novos appears on top of the screen, the villain is on the bottom to start. You can re-align the gates by running into them and blocking off entire sections of the screen to trap the bad guys out. You cannot go through the center of a gate, or move if the joystick is pointed at a wall or gate center.

The villain will try to make a jump to your sector of the screen by using his transporter. When it appears on screen you have alimited amount of time before he makes the jump. The transporter homes in on sound you make and if you don't steal it from the villain quick enough you'll be in serious trouble.

Difficulty levels increase as you go from screen to screen by collecting all of the X's from the screen.

Whack-a-Mole
An outstanding conversion of a mechanical arcade machine to a video game. In the game havens known for their delicious pizza across the country, resides a little machine that is always busy. It attracts gamers ranging from the very small to the very, most experienced players (of all ages). The game features a rather large, stuffed, leather hammer on a chain. There is a flat surface with a series of holes. After inserting a token, moles (yes, those little enemies of lawns and gardens everywhere) begin to randomly pop up from the holes in a taunting fashion.

The player, using the padded hammer, must attempt to bash as many of the critters as possible in the time allotted.

The board is a 3x3 grid with each square being a 'hole'. Moles appear randomly and briefly from these holes. The joystick is your "hammer." The grid represents every possible joystick position including neutral. When a mole pops out, position the 'hammer' accordingly and Wack (pull the trigger). When hit, the mole chirps, frowns, and disappears back down the hole to taunt again later. The game starts out rather slowly and increases in speed as you progress.