Lost In Translation/Rampage

About The Game
Rampage is an arcade video game featuring 3 giant all-powerful creatures fighting for survival in various city environments, against a continuous onslaught of National Guard and police forces! Each player becomes one of these mighty warriors capable of collapsing skyscrapers into dust and rubble. All 3 of the creatures are human mutations : an ape (George), a lizard (Lizzie), and a wolf-like creature (Ralph).

The game can be played by 1, 2 or 3 people. In a 1-player game, one creature character is controlled by the person playing the game while the National Guard and police forces are controlled by the game itself. In turn, each additional player controls an additional creature character.

Each player controls his character with a joystick, a Jump button (which is also a Game Start button), and a Punch/grab button. Using the joystick, the player character can move left, right, up, or down (4 directions only). Hitting the Jump button while using the joystick enables the character to jump in any of four directions. Hitting the Punch/grab button enables the character to punch and/or grab in any of four directions. On the control panel are three sets of these controls : left side (George), centre (Lizzie), and right side (Ralph).

Game play begins for any one player when, after inserting proper coinage, he presses the Jump button of the character of his choice (only one character for each player per game). Three separate newspaper 'datelines' appear on the screen, one for each creature. These 'datelines' reappear after every rack. Only 'datelines' for ACTIVE player characters will display information: 1) the day - number (may or may not appear) which indicates the rack number, 2) the name of the city environment, and 3) a message about the creature or a game play hint. Next, the city environment appears on the screen, mainly consisting of high-rise buildings, and now the battle begins. The player character appears in the city where it is attacked by the National Guard and police forces with massive fire-power. It must run, jump, climb buildings, and punch its enemies to stay alive until the end of the rack.

In this initial rack, hazards to the player character are mainly: 1) National Guard helicopters with machine guns and 2) police swat team members moving from window to window of the buildings using rifles and throwing sticks of dynamite. Every time it is damaged, by getting punched, shot, shocked, or by falling or by being on a collapsed building, it loses 'power'. This is measured by a 'damage' gauge for each creature at the top of the screen. When the gauge reads empty, the mutant creature shrinks back to its human form which then creeps off of the screen. At this point, the game allows the player a time limit to "buy back in" to preserve his rack position. Provided as a game option, the game operator may also allow the player a short time limit to "buy back in" to protect his point total. If the player "buys in" in time, before the human form leaves the screen, then it will grow into being the creature again. If not, then the same creature will drop back in from a dirigible. Beyond the time limit the game is over for the player.

However, the rack itself ends ONLY when all of the buildings have been destroyed (either by the creature or by swat team members placing charges of dynamite at the base of each building). If the creature has survived to this point, then the game advances to the next rack. If the player character survives to the end of the rack, the power loss is carried over to the next rack. The player scores points by punching or eating the creature's enemies and also by destroying buildings. But due to the continuous power drain caused by damage, the player character MUST find and eat food to restore its power level. By punching holes in the buildings, the player MAY find Food (increased power), Bonuses (points) or Hazards (decreased power), e.g.
 * Food : Milk, Turkey, Hot Toast
 * Bonus : Flower Pot, TV Set, Money Bag
 * Hazard : Cactus, Poison, Toaster

The types of Hazards and Bonuses found OUTSIDE of buildings vary and may increase in difficulty in succeeding 'city environment' racks, e.g.
 * Bonus : Auto (or Truck), Commuter Train, Person in Manhole
 * Hazard : National Guard Tank, Police Car, Storm Cloud

Another source of game points comes from the player character grabbing a fleeing 'townie' from a building window. Two benefits : 1) While holding the 'townie', all swat team members disappear from the building windows and 2) accumulating points are scored during the time the townie is held.

For the continuous buy-in feature, hundreds of racks of 'city environments', have been created.

Trivia
Released in October 1986.

Rampage incorporates Bally Midway's JOIN THE ACTION feature : each set of game controls includes a corresponding start (Jump) button, which is activated independently. This allows a person, after inserting the proper coinage, to begin play at any time including while the other sets of game controls are in use.

Rampage has an impressive 768 different levels. The 128th level of the game is 'Plano, Illinois', and was the only level in the game with less than three buildings. Brian, one of the designers, said : Plano Illinois was only two buildings because Plano Il is a Tiny town, in which my partner Jeff was born and raised.

These are the random headlines you may encounter during the game. These headlines appear when the next day begins :
 * EX-MUTANT IS ARRESTED FOR STREAKING!
 * LAB SCREW-UP WEARS OFF...FILM AT 11
 * SPOUSE OF MUTANT FILES LEGAL ACTION
 * FORMER BEAST SAYS IT MAY HAPPEN AGAIN
 * STILL AT LARGE...VERY LARGE!
 * IS THERE NO END TO THIS RAMPAGE???
 * PROPERTY VALUES AT ALL TIME LOW
 * YOUR AD HERE CALL NOW! 1-800-ZOO-KEEP
 * JOB OPENINGS IN NATIONAL GUARD!
 * REAL LIFE JEKYLL AND HYDE STORY!!

