Q*Bert

Name: Q*Bert
Year: 1989
Publisher: Ultra Software
Developer: Gottlieb
Genre: Arcade, Isometric Platformer
Hours Played: Countless
Beaten: N/A

When arcade games began stealing quarters away from pinball machines in the seventies, it was only natural that pinball companies would start producing their own video games.  One such company, Gottlieb, produced dozens of popular pinball machines, but only ever managed one successful video game.  But oh, what a one-hit wonder it was.

The concept for Q*Bert began when doodles by artist Jeff Lee, involving Kustom Kulture-inspired characters moving around an M. C. Escher-inspired landscape, were discovered by programmer Warren Davis, who wanted to practice implementing gravity and physics in a video game.  The resulting prototype was discovered by executives at Gottlieb, and the results became the world's first isometric perspective video game.

Like most one-screen arcade games, the premise of Q*Bert is simple.  You hop around a pyramid built of cubes while avoiding enemies.  Every spot you land on turns that cube a different color, and when you've landed on every cube, you progress to the next level.  Teleportation disks on the sides of the pyramid serve the same purpose as the warp tunnels in Pac-Man, allowing for quick escapes from enemies.  Besides bouncing eggs and snakes, Q*Bert must also avoid enemies who walk on the "wrong" sides of the cubes (defying gravity), and catch green creatures who will undo the tiles you've turned.

Nowadays, Q*Bert is mostly known for his appearances in movies such as Wreck-It Ralph and Pixels, and this is largely because his rights are currently owned by Sony, but in his heyday the popularity of Q*Bert rivaled that of Pac-Man.  Their were toys, board games, and even a cartoon show.  While the game isn't fondly remembered as Donkey Kong or DK JR, the gameplay has held up better, still presenting an enjoyable romp today.  There's definitely better games on the NES, and the simple gameplay hardly justifies a $50 price tag, but if you've never experienced Q*Bert, it's definitely worth a moment of your time.

Graphics & Animation: 2 (Average)
While it's hardly the worst looking port of Q*Bert, the graphics of Q*Bert aren't anything to write home about.  Still, everything from the arcade is at least recognizable...

Music & Sounds: 0 (Awful)
If you're going to port a game with no music, you can at least make sure you've got the sound effects right! Maybe Q*Bert's signature "cussing" sound effect was just too hard to mimic, I dunno; but seeing as how there's plenty of NES games with digitized speech, and we're only talking about one (famous) sound effect, it seems a little lousy of them to leave it out.

Controls & Level Design: 3 (Good)
The level design in Q*Bert is simple, but classic, and as more levels progress, changing the color of the tiles becomes more complicated.  The control scheme can take a little getting used to, but they added a comprehensive set-up screen for changing the controls to your liking.

Story & Presentation: 3 (Good)
The presentation here is actually fairly impressive!  Most notable is the game's controller setup screen, which features an NES controller and a Q*Bert player to guide you through the process of configuring your controls.

Length & Replayabilitiy: 1 (Bad)
The latter levels giving you new goals gives the game a little longevity, but the truth is, Q*Bert is one of those games where you've seen everything the game has to offer after five minutes.

Total: 9 (Average)