BurgerTime turned 35 years old this year, and what better way to celebrate the wisdom that comes with age than looking back at its hits and misses?
BurgerTime began its life in the arcades back in 1982. Distributed by Bally Midway, BurgerTime quickly became one of the most popular arcade cabinets ever released. Gameplay is simple: Help Chef Peter Pepper prepare burgers layer by layer all the while avoiding the ruthless pursuit of Mr. Egg, Mr. Hot Dog, and Mr. Pickle. The graphics are bright and control is responsive but limited to four directions.
Arcade
Utilizing the superior graphics of the Colecovision, this version is considered to the be closest to the arcade original. Chef Pepper appears to have put on a few extra pounds in this game which results in noticeably slower gameplay.
Colecovision
Nearly 10 years after its release, BurgerTime officially becomes fast food with its first port to a handheld system on the GameBoy. The highlight of this version is the bouncy soundtrack. Strangely enough, I lost the cartridge to this game in the back of my parents' Mini Van when I was 14 and a when I found it a year later, it was lying under two McDonald’s french fries and all three looked like new. Weird.
GameBoy
The NES version of BurgerTime is fun but it suffers from a common problem found with far too many NES games. This version is hard, and I mean throw-the-controller-across-the-room hard when you get to the higher levels.
NES
While it should rank higher on the list, the Intellivision version ranks the lowest. It’s not because of the sound or gameplay. Both are good and nearly on par with the arcade version. I just can’t get over the green meat.
Intellivision
