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Bank Panic

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This article is about the video game. For financial crises involving banks, see Bank panic.
Bank Panic
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Sanritsu Denki
Publisher(s)Arcade
MSX
Pony Canyon
Platform(s)Arcade, SG-1000, MSX, Master System
ReleaseArcade
MSX
1985
Master System
1987
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)1-2 players alternating turns

Bank Panic[5] is an arcade shooter game developed by Sanritsu Denki and released by Sega in 1984.[2] Bally-Midway manufactured the game in the US. The player assumes the part of an Old West sheriff who must protect a bank and its customers from masked robbers.

Gameplay

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The cowboy in the left door is making a deposit, while the masked cowboy on the right is about to rob the bank.

Controls consist of a two-position joystick and three buttons to fire at the left, center, and right positions.

The layout of the bank is implicitly a circle with twelve numbered doors and the player in the center. The player can rotate to the left or right using the joystick, viewing three doors at a time, and shoot at a door by pressing the button corresponding to its position. The doors will open to reveal one of the following:

  • A customer, who will make a deposit by dropping a bag of money onto the counter.
  • A robber, who will attempt to shoot the player.
  • A young boy wearing a stack of hats, which the player can rapidly shoot to gain a deposit or bonus time.

The level ends once every door has received at least one deposit. If a customer makes a deposit at a door where a bank teller is sitting, the player earns bonus points.

The status of each door is indicated by a row of numbered boxes across the top of the screen, with a red dollar sign representing a door that has a completed deposit. A bar gauge above each box shows how close a person is to reaching that door. The disappearance of a dollar sign indicates that a robber has just stolen a deposit; the player must then turn to that door and shoot the robber to recover it.

At random intervals, a bomb will be placed on one of the doors and a rapid timer will count down from 99. The player must move to that door and destroy the bomb with gunfire. Shooting a customer, being shot by a robber, failing to destroy a bomb, or failing to complete the level before the overall timer runs out (shown by a bar at the bottom of the screen) costs the player one life.

Some robbers will wear white boots; these robbers need to be shot twice to be eliminated. At times, a robber may push a customer aside or duck out of view to avoid the player's gunfire, or a door may open to reveal a customer tied up with rope. In the latter case, the player has a short time to fire one shot and free the customer, who will then make three deposits instead of one; if the player waits too long, a robber pushes the customer aside.

Shortly after a robber appears in a doorway, a timer is shown above his head and begins to count quickly up to 0:30 and back down to 0:00, leading to a "FAIR" kill if he is shot during this period. Higher point values are awarded for shooting when the timer is closer to 0:00, but any shot fired before the timer appears leads to an "UNFAIR" kill and a minimum value. At the end of a level, the player earns bonus points for all deposits made and any remaining time, and a further bonus based on the average time of all FAIR kills made during the level.

Each time the player shoots a red-shirted robber when the timer displays 0:00, one letter in the word EXTRA is awarded, shown at the bottom of the screen. Completing the word awards a large bonus and an extra life and immediately advances the player to the next level.

Reception

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In Japan, Game Machine listed Bank Panic on their November 1, 1984 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of the month.[6]

Computer and Video Games magazine gave the arcade game a positive review, calling it a well-designed game.[3] They later noted the game is similar to Nintendo's Hogan's Alley, which was released in the same year.[4] Computer Gamer magazine wrote that the "colourful and humurous [sic] graphics make this an enjoyable, if simple in concept, game".[7]

Legacy

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West Bank is a clone from Dinamic Software for the ZX Spectrum,[8] Commodore 64, MSX, and Amstrad CPC. A clone for Atari 8-bit computers was released in 1992 as Bang! Bank![9]

References

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  1. ^ a b Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 131. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  2. ^ a b "Can You Brave the Bandit Bank?". Computer and Video Games. No. 43 (May 1985). 16 April 1985. p. 95.
  3. ^ a b "Arcade Action: Hogan's Alley". Computer and Video Games. No. 47 (September 1985). 16 August 1985. p. 119.
  4. ^ バンクパニック, Banku Panikku
  5. ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 247. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 November 1984. p. 31.
  6. ^ Roberts, Mike (June 1985). "Coin-Op Connection". Computer Gamer. No. 3. Argus Press. pp. 18–9.
  7. ^ West Bank at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
  8. ^ "Bang! Bank!". Atari Mania.
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