One of my favorite Atari games, it was challenging and had a smooth flow to it. I also loved the DataEast cartridge design too, slim and angled, perfection.
Kids would play anything with a maze and dots during Pac-Man Fever. I had Pac-Man but played this a couple times at another kid's house; fortunately it's different enough to not generate a lawsuit like K.C. Munchkin for Odyssey². I played it a couple years ago to see how high I could get my score, but have no interest in improving my score at Atari Pac-Man these days.
I had this game for a couple of years without ever knowing that you could lock a policeman between doors. I did it one day by accident, and was so blown away that I yelled for my brother to come look before it disappeared from the screen. I was never able to duplicate the feat.
Intellivision missed out on the must-have game of 1980, Space Invaders, which made the Atari VCS/2600 and left Intellivision and Odyssey² on the store shelf. I wonder what would have happened if either got it? Maybe it would have taken 40-45% market share, since Atari was making arcade games they could later port. Likewise rights to Pac-Man going to Atari shut down every other console's hope to get over 15% market share. Too bad the owners didn't have final approval as Atari made buckets of money in the short term, but pissed off so many people in the long term with their bad port. This also sabotaged rollout of their own 5200 system. We saw Ms. Pac-Man in 1983 as what Pac-Man should have been like (though I didn't get it until much later on the cheap.)
i love this game, its perfect to play when its late at night very quiet, and not too noisy, can you do a review for H.E.R.O, that should go over very well
Good point on lack of flicker for 4 enemies. Is it because they are all the same color? Ms. Pac-Man supposedly solved the flicker except in the few instances when the ghosts are on the same row. I seldom see more than 2 on the same row; and Berzerk robots were largely identical and didn't share the same row. What did they do differently in Lock 'N' Chase?
Ladybug would have been a good choice. Very pacman like, but there is no power pellet. Just a vegetable in the center. Took me a while, but I finally got to the Red Pepper stage.
I guess they decided at Mattel that if they wanted to make money selling games, they had to convert their Intellivision games to Atari under the label M-Network. I got Armor Ambush and Super Challenge Baseball which look good and like similar Intellivision games. Still they sold 3 million consoles for 20% market share before Atari Pac-Man sold 2-5 million more Atari 2600 consoles in 1982, reducing them to 15% market share and being number 2 console above ColecoVIsion's 2 million and 1 million each for the Atari 5200 and Odyssey².
Nice review Phil! I have a copy of this one, and a copy of the IntelliVision port. As it goes both are good, but the IntelliVision port seems a bit more challenging.
*I used to play this at my around the corner local nobody played it but because of that I really became very good at it, reaching very high scores and trapping the "chasers" in the locks and sometimes got them in couples giving me more points*
I believe it because it was a better system. Third-party developers seemed to just translate Atari cartridges to Intellivision without using its greater capabilities. Since M-Network games went the other way, they had to work not to reduce the quality too much.
This game was part of my collection. I could trap cops easily. I only lost when I got so bored that I literally fell asleep at the switch. When the cops arrest you it sounds like they are slamming you into a jail cell.
Why they didn't have multiple mazes is beyond me. Back in the day Atari was known for games having "variations" for Combat, Air-Sea Battle and the like. Ms. Pac-Man in 1983 showed what Pac-Man could have been if they'd bothered.
This game has such smooth controls. Its like sliding on glass. One of my faves on the 2600
One of my favorite Atari games, it was challenging and had a smooth flow to it. I also loved the DataEast cartridge design too, slim and angled, perfection.
Love this game it is much better than the pac man port for Atari!
Kids would play anything with a maze and dots during Pac-Man Fever. I had Pac-Man but played this a couple times at another kid's house; fortunately it's different enough to not generate a lawsuit like K.C. Munchkin for Odyssey². I played it a couple years ago to see how high I could get my score, but have no interest in improving my score at Atari Pac-Man these days.
I had this game for a couple of years without ever knowing that you could lock a policeman between doors. I did it one day by accident, and was so blown away that I yelled for my brother to come look before it disappeared from the screen. I was never able to duplicate the feat.
Using the locks as a way to escape is good. I never bother trying to capture them. I just block their way.
Intellivision missed out on the must-have game of 1980, Space Invaders, which made the Atari VCS/2600 and left Intellivision and Odyssey² on the store shelf. I wonder what would have happened if either got it? Maybe it would have taken 40-45% market share, since Atari was making arcade games they could later port. Likewise rights to Pac-Man going to Atari shut down every other console's hope to get over 15% market share. Too bad the owners didn't have final approval as Atari made buckets of money in the short term, but pissed off so many people in the long term with their bad port. This also sabotaged rollout of their own 5200 system. We saw Ms. Pac-Man in 1983 as what Pac-Man should have been like (though I didn't get it until much later on the cheap.)
Just picked this game up today. Not a common one in my neck of the woods. Nice shout out to ferg! Great video really appreciate it!
Collecting the bars sounds like the start of Halloween III
i love this game, its perfect to play when its late at night very quiet, and not too noisy, can you do a review for H.E.R.O, that should go over very well
Good point on lack of flicker for 4 enemies. Is it because they are all the same color? Ms. Pac-Man supposedly solved the flicker except in the few instances when the ghosts are on the same row. I seldom see more than 2 on the same row; and Berzerk robots were largely identical and didn't share the same row. What did they do differently in Lock 'N' Chase?
Ladybug would have been a good choice. Very pacman like, but there is no power pellet. Just a vegetable in the center. Took me a while, but I finally got to the Red Pepper stage.
I'm not sure I agree that locking a cop inside a corner is all that hard. It seemed to have just the right amount of difficulty to me.
Great review.
Interesting that the 2600 cart looks like an Intellivision mold.
Game looks kinda stressful, lol.
I guess they decided at Mattel that if they wanted to make money selling games, they had to convert their Intellivision games to Atari under the label M-Network. I got Armor Ambush and Super Challenge Baseball which look good and like similar Intellivision games. Still they sold 3 million consoles for 20% market share before Atari Pac-Man sold 2-5 million more Atari 2600 consoles in 1982, reducing them to 15% market share and being number 2 console above ColecoVIsion's 2 million and 1 million each for the Atari 5200 and Odyssey².
Man you sound so young! And you were ranking all system games together, fun to look at these old vids. I agree, this is mediocre at best.
Nice review Phil! I have a copy of this one, and a copy of the IntelliVision port. As it goes both are good, but the IntelliVision port seems a bit more challenging.
For some reason, I can't get enough of these. This game actually looks fun too, it's not a normal trash Atari 2600 game.
I prefer this over Pac Man
*I used to play this at my around the corner local nobody played it but because of that I really became very good at it, reaching very high scores and trapping the "chasers" in the locks and sometimes got them in couples giving me more points*
I have that exact PAC Man you. It’s a fast food toy.
I play a lot of Atari lock and chase of course I can’t get past 1100 points!
One of the bonuses in the middle accumulate with each hit during the level. And it was fun to try to figure out how to lock 'em up.
The intellivision version is so much better.
I believe it because it was a better system. Third-party developers seemed to just translate Atari cartridges to Intellivision without using its greater capabilities. Since M-Network games went the other way, they had to work not to reduce the quality too much.
This game was part of my collection. I could trap cops easily. I only lost when I got so bored that I literally fell asleep at the switch. When the cops arrest you it sounds like they are slamming you into a jail cell.
Why they didn't have multiple mazes is beyond me. Back in the day Atari was known for games having "variations" for Combat, Air-Sea Battle and the like. Ms. Pac-Man in 1983 showed what Pac-Man could have been if they'd bothered.
I am glad I missed this game in 1982.