known as ''Speed Buggy'' in North America, is an off-road

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a motor racing, racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more re ...

developed by Tatsumi and released for arcades in 1985. The cockpit version of the

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

has a panoramic three-screen display, a feature previously employed in ''

TX-1 ''TX-1'' is an arcade Racing video game, racing Sim racing, simulation game developed by Tatsumi and released in 1983. It was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari, Inc. for release in the United States, thus the game is considered ...

'', but with ''Buggy Boy'' having a larger cabinet. An upright, single-screen cabinet was released in 1986 under the name ''Buggy Boy Junior''.

Gameplay

The object of the game is to drive around one of five courses (Offroad, North, East, South or West) in the shortest time possible. Each course has five legs, each filled with obstacles such as boulders and brick walls. Points are awarded for driving through gates and collecting flags. Offroad is a closed-circuit course that takes five laps to complete while North, South, East, and West are each a strict point A to point B style course. The player could also hit logs and tree stumps in order to jump the buggy over obstacles, gaining extra points while airborne. Extra points are also rewarded for driving the buggy on two wheels.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Buggy Boy'' on their September 1, 1985 issue as being the third most-popular upright arcade game for the previous two weeks. It went on to be one of the Japan's top five highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade games of 1986. In the United States, ''Speed Buggy'' was one of the top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1986. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...

'' reviewed the arcade game, giving it a positive review. The review said, "if you've got nerves of steel," prepare "for the ride of your life." ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' is a computer games magazine covering games for computers manufactured by Commodore International, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazi ...

'' awarded the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

port of the game a gold medal and a 97% score, calling it "a cracking racing game that proves totally compulsive." ''Buggy Boy'' was included as one of the titles in the 2010 book ''

1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die ''1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die'' is a video game reference book first published in October 2010. It consists of a list of video games released between 1970 and 2013, arranged chronologically by release date. Each entry in the list ...

''.

Legacy

According to Andy Smith of ''

Advanced Computer Entertainment ''ACE'' (''Advanced Computer Entertainment'') is a discontinued multi-format computer and video game magazine, first published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing and later acquired by EMAP. History ACE launched in October 1987, roughly ...

'' magazine in 1988,

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

's arcade game ''

Power Drift is a kart racing game released in arcades by Sega in 1988. More technologically advanced than Sega's earlier 2.5D racing games, like ''Hang-On'' (1985) and ''Out Run'' (1986), in ''Power Drift'' the entire world and track consist of sprites. ...

'' (1988) combined elements from ''

Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and ...

'' (1986) with those of ''Buggy Boy''.

Notes

References

External links

* * *{{abime, id=236 1985 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games with multi-monitor setups Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Racing video games Single-player video games Tatsumi (company) games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Mark Cooksey ZX Spectrum games