''Chicken'' is a video game for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

written by Mike Potter and published by

Synapse Software Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981 by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. It initially focused on the Atari 8-bit family, then later developed for th ...

in 1982. The game is similar to the Atari

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...

'', replacing the buckets and boulders with a hen trying to catch her eggs.

Gameplay

''Chicken'' is conceptually a port of the 1978 arcade game ''Avalanche'', but with a number of twists. The player is in control of a chicken that can move horizontally back and forth along the bottom of the playfield, pushing a basket. At the top, a fox drops the chicken's eggs over a series of moving blocks. The eggs fall through gaps between the blocks, which randomize their final drop point. If an egg reaches the ground, it cracks open and hatches into a chick. These form barriers to motion for the player, but the chicken can jump over them by pressing the fire button. If a player steps on a chick, a farmer appears and kicks you off the screen. The action increases in pace until it becomes extremely fast-paced. The game can be played with a joystick, but is best played with a

paddle controller A paddle is a game controller with a round ''wheel'' and one or more ''fire buttons'', where the wheel is typically used to control movement of the player object along one axis of the video screen. A paddle controller rotates through a fixed arc ( ...

. Up to four players can be in a single game, but they take turns using the single controller.

Development

Mike Potter joined Synapse in 1981 after writing the game ''

Protector Protector(s) or The Protector(s) may refer to: Roles and titles * Protector (title), a title or part of various historical titles of heads of state and others in authority ** Lord Protector, a title that has been used in British constitutional l ...

'' and initially distributing it through another company, Crystalware. When he questioned his royalties, they released the game back to him. He rereleased a version through Synapse with a number of bug fixes. ''Chicken'' was his first game written entirely at Synapse, and the first whose idea was given to him by Synapse's founder, Ihor Wolosenko. Wolosenko's primary inspiration was arcade games, and many of Synapse's releases from this era are adaptations of contemporary games for the Atari platform.

Reception

Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format th ...

'' called the game "silly, but fun" and noted that the players often broke out laughing. They also noted its pace, saying "Ever hear the term 'twitch game?' This game may be its namesake."

References

External links

* {{internet archive game, a8b_Chicken_1982_Synapse_Software_US 1982 video games Atari 8-bit family games Atari 8-bit family-only games Synapse Software games Video games about birds Fictional chickens Video games about foxes Video game clones Video games featuring female protagonists Video games developed in the United States Multiplayer and single-player video games

Gameplay

Development

Reception

See also

References

External links