by Mark Nobes, chief editor
With his large and distinctive tubular nose, Q*bert was certainly an odd-looking chap. His quirkiness helped him to become a much-loved gaming character in the 1980s, eventually appearing on a wide array of merchandise, although he was never as popular as Pac-Man. Nonetheless, he was certainly one of the most charismatic characters to feature in 80s video games.
As for the game itself, it was a real classic that was available on most 8-bit home computers and consoles, and received high praise from critics. It was notable for the colourful graphics, novel gameplay and the charismatic Q*bert himself.
However, there were some gamers who found the controls rather awkward (including myself), but with a lot of practice you do find yourself enjoying the game more as you settle into it.
INSTRUCTIONS: Simply use your arrow keys to move Q*bert around and try to change the colour on all of the steps to complete the level. It's a whole lot harder than it looks and is devilishly addictive - give it a go!
The 1982 arcade game was developed by Gottileb, who were also responsible for the game Reactor released the same year. Q*bert was the company's biggest-seller, and the home computer and console ports were licensed to Parker Brothers. Their first port was for the Atari VCS/2600 and then the 5200, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Atari 400/800/XL, and the Commodore Vic-20 during 1983. The C64 version was not released until 1984.
The 2600 port was rather disappointing due to the poor controls, a lack of music, and also the omission of the characters Ugg and Wrongway.
Screen grab from the arcade coin-op game
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