A Rampage unit appears in the 1991 movie 'Terminator 2 - Judgment Day'.

Scoring
Scoring in this game is relatively complicated due to the various numbers of enemies. In addition, you also score points for hitting buildings and collecting bonus and/or food items.


 * Building destroyed : 2,500 points - You will only get the points if your monster destroys the building. Buildings destroyed by things other than you monster will not earn you these points.

Tips and tricks
You start the game with your monsters at the bottom of the screen. After the game starts, it is time for you to start the 'urban renewal' process.


 * After you start, you will start being attacked. There is no real way to avoid a lot of the attacks by the National Guardsmen due to the sheer volume of fire they are laying down. Your best bet is to keep moving and make yourself a hard target to hit.


 * To move quickly from building to building, jump toward the building and push up to grab the building. This enables you to use your monster's ability to both jump and climb at the same time.


 * To relieve some pressure from the National Guardsmen, climb up the buildings and smash the windows where they pop out from or just eat them when they are leaning out the window. Move quickly since their buddies are still shooting or throwing dynamite at your monster.


 * Unless you are totally obsessed with points, let the National Guardsmen do your work for you. A great example of this is that about midway through a day, a National Guard-man will rush out from the side of the screen with explosives. They will place them at the base of a building. This demolishes the building and helps you along to the next day.


 * Another way to destroy buildings is to weaken it up, then jump on the roof. Your monster's weight will cause the building to collapse.


 * The air units can be rather dangerous. During the beginning days, the helicopters will overfly your monster, turn around, and then dive in for the attack. You can destroy the helicopters when they are coming in to prevent their attack. Also, when you are moving around, you make it harder for them to get a bead on your monster.


 * During the later days, helicopters will drop bombs. Again, paying attention to everything that is going on will allow you to easily escape the bomb being dropped. You can also entice the helicopter to drop a bomb when you are on top of a building. When the bomb is dropped, jump out of the way and let the bomb do the damage to the building for you.


 * Make sure that you either grab the food or eat the National Guardsmen to keep your health up. If you can hold out for 128 days, you will get all of your health restored for that day and days 256, 384, 512, 640, and 768. Also keep in mind that if you punch too fast, you may end up getting something that will harm your monster.


 * Paratroopers can be a particular pain. If you plan to attack a building with a Paratrooper unit on it, make sure you quickly scale the building and eat said unit. It makes life a lot easier since their rapid fire can put a major hurting on your monster.


 * Ground units such as Tanks and Police Cars can be a real nuisance. They fire some pretty heavy shells which not only cause a lot of damage, but they also can knock back your monster for quite a distance. There are some ways to combat these units :
 * Climb quickly up a building. When the unit passes below you, jump down and give it a good punch.
 * Time the shots and rush the ground unit in-between shots to get a good punch in.
 * Use available weapons such as manhole covers, flower pots, or safes to drop on them. These things also allow you to hit them at a distance.


 * Be sure and watch what your monster grabs at. There are a lot of hazards in the buildings and it is pretty bad when your monster buys the farm doing dumb stuff such as grabbing electrical items such as toasters and light bulbs.


 * In addition to the above, dynamite is sometimes in the middle of buildings. When uncovered, you have about two to three seconds to get your monster out of there before they are blown off the building. Eating it will only decrease your monster's health so run far away when it is uncovered.

Series

 * 1) Rampage (1986)
 * 2) Rampage - World Tour (1997)
 * 3) Rampage 2 - Universal Tour (1999, Nintendo 64)
 * 4) Rampage Through Time (2000, Sony PlayStation)
 * 5) Rampage - Total Destruction (2006)

Staff

 * Artist:
 * Brian Colin


 * Software:
 * Jeff Nauman


 * Sounds:
 * Michael Bartlow

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Nintendo Famicom (1988)
 * Atari 2600 (1989)
 * Sega Master System (1989)
 * Atari Lynx (1991)
 * Sony PlayStation (2000, "Arcade Party Pak")
 * Sega Dreamcast (2000, "Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 2")
 * Sony PlayStation 2 (2003, "Midway Arcade Treasure")
 * Nintendo GameCube (2003, "Midway Arcade Treasure")
 * Microsoft XBOX (2003, "Midway Arcade Treasure")
 * Sony PSP (2005, "Midway Arcade Treasures - Extended Play")
 * Nintendo Game Boy Advance (2005, "Paperboy / Rampage")
 * Sony PlayStation 2 (2006; as part of "Rampage - Total Destruction")
 * Nintendo GameCube (2006; as part of "Rampage - Total Destruction")


 * Computers :
 * Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1988)
 * Commodore C64 (1988)
 * PC [MS-DOS] (1988)
 * Amstrad CPC (1988)
 * Atari ST (1989)
 * Commodore Amiga ("Rampage", 1989, Activision)
 * Apple II
 * PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasure")

