is a 1981

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

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 ...

developed by

Alpha Denshi , formerly known as , was a Japanese video game developer founded in 1980. ADK began as a developer of arcade games and is best known for their library of SNK Neo Geo titles, including for its home consoles, produced in partnership with SNK. ...

under contract for

Hoei Corporation (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-ow ...

. It was distributed in arcades by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

in Japan and Europe, and by

Rock-Ola The Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corporation is an American developer and manufacturer of juke boxes and related machinery. It was founded in 1927 by Coin-Op pioneer David Cullen Rockola to manufacture slot machines, scales, and pinball machines. The ...

in North America. It was the first

to include horizontal and, in one segment, vertical

scrolling In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

. ''Jump Bug'' was ported to the Emerson Arcadia and the Leisure Vision home systems. The game uses a limited form of

parallax scrolling Parallax scrolling is a technique in computer graphics where background images move past the camera more slowly than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D scene of distance. The technique grew out of the multiplane camera tec ...

, with the main scene scrolling while starry night sky is fixed and clouds move slowly, adding depth to the scenery. This was a year before ''

Moon Patrol is a 1982 arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are ...

'' (1982), with its three moving layers.

Gameplay

The player controls a constantly bouncing car, which resembles a

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

(or "bug"), driving through a city, mountains, pyramid, and underwater. The height of the jump and speed of a fall can be controlled with the joystick. The player can shoot various enemies that appear. Points are gained by collecting treasure, killing enemies and jumping on clouds. The game primarily scrolls left to right, but when inside the pyramid it also scrolls vertically. In that section the player is able to move in any direction, including to the left.

Reception

In Japan, ''Jump Bug'' was tied with ''

Scramble Scramble, Scrambled, or Scrambling may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Scramble'' (video game), a 1981 arcade game Music Albums * ''Scramble'' (album), an album by Atlanta-based band the Coathangers * ''Scrambles'' (album) ...

'' and ''

Space Panic is a 1980 arcade game designed by Universal. 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 as "climbi ...

'' as the 14th highest-grossing 1981.

Notes

References

{{reflist 1981 video games Arcade video games Platform games Scrolling shooters Sega arcade games Video games developed in Japan