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Lady Bug (arcade game)
Encyclopedia
Lady Bug is a Pac-Man
-like maze-based insect
-themed arcade game
produced by Universal Games and released in 1981.
Unlike the more famous Pac-Man
, the player can alter the layout of the maze by shifting any of the twenty green gates. It is not possible to completely isolate a portion of the maze through gate-shifting.
When the fourth enemy insect enters the maze, the central area will show a level-specific vegetable. Eating a vegetable gives the player bonus points and immobilizes the enemy insects for several seconds, though touching them is still lethal. The skull icons are lethal to ladybugs and enemy insects. An enemy insect who dies returns to the central area. Once a vegetable is eaten, the central area will remain empty unless an enemy insect dies and is re-released, revealing a new vegetable. A ladybug who dies will shrink from view and be briefly replaced with icons resembling the stereotypical wings and halo of an angel
.
The colors of the hearts and letters cycle through a short red, a middling yellow, and a longer blue. The point values are as follows:
If a heart is consumed while it is blue, a point multiplier will come into effect, indicated by the blue section in the upper right corner of the screen. The first blue heart doubles all point values, the second triples them and the third quintuples them. This multiplier lasts until the level is complete. Eating hearts while they are yellow or red offers no benefit beyond the points collected.
The maze will also contain skull icons that will kill either Ladybug or an insect when devoured. The number of skulls increases with each level and their location is relatively random.
At each level, the maze will contain three letters. One will be randomly selected from the set of {S, P, C, I, L} (which appear only in SPECIAL), one will be randomly selected from the set of {X, T, R} (which appear only in EXTRA) and the third will be an A or an E (which appear in both words). A secondary goal of the player is to complete the words SPECIAL (indicated in red in the top left corner) and EXTRA (in yellow at top center). If, for example, a letter S is consumed while it is red, the corresponding letter in the word SPECIAL will change from grey to red. Eating an S while it is any other color (or if the S in SPECIAL is already red) offers no benefit beyond the points collected. Completing the word SPECIAL rewards the player with a free game, while completing EXTRA gives the player an extra life. Completing either word causes all its letters to return to normal and immediately advances the player to the next level.
Easter egg: if Ladybug is in the central area when one of the bugs is killed by eating a skull icon, Ladybug will immediately eat the vegetable that would otherwise appear after the fourth insect leaves the central area after spawning there. At the end of the audio clip played after Ladybug eats the vegetable the insect will appear in the central area but there will be no fruit after it leaves that area.
and ColecoVision
. In the ColecoVision version, completing SPECIAL puts the player into a bonus level (known in-game as a "Vegetable Harvest") where the goal is to consume as many randomly-placed vegetables as possible within a fixed time. The SPECIAL register does not appear in the Intellivision version.
A clone entitled Bumble Bee (replacing the main character with a bumblebee
and the enemies with spiders) was released in 1983 and 1984 by Micro Power
for the BBC Micro
, Acorn Electron
, and Commodore 64
.
In 1982, a catalog of Atari 2600 cartridges manufactured by Coleco
said that an Atari 2600 version of Lady Bug would be released soon. However, Coleco never actually did release the game. In 2006, a homebrew
version of the game, programmed by John W. Champeau, was released through AtariAge
.
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
-like maze-based insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
-themed arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
produced by Universal Games and released in 1981.
Description
The goal of Lady Bug is to eat all dots, hearts and letters in the maze while avoiding other insects. The player is represented by a red, yellow, and green character resembling a ladybug while the enemy insects' appearance varies by level. The border of the maze acts as timer, with each circuit signaling the release of an enemy insect from the central area, up to (generally) a maximum of four. The speed of the circuit increases on stages 2 and 5.Unlike the more famous Pac-Man
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
, the player can alter the layout of the maze by shifting any of the twenty green gates. It is not possible to completely isolate a portion of the maze through gate-shifting.
