

Jungle King © 1982 Taito.
Jungle King is a jungle adventure game where players take on the role of Jungle King, a Tarzan-like jungle man, who is going in search of his Jungle Princess, who has been kidnapped by a pair of barbaric cannibals.
Jungle King has four stages, each with its own unique scenarios, so each stage could be considered a separate game in its own right.
It is noticeable that this game scrolls from right to left, while the vast majority of scrollers go from left to right, although most people probably wouldn't even notice that.
Jungle King's gameplay is very similar to that of Activision's Pitfall, a classic arcade game released on many home computer and console formats of the time.
The game's stages are as follows :
* The first stage, which may have been the best stage in the game, is set in a forest with a series of swinging vines. Players must use the JUMP button to move from right to left across the vines, while avoiding the monkeys that can send Jungle King falling to the ground. This level is easy to master, but players must time their jumps carefully to make it to the next vine.
* The second stage is set under a jungle river. Players must guide Jungle King through a river infested with alligators and crocodiles. This stage features a 'breath meter' that must be carefully watched to avoid drowning (players simply swim up to the surface to get more air). Jungle King is armed with a knife with which he can stab the crocs and gators, but this can only be done when their mouths are not fully open.
* The third stage is an avalanche with boulders rolling down a hill. The player simply uses the joystick to control Jungle King's climbing speed up the hill, and the JUMP button to leap over rolling boulders until they reach the end of the stage.
* The fourth and final stage has the player guiding Jungle King through a cannibal village. Jungle King must jump over the cannibals while their spears are down, and eventually make his way towards his Jungle Princess, who is being lowered into a pot to be boiled for supper.
On completion of the game, players are rewarded with a short 'I Love You' ending, and then the game begins again with increased difficulty.
Jungle King used the familiar 'Taito Classic' cabinet that was used for a variety of early 1980's games. This was a rather short cabinet, and had a monitor that was laid back at more than a 45 degree angle. Most of these cabinets featured the same painted sideart which consisted of an ornate border and a 'Taito' logo. Many other early Taito games will plug right into the machine without modification (although the boardset for these early games tend to be expensive). The marquee to this title showed a 'Jungle King' logo, with the hero to the right of it and a (rather slutty looking) blond woman tied to a tree on the left hand side. Jungle greenery filled the rest of the marquee's surface area. The monitor bezel was decorated with a red and orange design, while the control panel overlay had a cartoony jungle scene on it.
Runs on the "Taito SJ System" hardware.
Prom Stickers: KN
Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 1 (JUMP/KNIFE)

Jungle King was released in July 1982 in Japan.
Jungle King was the first 'side-scrolling, jumping & attacking game with a humanoid character', appearing in arcades three years before Miyamoto's classic Super Mario Bros..
This was also the first video game ever to feature a Tarzan look-alike as a playable character. But, Taito never bothered to get permission from the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, so they were sued for copyright infringement for using Tarzan's likeness. So this title quickly went out of production, and is rather rare today. They later reworked the graphics, and the game reappeared in October 1982 as Jungle Hunt. Please see the Taito America Jungle Hunt entry for a list of the cosmetic changes made to the game.
A prototype of this game is known as Jungle Boy.
A reworked version of this game is known as Pirate Pete.
This game was released in Brazil in 1983 under the Jungle Hunt moniker, but none of the other post-lawsuit changes made for the Taito America version were implemented.
A Jungle King unit appears in the 1983 movie 'Joysticks'.
| Successfully jumping between vines | 100 points |
| Stabbing Crocodiles and Alligators | 100 points |
| - with open jaws | +100 points |
| - in deep water | +100 points |
| Jumping over a rock | 200 points |
| Ducking under a rock | 100 points |
| Running under a rock | 50 points |
| Jumping over a cannibal | 100 points |
| Finishing stages 1-3 | 500 points |
| Finishing stage 4 (jump into and rescue woman) | timer bonus |