Antcruz (1986)

Antcruz is an endless arcade 2D platformer game originally developed by AC Entertainment. The arcade version was released in North America and the United Kingdom on October 6, 1986. It was released to further European countries on April 3, 1987, and finally in Japan on July 13, 1987. It was later ported to the Famicom/NES, MSX and Commodore 64 in the same year, with ports for the Atari 7800, MSX 2, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, and MS-DOS releasing in 1988 following the success of Antcruz 2, and Game Boy in 1994. The original arcade version was released in standard, upright and cocktail cabinet formats, with a tabletop variant releasing years later. The game has a one player mode as well as a two player mode where players take turns.

The first officially released Antcruz game, the game centers on Antcruz as he runs through 25 checkerboard-themed “domes” and must defeat all the enemies using his A-Cola-fueled electrical powers before the time runs out. The game introduced the standard gameplay for further 2D Antcruz installments, but featured more maze-like and exploratory platforming environments compared to most other installments.

The game received heavily mixed reception from critics upon release, though attracted enough sales and praise from gamers to warrant more games and ports. Despite the mixed reception, both contemporary and retrospective, the game is credited for its good gameplay that would set the standard for its future titles, especially its direct sequel, Antcruz 2, which would receive further praise.

Story
While the game had virtually no story explained at the time of its release, the timeline section in the official manual to the Antcruz’s Ultimate Bounceback console suggests that Antcruz (just having moved into Miracle Island, not meeting Sarah or Dash yet) had accidentally walked into one of Zane’s prototype mazes, making it one of his earliest encounters with his inventions despite the character himself not appearing in the game.





Gameplay
The game is a 2D side-scrolling platform game. The gameplay centers on Antcruz’s ability to knock out enemies using electricity, a power that he is able to collect and refuel using A-Cola, an item that is usually hidden inside of Heart Boxes throughout the stages. The objective is to get to the exit of the stage before the time runs out, but Antcruz can only actually use the exit and clear the stage if every enemy in the stage has been defeated beforehand. There are also rubies that Antcruz can collect that are scattered across each stage, but compared to A-Cola, which is more mandatory for Antcruz’s lightning fuel, rubies are more important for increasing Antcruz’s score.

As the game is a side-scrolling platformer, the player controls Antcruz left and right by using the joystick. Antcruz can jump if the player presses the jump button, and will also do a double-jump if the jump button is pressed again while he’s in mid-air. Antcruz will throw an electrical beam in the direction the joystick is being held in if the fire button is pressed. If the beam hits an enemy, it will result in the enemy being defeated. If 3 enemies are defeated in under 10 seconds, he can get an extra point bonus for the combo. Antcruz is unable to throw beams if he doesn’t his lightning fuel is empty. If Antcruz touches an enemy or projectile, he will be temporarily hurt for 10 seconds. If he does this again while already hurt, he’ll lose a life. He will also instantly die if he falls into a bottomless pit or doesn’t clear the stage before the time runs out. If Antcruz loses all 3 lives, it will result in a game over.

The game consists of 25 stages. While all of these stages seem to vary in difficulty, they all use a consistent gimmick, that being that both the backgrounds and platforms use checkerboard patterns of different colors, making it more challenging for the player to distinguish the backgrounds from the platforms. The game will also feature more challenging enemy placement as the stages go on; For example, Dome 1 mainly consists of Ribats and Kyuties, with very few Bernis and one single Yaffo at the top of the stage. Bernis and Yaffos will become increasingly more common by Dome 25. If all 25 stages are completed, the game will repeat itself, but the time limit will start to drain faster.

