Muncher - Your Computer - BBC Micro - Emulated, BeebEm - 56,270 points

Muncher is a Pac-man style arcade game for the BBC Micro. It appeared as a type-in listing in the December 1982 edition of Your Computer magazine. The program was written by David Griffin.

Just like in the arcade original, your aim is to clear the maze of all the dots while avoiding the deadly ghosts. In this game the ghosts live up to their name as they pass directly through the walls to get to you. Luckily they are not that fast . . . . at the beginning. Clear all the dots to get to the next screen. The power pills (Thunderbusters) do not allow you to kill the ghosts. Instead, they are paralysed for a short time before they can move again.

The game starts off deceptively easy, but eventually becomes almost impossible as with each new level, the whole game moves faster. To spice it up even more, every 5th level is invisible! By the tenth maze, the ghosts are moving fast enough to make it a real challenge, and turning at junctions is becoming hard due to the speed. The dots around the centre of the maze can become very difficult to get. Also, when you lose a life, you move to the next sheet - very useful for getting by invisible mazes.

Considering this is a type-in game and from 1982, this is not bad at all. I've seen much worse commercial releases. A very worthwhile type-in program. I don't quite understand how the lives work - you don't always seem to lose a life when you lose a life!

This run was made on the 24th August 2024 using the BeebEm emulator on PC. The final score was 56,270.

Time stamps:
00:30 Instructions screen.
00:36 Game start
02:25 Sheet 1 cleared.
05:18 Sheet 2 cleared.
06:59 Sheet 3 cleared.
07:07 Extra life awarded.
08:47 Sheet 4 cleared. The next sheet is the first of the invisible mazes. When you eat one of the Thunderbusters, the maze is briefly visible.
10:28 First life lost, and Sheet 5 ends.
12:01 Sheet 6 cleared.
13:42 Sheet 7 cleared and extra life awarded.
14:28 Second life lost and Sheet 8 ends.
14:43 Third life lost and Sheet 9 ends.
15:12 Fourth life lost and Sheet 10 ends.
15:51 Fifth life lost and Sheet 11 ends.
16:47 Sixth life lost and Sheet 12 ends.
17:22 Seventh life lost and Sheet 13 ends.
17:53 Eighth life lost. Game Over! Final score 56,270 points.
17:55 Initials entry.



Intro Music:
Music by: Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Title: Legend
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