Circus Charlie

Circus Charlie
Circus Charlie
	Japanese arcade flyer of Circus Charlie.
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Matthew Barnard
Platform(s)	Arcade, Commodore 64, MSX, SEGA SG-1000, NES
Release	1984
Genre(s)	Action
Mode(s)	Two players alternating turns

Circus Charlie (サーカスチャーリー, Sākasu Chārī) is an action/platform game originally released by Konami in which the player controls a clown named Charlie. The game was a hit arcade game in 1984, which also had a successful release on the MSX in the same year, followed by ports to the Nintendo Famicom in 1986 by Soft Pro and the Commodore 64 in 1987. It was released along with other Konami classic games on the Nintendo DS compilation Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits.

Gameplay

In the game there are six regular stages (plus an extra stage) of differing tasks that are to be completed by Charlie. Grabbing money bags, performing dangerous tricks, avoiding enemies, completing stages, etc., earns Charlie points. After the sixth stage is completed, the game starts over again but with a faster pace and more difficult (but exactly the same in terms of task to be completed) levels.

Charlie also races against time. Bonus points are awarded according to the time remaining, but running out of time will cost the player a life.

Versions

In the "Level Select" version of the game, the player can choose any of the stages to play, but only a limited number of times each, whereupon the level will become unselectable. There is no "ending" to the game—after the first five levels have each been played to their limit, the player then repeats the trapeze stage until all his lives are exhausted.

In the Famicom version, the trampoline stage is omitted, but it has a "B" mode, in which all the levels are repeated with added difficulty. The game often shows up on Famicom clone systems and multicarts, usually with its title screen altered to remove copyright, some versions also have the levels split up to make up separate games in multicarts.

Levels

The standard Arcade version has 6 levels in total. Levels 1, 2, 4 and 5 have 5 sublevels. Level 3 contains 7 sublevels. Each sublevel gets more difficult. Level 6 also has 5 sublevels, but repeats as long the user has lives.

Level 1: ride on a lion and jump through flaming rings
Level 2: tightrope walking whilst jumping over monkeys
Level 3: Jump between trampolines and beware the knife throwers and fire breathers. In sublevel 3 and 6 the trampolines are placed in a swimming pool and the knife throwers and fire breathers are replaced by jumping piranhas.
Level 4: Jump from ball to ball
Level 5: Ride a horse and jump over trampolines and walls
Level 6: trapeze

Other appearances

In Mikie, another Konami arcade game, headbutting the teacher's desk from below three times in the classroom stage will make Circus Charlie appear, giving the player extra points.

External links

Circus Charlie entry at the Centuri.net Arcade Database