Lock 'n' Chase

created by althorrat

(thing) by althorrat (5.7 mon) (print) ? (I like it!) Mon Sep 20 2004 at 8:52:30

A Pac-Man clone developed in 1982 by Data East and published by Mattel Electronics. Versions of it were made both for the Atari 2600 and for Mattel's own console, the Intellivision, and finally for the Apple II.

In the game, you play a thief (named Lupin in the arcade version, after a character in a series of French novels which gained popularity in Japan, where the game was originally made) attempting to steal as much as possible without being caught by the police. Each level starts on an enclosed maze with four police officers. Gold coins litter the halls, and Lupin must collect all of them before the exit will open, giving him his escape. In addition, "cash bags" and treasures will appear at random in the center of the screen, giving the player extra points. The final difference between Lock 'n' Chase and Pac-Man is the introduction of "door locks"; Lupin can lock up to two doors at a time, blocking the way of policemen or trapping them temporarily.

The Intellivision version of the game is far and away superior to the Atari 2600 version. Graphics are somewhat better, gameplay is better (controls respond more easily, and the "lock door" function is more useful), and the sound is much better. Ergo, if you have both of these old consoles (Lock n' Chase is not currently available in any classic arcade compilation), I highly recommend going with the Intellivision.

As a point of interest, it seems that there are actually two versions of the Intellivision game. The first, because it was published on a 6K cart (that's 6,144 bytes - smaller than quite a lot of writeups here), had a few corners cut; a couple animations were left out, controls were apparently less responsive, etc. After numerous customer complaints, Mattel had the game updated and released an 8K version.

There was also a Lock 'n' Chase game made for the original Game Boy. It featured about fifty large, multi-screen levels with a few power-ups and such, but was otherwise rather similar in gameplay. It's been far too long since I last played it (about ten years) for me to go into any real detail, but it at least deserves a mention.

Most of this is from memory, but I got a little help from a copy of the manual and the Blue Sky Rangers website: http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/

printable version
chaos

Dragon's Lair	Battle Chess	lupin	Intellivision
Boulder Dash	Data East	BurgerTime	Blue Sky Rangers
INTV	Intellivoice	Atari 2600	Bad Dudes
Pac-Man

Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.

Login
Password

remember me
password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Nodes to live by:
Leonardo da Vinci
My first protest
I sincerely hope you have one of these somewhere in your life.
Howl
The Tick
Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
Forum Romanum
Robert E. Lee
Tell me of the nature of love
Create a universe
Phineas Gage
Alexander the Great and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Day
Lost in translation

sam512
Moon Base Shackleton, 1978	(fiction)
Pavlovna
toy boy	(person)
XWiz
tear jerker	(review)
Heitah
Anarchy is Order	(idea)
jessicaj
July 26, 2008	(dream)
Berek
ABBA	(person)
devolution
k-hole	(place)
Nadine_2
The Sound Of Madness	(review)
Twin Eclipse
Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue	(idea)
SwimmingMonkey
Conversations with Fo Fo- the Loneliest dog in Purgatory	(fiction)
locke baron
lynx	(thing)
Simulacron3
Reality, Dimensions and the Natural Ontology	(essay)
SubSane
Making Love to a 9-Foot Woman	(person)
Ouzo
Thoughts	(idea)
antigravpussy
I fall silent, listening. The breadcrumbs are talking about us	(person)

This page courtesy of The Everything Development Company