When the fourth enemy insect enters the maze, the central area will show a level-specific vegetable. Eating a vegetable gives the player bonus points and immobilizes the enemy insects for several seconds, though touching them is still lethal. The skull icons are lethal to ladybugs and enemy insects. An enemy insect who dies returns to the central area. Once a vegetable is eaten, the central area will remain empty unless an enemy insect dies and is re-released, revealing a new vegetable. A ladybug who dies will shrink from view and be briefly replaced with icons resembling the stereotypical wings and halo of an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
.
The colors of the hearts and letters cycle through a short red, a middling yellow, and a longer blue. The point values are as follows:
- Dot: 10 points (20, 30, or 50 points with appropriate multiplier)
- Blue letter/heart: 100 points (200, 300, or 500 points with appropriate multiplier)
- Yellow letter/heart: 300 points (600, 900, or 1500 points with appropriate multiplier)
- Red letter/heart: 800 points (1600, 2400, or 4000 points with appropriate multiplier)
- Vegetable: Starts at 1000 points, increases by 500 with each level to a maximum of 9500 points on level 18. Beyond this level, the vegetable's appearance (horseradishHorseradishHorseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...
) and point value remain fixed.
If a heart is consumed while it is blue, a point multiplier will come into effect, indicated by the blue section in the upper right corner of the screen. The first blue heart doubles all point values, the second triples them and the third quintuples them. This multiplier lasts until the level is complete. Eating hearts while they are yellow or red offers no benefit beyond the points collected.
The maze will also contain skull icons that will kill either Ladybug or an insect when devoured. The number of skulls increases with each level and their location is relatively random.
At each level, the maze will contain three letters. One will be randomly selected from the set of {S, P, C, I, L} (which appear only in SPECIAL), one will be randomly selected from the set of {X, T, R} (which appear only in EXTRA) and the third will be an A or an E (which appear in both words). A secondary goal of the player is to complete the words SPECIAL (indicated in red in the top left corner) and EXTRA (in yellow at top center). If, for example, a letter S is consumed while it is red, the corresponding letter in the word SPECIAL will change from grey to red. Eating an S while it is any other color (or if the S in SPECIAL is already red) offers no benefit beyond the points collected. Completing the word SPECIAL rewards the player with a free game, while completing EXTRA gives the player an extra life. Completing either word causes all its letters to return to normal and immediately advances the player to the next level.
Easter egg: if Ladybug is in the central area when one of the bugs is killed by eating a skull icon, Ladybug will immediately eat the vegetable that would otherwise appear after the fourth insect leaves the central area after spawning there. At the end of the audio clip played after Ladybug eats the vegetable the insect will appear in the central area but there will be no fruit after it leaves that area.
Ports and clones
Lady Bug was adapted to the home video game systems IntellivisionIntellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
and ColecoVision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
. In the ColecoVision version, completing SPECIAL puts the player into a bonus level (known in-game as a "Vegetable Harvest") where the goal is to consume as many randomly-placed vegetables as possible within a fixed time. The SPECIAL register does not appear in the Intellivision version.
A clone entitled Bumble Bee (replacing the main character with a bumblebee
Bumblebee
A bumble bee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they are common in New Zealand and in the Australian state of Tasmania.Bumble bees are social insects that are characterised by black...
and the enemies with spiders) was released in 1983 and 1984 by Micro Power
Micro Power
Micro Power was a British company established in the early 1980s, best known as a video game publisher but they also produced and sold many types of computer hardware and software through their Leeds...
for the BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
, Acorn Electron
Acorn Electron
The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....
, and Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
.
In 1982, a catalog of Atari 2600 cartridges manufactured by Coleco
Coleco
Coleco is an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as "Connecticut Leather Company". It became a highly successful toy company in the 1980s, known for its mass-produced version of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consoles, the Coleco Telstar and...
said that an Atari 2600 version of Lady Bug would be released soon. However, Coleco never actually did release the game. In 2006, a homebrew
Homebrew (video games)
Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games or other software produced by consumers to target proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary storage methods...
version of the game, programmed by John W. Champeau, was released through AtariAge
AtariAge
Atari Age was a magazine distributed to Atari Club members from 1982 until 1984. It was published by The Atari Club Inc., a subsidiary of Atari, Inc.-History:...
.