1980 · Universal Entertainment · Arcade · Platformer

Space Panic

A game remarkably similar to Lode Runner, you play an astronaut with limited oxygen (time) chased around by various space aliens. Your only method of dealing with these multicolored threats from space is to dig a hole, lure it into a hole and then manually fill up the hole with the alien in it. Dropping aliens on top of other aliens earns you extra points and eliminates both. Levels get progressively harder and enemies grow faster.

Released: 1980
Platforms: Arcade ColecoVision
Genres: Arcade Platformer Puzzle Science
Developers: Universal Entertainment
Publishers: Universal Entertainment
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: Japan

About

Space Panic (スぺース・パ二ック, Supesu Panikku) is a 1980 arcade video game developed by Universal. Presented in a side view, the player digs holes in horizontal platforms to trap pursuing aliens, then eliminates them by hitting them with a shovel. A port to the PV-1000 by Casio and a ColecoVision version by CBS Electronics were both released in 1983.

Predating Nintendo's Donkey Kong, and lacking a jump mechanic, Space Panic was the first game involving climbing ladders between walkable platforms. The genre was initially labeled "climbing games" and "ladder games", but by the late 1980s became known as platform games.

Keywords

aliens
gravity
maze
traps
high score
climbing
launch titles
puzzle platformer
single-screen level
no dialogue

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The main character can move along platforms and climb the ladders between them. The goal is to dig holes in the platforms and lure aliens into them. Hitting a trapped alien with the shovel knocks them out of the hole and off the screen. In later levels, two or more holes must be lined up vertically in order to dispose of stronger aliens.

There is a limited supply of oxygen, which acts as a timer.

Development

The game's development team included Kazutoshi Ueda, who later designed Lady Bug (1981) and Mr. Do! (1982) at Universal and then Bomb Jack (1984) and Tehkan World Cup (1985) at Tehkan (later known as Tecmo).

The game's concept was inspired by Heiankyo Alien (1979), also known as Digger, a top-down maze game with digging and trapping mechanics. Space Panic changed it to a side-view gameplay format, while adding platforms and ladders.

Reception

In Japan, Space Panic was commercially successful. It was tied with Scramble and Jump Bug as the 14th highest-grossing arcade video game of 1981. In North America, Space Panic was commercially unsuccessful, which Electronic Games in 1983 attributed to its concepts' novelty to the audience: "not only the first of the climbing games, it was also the first of the digging games. That's quite a load for a player on a new game.

No punning intended when I say that the rungs were too high for the average gamer to scale." The magazine reported that the average play time was 30 seconds.

Legacy

While the original arcade game was unsuccessful in North America, the concept found popularity in the unauthorized home computer version, Apple Panic (1981), which was more successful than the original game in North America. It also inspired Lode Runner (1983), which has a similar look and also uses the basic premise of digging holes to trap enemies.

Universal revisited the genre with Mr. Do's Castle (1983), which expanded upon the play styles explored in Space Panic.