Lost In Translation/Congo Bongo

About The Game
Congo Bongo is an arcade video game.

Jungle drums pound as CONGO BONGO, the cartoon adventure that pits man against monkey, takes you on the craziest, most action-packed safari ever! With fantastic 3-D-like graphics and wonderful native sounds, SEGA's CONGO BONGO lures explorers of all ages to chase Bongo, the mischievous gorilla, through four vivid scenes of jungle fun. By use of an 8-way joystick and a jump button, the player maneuvers his hunter through the various scenes and avoids obstacles and dangers in his path.

In the 1st scene, Bongo roars defiantly from the top of Steep Peak as the hunter approaches. The hunter must climb the treacherous cliffside to reach the bridge above, while avoiding the bouncing coconuts Bongo throws down. Once across the bridge, the hunter must slide down a slope and knock the green monkey off the ledge. Green monkeys will block the hunter's path and if not pushed over a cliff or jumped over, the hunter cannot pass.

Next the hunter must jump over a perilous, collapsing chasm and climb the cliff to Primate Plateau. Here several friendly-looking monkeys scamper about playfully. Be careful though, as the cheerful chimps will cling to the hunter, slowing him down. By using the jump button, the player can shake the chimps off the hunter, but it must be done quickly, because if three chimps grab the hunter, they will pick the hunter up and throw him over the side and into the river. Once past the monkeys, the hunter must jump the river again and climb up to the top where a chagrined Bongo loses his smile and runs off into the jungle.

In the 2nd scene, Bongo taunts the hunter from across Snake Lake. Immediately scorpions descend upon the hunter and he must decide which route to take quickly. Snake Lake is a maze of bridges and islands with snakes guarding every route. The hunter must avoid the snakes by jumping over them. The hunter should attempt to reach the island nearest Bongo and jump onto the back of the hippo and then safely to shore. Beware of the hippo as he dives and surfaces. Once safely to shore, Bongo gets worried and scampers off again.

The 3rd scene opens with the hunter in a mole hole on Rhino Ridge. A herd of charging rhinos must be avoided in the hunter's attempt to capture Bongo. The hunter can avoid the rhinos by jumping over them or ducking into a mole hole. When ducking into a mole hole, the player must depress the jump button for the hunter to duck down and avoid the rhinos.

In the 4th scene, a weary Bongo naps in a chair on the far side of Lazy Lagoon. To reach Bongo, the hunter must cross Lazy Lagoon by jumping on lily pads, hippos and fish that might sink at any minute. Once across Lazy Lagoon, the hunter must dodge the last charging rhinos and climb the last bluff to capture Bongo. After Bongo is captured, the scenes repeat with increasing difficulty.

CONGO BONGO is a 1 or 2 player game with players alternating at the loss of each hunter. Each scene is timed by the bonus counter in the upper left corner of the screen. As time passes, the bonus decreases. If the bonus counter reaches zero, the player loses that hunter, the bonus counter is reset and play continues if he has other hunters available. Game ends with the loss of the last hunter.

Trivia
Released in February 1983.

Also known as "Tip Top" in Europe. All boards are screen printed SEGA and the sound board actually has the name Tip Top on it.

Tim Collum holds the official record for this game with 883,400 points on September 3, 1983.

Scoring

 * Each step taken : 10 points
 * Jumping onto hippo, fish or lily pad (increases by 50 each round) : 100 points
 * Jumping into a mole hole : 1000 points
 * Jumping across a chasm : 500 points
 * At the successful completion of each round, the player is awarded the number of points remaining in the bonus box.

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Mattel Intellivision (1983)
 * Atari 2600 (1983)
 * Atari 5200 (1983)
 * Sega SG-1000 (1983)
 * Colecovision (1984)
 * Atari XEGS
 * Sony PSP (2006, "Sega Genesis Collection")


 * Computers :
 * Atari 800 (1983)
 * Commodore VIC-20 (1983)
 * Commodore C64 (1983)
 * Apple II (1983)
 * Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (1983)
 * PC [Booter] (1984)