''Booty'' is a

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

published in 1984 for the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

, Commodore 64,

Commodore Plus/4 The Commodore Plus/4 is a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. The "Plus/4" name refers to the four-application ROM resident office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, database, and graphing); it was billed as "the produ ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

. The game was one of

Firebird Firebird and fire bird may refer to: Mythical birds * Phoenix (mythology), sacred firebird found in the mythologies of many cultures * Bennu, Egyptian firebird * Huma bird, Persian firebird * Firebird (Slavic folklore) Bird species ''Various sp ...

's initial releases.

Gameplay

The player takes on the role of a cabin boy who attempts to steal a hoard of treasure from his pirate masters. A variety of hazards must be avoided including pirates, parrots and booby-trapped treasure. Should the player manage to collect all the treasure, he is given 45 seconds to find a final key, which will restart the game. There are a total of 20 screens in the game which contain a mixture of collectable treasure, doors to other screens, and doors which act as obstacles and can only be unlocked by collecting the appropriate numbered key. Some rooms contain non-player character pirates, contact with which will cause the loss of one of the player's three lives.

Reception

The game was positively reviewed by ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'', which awarded it a "smash" rating of 93%. The main features the magazine cited were the novelty of the setting, and the bold graphics. Also noted was that the complexity of the problem-solving aspect of the game was not initially apparent, and that it was more of a challenge than it first appeared. The ''

Your Spectrum ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

'' review was less positive, with scores of between two and three stars out of five for its three reviewers, although two of them commented that the game was 'very good value for money. The Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions both entered the

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Boot or Boots may also refer to: Businesses * Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England * Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom * The Boot, Cromer St ...

machine-specific charts at number one at the same time in late 1984. Following a second week at number one, they were replaced at the top of the charts by ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

'' on the Commodore and ''

Daley Thompson's Decathlon ''Daley Thompson's Decathlon'' is an Olympic-themed sports video game developed and released by Ocean Software in 1984. It was released in the wake of Daley Thompson's popularity following his gold medals in the decathlon at the 1980 and 1984 O ...

'' on the Spectrum. In 1985, the authors of the game were presented with a Gold Cassette Award by ''Home Computing Magazine'' for sales of over 100,000 copies. ''Crash'' magazine reported that ''

Football Manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

'' had also recently passed the same milestone but had taken three years to do so.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Booty (video game) 1984 video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 16 and Plus/4 games Commodore 64 games Video games about pirates Telecomsoft games Single-player video games