Jack the Giantkiller
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''Jack the Giantkiller'' is a 1982
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 ...
developed and published by
Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and A ...
. It is based on the 19th-century English fairy tale "
Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole ...
". In Japan, the game was released as ''Treasure Hunt''. There were no home console ports. The player controls Jack, who must climb the beanstalk to reach the castle, steal a series of treasures from the giant, and escape. The game used hardware licensed from Hara Industries of Japan, with raster graphics instead of the vector displays Cinematronics was known for. Nicknamed "Jack the Company Killer", the game was a commercial failure and financial disaster. Cinematronics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1982.


Gameplay

The player uses an eight-way
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 ...
to move Jack. Two buttons are available to allow Jack to jump or throw beans at enemies. The cycle of screens includes: * Scaling the beanstalk. The player may use the supply of beans (limited, with his supply indicated by a counter at the corner of the screen) to hit and destroy an enemy for points. Jack may also jump from one branch to another, either to gain a new path or avoid an enemy. The player is given a supply of beans to start, and may obtain more by moving Jack over the beans that appear along the way. Going into the house in this stage will kill Jack. * Walking across clouds to reach the castle's drawbridge, dodging lions and other enemies that try to throw Jack off the tightrope course. The player may enter the castle only when the drawbridge is lowered. * The Giant's lair, which includes ascending stairs to reach the table where the giant's treasures are kept; the giant is seen sleeping at the table. The most frequent challenge is navigating the gaps between staircases (the player must jump across) while dodging flying magic lamps and collecting eggs laid by the golden goose. In the more difficult levels, cats and mice will also appear, which the player must avoid or hit with beans to collect points, and the staircases are narrower. Again, Jack's defenses are avoiding the enemies, jumping over them or using the magic beans. * Descending the beanstalk. In addition to facing the critters in the previous beanstalk stage, Jack must also avoid falling rocks. The treasures to be stolen include a musical harp, a golden goose, a bag of gold coins and the princess. The player's objective is to retrieve these items on successive trips up the beanstalk, with the princess stage being the last in the four-stage level. A brief animated intermission featuring that specific treasure will play after the player successfully reaches the ground to end each stage. After taking the princess, the giant will awaken, and it is up to the player to descend the beanstalk and chop it down before the giant reaches the ground. Completing a level results in a bonus and the player getting to repeat the cycle at increased difficulty.


Development

Cinematronics president Fred Fukumoto purchased 5,000 game boards from Hara Industries for 2 million US dollars, to be used for ''Jack the Giantkiller''. The hardware came without documentation and had to be
reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
.


References


External links

* {{Jack Jack the Giant Killer 1982 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Cinematronics games Multiplayer and single-player video games Platform games Video games about plants Video games based on fairy tales Video games developed in the United States Multiplayer hotseat games