Development
Originally, the main character, Antcruz, appeared in an unlicensed Colecovision game in 1984 called Colecocruz, a minigame compilation game that the creator had made independently while new to programming. It featured an earlier and simpler version of Antcruz, simply named “Ant” at the time. After very negative reactions from consumers who had bought the game from the trunk of the creator’s car as well as various bootleg markets, the creator studied and learned more about programming and started working on a new game. The creator had begun work on the game sometime in 1985 after he moved to New York City at the age of 20 to become an intern for AC Entertainment, a relatively new and obscure media company that was based in said city. The game was created using AC Entertainment’s arcade board “AC Custom Board 1” in an attempt to make a mascot/signature IP for the company’s video game line. After about 2/3 of the game was finished as intended, he showed the game to the company CEO, who liked the game so much that he demanded it be released almost immediately. According to the creator in a 2009 interview, there were going to be more characters and stages in the game had the game not been released in its demo-like state, and Antcruz 2 was developed as what the first game could've been had he gotten more time to finish. During a 2009 interview, the creator described how the game came out to be, “At that point, I just wanted to prove that I could get better at programming and could make something better along with it. Colecocruz, of course, was pretty bad, but it was a start. Antcruz-the first game, looking back at it, was...just another, better start, that somehow got released by a major entertainment company while I was just an intern. The game itself is fine, I guess, but it could’ve been way better and much more polished. There was much more I wanted to add but I just couldn’t finish it in time. It’s serviceable enough and makes for a decent enough start for the series but not really a proper introduction like it’s successor, it’s just too underproduced and underdeveloped.”

Antcruz
The only playable character. He is a yellow boy who wears mostly black, blue and yellow clothes. He has lightning abilities, but he can lose them if he uses them too much. By drinking A-Cola, he can regenerate these abilities.

Ribat
One of the game's main enemies. Ribat is a white, rabbit-like blob creature with spiky ears and red shoes. Ribats are usually seen walking from the right to the left, but will not chase Antcruz if he walks or jumps past them. Ribats can not jump, but they can be carried and dropped by Kyuties.

Jump Ribat
Jump Ribat is similar to a normal Ribat, but it can jump and has blue shoes. Jump Ribats can also walk to the right. They are faster than Kyuties but slower than normal Ribats. Unlike normal Ribats, Jump Ribats can not be dropped by Kyuties.

Kyutie
A purple blob creature with arms, wings and a red bow. Kyuties are usually seen flying slowly above the ground. They can fly in any direction. Some can pick up and drop Ribats.

Berni
A small bear-like blob creature with small arms, feet, ears, and a tail. It will usually run and chase Antcruz. They take 2 beams to kill, but 1 will make them scared and run away.

Yaffo
An indigo cat enemy. If a Yaffo notices the player, it will jump high into the air and then quickly fall towards the player and throw projectile lasers. If the lasers hit the player, they will take damage.

Reception
While the game received generally positive feedback from arcade-goers and had enough popularity to warrant home ports and a sequel, the game initially received mixed to lukewarm reviews from critics upon its release. Praise went towards the gameplay and controls, with some critics comparing it to a mix of Bubble Bobble and Super Mario Bros., as well as the level design and music, but the graphics were criticized, with many calling the backgrounds “confusing” and generally agreeing that the graphics weren’t really as impressive as newer arcade games such as Baraduke and OutRun.

Retrospective reviews of the game are just as mixed. Yengamer called the game “cute,” saying “The fact that a single person made this is quite impressive and the story behind it is quite a quirky one. This is definitely a bit oversimplified as a start to what would become such a long-running series, but for what it is, it’s quite brilliant the more you think about it.” GamesCompass gave the game a score of 5/10, saying, “Do you know some music artists whose first record was just an incredibly raw and unfiltered batch of recordings that was somehow passed off as their “debut album” when released although still being kind of enjoyable? That’s what the first Antcruz game feels like. It’s fun gameplay-wise, but compared to its much more polished successor it’s a pretty by-the-numbers experience.” Regarding the stages, the reviewer would add that they were “fun, but some stages may cause mere confusion. We understand that some gimmicks were placed, but they could’ve thought things through a bit more. The order of the stages is also strange, seeming like a random mish-mash. The first stage is legitimately the hardest of the first 10 stages.” ScrewDefense gave the game a mediocre review in retrospect, being highly positive towards its platforming but panning its level design; “The confusing gimmick of distinguishing the floor from the backgrounds can work in a few spots, but I wish at least some of the stages that almost gave me migraines from looking at them for too long could’ve used a fixing of that. How come the first stage is one of the more egregious examples…and how come the second stage is easier?” Positive or negative, most critics were able to come to the conclusion that the game became obsolete after the release of Antcruz 2 due to the latter being a widely-regarded improvement over its predecessor.