''Hoppin' Mad'' is an

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

released in 1988 by Elite Systems for the Amstrad CPC,

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 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 t ...

The game takes place over 12 levels. On each level, the player has to guide a group of

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

s from the right edge of the level to the left edge. The balls are constantly bouncing, and the player can only alter their travel speed (by moving the

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

left or right) or make them bounce higher (by pressing the fire button). The objective of the game is to collect ten

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or light so ...

s; doing so will advance the player to the next level. Various different dangers appear on the levels, including sharp

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

s, venus flytraps, hedgehogs and flying

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s. The game starts with four balls, and each time the balls collide with a dangerous object, one ball bursts. If all four balls are burst, the player loses a life. Elite Systems developed an

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

version which was never released.

Reception

''Hoppin' Mad'' received varying reception from different platforms by video game critics.

References

External links

* * * 1988 video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games Video games scored by Mark Cooksey ZX Spectrum games Elite Systems games {{action-videogame-stub