Burger Time (   Ⓒ 1982 Data East.
Burger Time is a platform game in which one or two players take on the role of burger chef 'Peter Pepper'. The chef must create a set number of burgers per level by collecting the four separate ingredients needed to make each one (two pieces of bun, the burger itself and a garnish, such as lettuce or cheese).
Each screen is made up of platforms joined by connecting ladders. At the bottom of the screen are a number of empty plates while the burger ingredients lay across the platforms directly above the plates. The Chef must walk across the entire width of the ingredients to make them drop to the platform below. A burger is only completed once all four of its ingredients have been dropped onto the corresponding plate at the bottom of the screen.
The chef's efforts are hampered by the rogue ingredients that are constantly chasing him. These are called 'Mr Hotdog', 'Mr Egg' and 'Mr Pickle' and any contact with them results in the loss of a life. The chef can temporarily freeze the enemies by throwing salt at them. He only carries a limited amount of salt but this can be replenished by collecting the bonus food items that randomly appear. In addition to the salt, any enemies located on a platform below the chef can be killed by dropping an available burger ingredient on top of them.
Enemies become more numerous and faster moving as the levels progress.
- TECHNICAL -
Main CPU : M6502 (@ 1.5 Mhz)
Sound CPU : M6502 (@ 500 Khz)
Sound Chips : (2x) AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 240 x 240 pixels
Screen refresh : 57.00 Hz
Palette colors : 16
Players : 2
Control : 4-way joystick
Buttons : 1 (PEPPER)
- TRIVIA -
Released in November 1982, the game was originally titled 'Hamburger' in Japan, but was renamed 'Burger Time' before being introduced to the United States.
Burger Time was originally made for the Deco Cassette System ("Burger Time (DC)"), an early arcade format that pulled the game data from audio cassettes. The cassette system enjoyed a brief bit of popularity, until it was discovered that the cassettes quickly wore out, rendering the game useless. Bally Midway licensed this title soon after its original release, and redesigned the hardware to drop the cassette altogether. This version of the game sold vast quantities when compared to the original. There was also a bootleg version of this game that bore the title "Cook Race".
Bryan Wagner holds the official record for this game with 11,512,500 points on September 19, 2008.
A sequel called "Pizzatime" was planned around 1984 but was never released.
Have you ever wondered why one of the enemies is an egg? In Japan where the game was made, it is common to add a fried egg to your burger. Hence, Mr. Egg as one of the enemies.
- UPDATES -

• The Bally Midway licensed version has a different attract mode.

• If you run out of pepper in the Bally Midway licensed version, a special sound effect will play, signaling this.
- SCORING -
Stacking a burger ingredient : 50 points per ingredient
Crushing Mr. Hot Dog : 100 points
Crushing Mr. Pickle : 200 points
Crushing Mr. Egg : 300 points
Collecting Ice Cream : 500 points
Collecting Coffee : 1,000 points
Collecting Fries : 1,500 points
Dropping Ingredient with 1 enemy on top : 500 points
Dropping Ingredient with 2 enemies on top : 1,000 points
Dropping Ingredient with 3 enemies on top : 2,000 points
Dropping Ingredient with 4 enemies on top : 4,000 points
Dropping Ingredient with 5 enemies on top : 8,000 points
Dropping Ingredient with 6 enemies on top : 16,000 points
and so on...
- TIPS AND TRICKS -

• 'Mad Dash' : J.D. Lowe, the current world record holder adds some suggestions... Something that very few players use is something I call 'Mad Dash'. If you watch as the chef is drawn on the screen, he walks up/down ladders at approx. 8 steps a second. So, in theory, if you can press the up and down arrows faster than 8 times a second, you can go faster. This is very helpful on later levels like Level 20. This does not work on going left and right, because the steps are smaller, and the computer has to draw the chef facing you again if you let go of the controller. It's a bit complicated, but like I said earlier, it can be very helpful.

• Pepper Appearances : The peppers do not appear randomly on the screen; in fact, they appear after so many ingredients have fallen to the bottom of the screen...
Level 1 - Peppers appear after 4, 8, and 12 ingredients have dropped.
Level 2 - After 5, 7, and 13 ingredients.
Level 3 - 4, 8, and 13.
Level 4 - 6, 16, 22, and 29.
Level 5 - 3, 6, and 9.
Level 6 - 3, 7, 12, and 14.

• Enemies can't turn around immediately, so you can follow them around temporarily.

• The best tactic is generally to stand halfway across a piece of food, wait for enemies to appear on the burger piece's edge, and then drop the burger piece and the enemies at once. Always lure the enemies onto the highest portion of the screen, and then drop them. This has several advantages : it clears more burger pieces, plus it means that units on lower levels may wander into the cascading pieces, killing them also.

• Leave plenty of room around yourself when going up ladders - the sprites in Burger Time are somewhat bigger than the visible characters.

• When enemies first appear, you have 1/4 sec to go through them, if you need to.

• IMPORTANT : If you get caught by an enemy while the last piece of food is falling into place, the game will NOT deduct a life from your game!
- SERIES -
1. Burger Time (1982)
1. Burger Time [Cassette No.26] (1982)
2. Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory [Cassette No.39] (1984)
3. Super Burger Time (1990)
- PORTS -

• Consoles :
Colecovision (1982)
Atari 2600 (1982)
Mattel Intellivision (1982)
Nintendo Famicom (1985)
Nintendo Game Boy (1991, "Burger Time Deluxe")
Sony PlayStation (1997, "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Midway Collection 2")
Sony PlayStation 2 (2005, "Oretachi Game Center Zoku - Burger Time")
Atari 7800 (2005, "Beef Drop")
Nintendo Wii (2010, "Data East Arcade Classics")

• Computers :
PC [Booter] (1982)
PC [MS-DOS] (1982)
Apple II (1983)
Texas Instruments TI-99/4A (1983)
Commodore C64 (1984)
BBC B (1984, "Mr. Wimpy" - Ocean)
Acorn Electron (1984, "Mr. Wimpy" - Ocean)
Oric (1984, "Mr. Wimpy" - Ocean)
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1984, "Mr. Wimpy" - Ocean)
PC [CD-Rom] (1997, "Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Midway Collection 2")
MSX ("Mac Attack")
VTech Laser-VZ ("Hamburger Sam")
Amstrad CPC

• Others :
LCD handheld game (1982) released by Mattel.
LCD Handheld Game (1982) by Bandai.
VFD Portable Game (1983) by Bandai.
- SOURCES -
Game's rom.
Machine's picture.