''Wacko'' is a 1983 arcade game by Bally Midway. It featured a unique angled cabinet design and a combination of

trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the o ...

and joystick controls. The player assumes the role of Kapt'n Krooz'r, a small, green alien within a bubble-topped spaceship who also appears in the game ''

Kozmik Krooz'r ''Kozmik Krooz'r'' is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Bally Midway and released in arcades in 1982. The spaceship, a core element of the gameplay, is not an in-game graphic, but a physical plastic model. A series of mirrors projects the ...

''. The goal of each level is to eliminate the monsters, accomplished by shooting twin pairs in succession. As the player progresses, shooting monsters out of order creates mutants that must be unmatched before they can be eliminated.

Gameplay

The player moves Kapt'n Krooz'r with the trackball and fires in four directions using either joystick. Shooting a single monster stuns it for a few seconds. The player must then shoot the monster's twin before the first one recovers in order to eliminate the pair. On later boards, shooting a different monster results in the two becoming mutants – the head of one joins with the torso of the other, and vice versa. To eliminate these mutants, the player must either unmix them by shooting the same pair again, or produce a second set of mutants which can then be paired up with the first. Eliminating a pair of mutants is worth more points than eliminating a pair of non-mutants. As the player advances from board to board, the following additional transformations appear, introduced one at a time: *Matched pairs of large monsters become tiny and fly around the screen *Tiny monsters turn into eggs and run around *Eggs turn into bats *Some large monsters start as mutants Each new form requires only one shot to be either destroyed or changed into the next one. All monsters on the screen must be turned into the next form before any of them can be destroyed or further transformed.

Legacy

''Wacko'' is available as a part of two compilations of arcade games: ''

Midway Arcade Treasures 2 ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' is the second collection of classic arcade games published by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox (not compatible with Xbox 360), and GameCube. This compilation includes 20 games that were not in the 2003 re ...

'', for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

; and ''

Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition ''Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition'' is an arcade compilation released exclusively for Microsoft Windows on February 15, 2006 in North America, and on March 17, 2006 in PAL regions. It is a compilation of ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' and ' ...

'' for the PC. Steve Harris of Missouri, USA, scored a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

1,608,100 points playing Wacko at the NKC Pro Bowl in Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, USA, on March 31, 1983. ''Weirdo'' is a 1987 clone for the

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer and sometimes nicknamed the CoCo, is a line of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Com ...

References

External links

* 1983 video games Action games Arcade video games Midway video games Trackball video games Video games about extraterrestrial life Video games developed in the United States {{Arcade-stub