Jump Bug
A bouncing car navigates a scrolling world of treasure and enemies.
Jump Bug, a 1981 arcade game, was developed by Alpha Denshi for Hoei Corporation and distributed by Sega and Rock-Ola. Players control a bouncing car in a forced-scrolling world, shooting enemies and collecting money bags by landing on them. The game features seamlessly connected themed areas. It is an early forced-scrolling horizontal shooter and the first platformer to include both horizontal and vertical scrolling, with a limited parallax effect where the main scene scrolls while a fixed starry sky and slow-moving clouds create depth.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Hoei Corporation; Alpha Denshi
- Publisher
- JP/EU
- Sega
- NA
- Rock-Ola
- Platforms
- Arcade
- Arcadia 2001
- PC-98
- Released
- December 1981 (WW)
- Genre
- Scrolling shooter, platform
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Arcade system
- Namco Galaxian
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
In Jump Bug, players guide a car that never stops bouncing, modeled after a Volkswagen Beetle. The vehicle travels through a city, mountains, a large pyramid, and a watery area with islands where it sinks low and moves slower. Using the joystick, you control how high the car jumps and how fast it falls. Enemies appear and can be shot. You earn points by collecting treasure, defeating enemies, and landing on clouds. Filling a treasure meter for the first time grants an extra life. The game scrolls smoothly to the right, but inside the pyramid the scrolling becomes coarser and works vertically too, letting you move in any direction, including left, as you search for the exit.
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