Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: Not Ranked Genre: (Cleverly Renamed Classic Arcade) Awards: The 2006 Peabody "Holy Cow this is a Great Homebrew" Award America's Obesity Problem Could Be Solved with Portion Control Pros: Excellent Gameplay, Six Different Screens, Tough Enemies Cons: Still Trying to Find Something to Complain About This Screen is So Hard I Almost Became a Vegetarian

Overview: If video games were as important as say… world peace, defeating global hunger, and the finals of American Idol, some people in the Atari realm would deserve huge accolades like Curt Vendel. Some people would need to be hung in the middle of town square and beaten like a piñata, like one-time Atari owner Jack Tramiel. In keeping with that theme, Ken Siders would need to be promoted to a really kick-butt Duke. With Beef Drop (aka Burgertine), Ken Siders proves that the 7800’s homebrew future has great promise. Not only did Ken churn out a playable version of this video game classic, he went above and beyond the call of duty and delivered the complete package. Prosystem owners, who are diehard fans (or even casual fans) of Burgertime, need to beg, borrow, or steal to get a copy of Beef Drop for the system.

Graphics: Burgertime was never the prettiest game to grace an arcade, but Siders did a great job making the game as easy on the eyes as possible. The title screen, burger parts, wiggling wieners and general on screen information are not bad graphics in the least. At first, I stupidly thought the tomato slices were hot dogs, until logic set in… and Mr. Dill looks like those disturbing French Fry Pom Pom things from McDonalds. The biggest hang-up for some may be the main character, the chef. Though not a terrible graphic, his big white chef hat makes him look like a big white rivet. What is does a rivet look like, you say? Awwwwww shut up.

Sound: This is no Ballblazer for sure, but I was really impressed with the audio in Beef Drop. There is a little ditty that plays over and over which could make you grind your teeth after a few minutes if it didn’t stop every time something important happened. If the tunes starts to grate, simply flip the left difficulty switch and remove the background music. There are a slew of sound effects that will be sure to impress you and your nerdy lady-friends.

Gameplay: : Burgertime was a middle of the road hit back in the day, and I can understand why. It takes some practice before you can get good. Simply put, it is very similar to the ladder climbing in the first stage of Donkey Kong mixed with the defense of Food Fight slathered with the killing ability similar to Dig Dug. All the man wants to do is make a freakin’ humongous burger or two and these mutated food products will stop at nothing to hate on the man. You walk over different parts of the hamburger (I hope his shoes are clean) and make them fall a level. If another burger part is underneath, a chain reaction could start. Foolish enemies caught in the fattening avalanche will be crushed, but cruelly will regenerate almost immediately! Instead of the idiotic wondering ghosts in Pac-Man or robots in Berserk, these dudes are tenacious and know exactly what they are doing, and quite frankly, it is not good. You have a limited supply of pepper spray, and these can temporarily freeze the marching food products. How long you last in this game is directly relative of how well you preserve and collect the pepper power ups. A level ends when all of the hamburgers have fallen into place in the nice burger receptacles underneath the stages. Then some giants can come to enjoy the grease-bombs and feel their arteries harden.

Interpretation: All six stages of the arcade version with the legal name are here, and all of the bad guys are here, too. It is amazing that one man replicated this six screen game so well on the 7800 and an entire company screwed up on the mere four screen Donkey Kong conversion.

Value: To me, the excitement of Beef Drop was trying to figure out the best way to defeat each of the six stages. Each one poses new problems and things can turn ugly if you are not careful. There are four difficulty levels and a two player alternating option.

Overall: The term masterpiece may be a bit much when regarding an after market video game on a system that was neglected and abused throughout its life in retail stores, but I am tempted to use that term. After over sixty reviews of the 7800, I am trying to think which game has impressed me more, and I’m having trouble finding a better well rounded game. Ballblazer has better sound, but two players are needed for full enjoyment. Midnight Mutants is bigger, but is really cheesy. Tower Toppler is beautiful, but the controls are stiff at times. Ikari Warriors is not stop action, but doesn’t test the ole brain as much. Ninja Golf may be more compelling, but the gameplay is not as exciting as the idea. And if you compare Beef Drop to the games that are similar one screen classics such as Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong and Food Fight, the only one that gives it a run for its money is Ms. Pac-Man. You want to hear it? Do you? Well here it goes:

Beef Drop is arguably the best game for your Atari 7800. PERIOD.

Nuff said.



Other trivia:

***Ken Siders has already produced (pardon the pun) an excellent version of Beef Drop for the 5200, and a soon to be renamed version of Q-bert for the 7800.



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