Zoo Keeper

For the Nintendo DS game with the same name, please see Zoo Keeper (DS).

Zoo Keeper is an arcade game created by Taito Corporation in 1982. It began life as a slightly different game involving a crab trying to contain tadpole eggs, but the idea morphed into a zoo keeper attempting to return the escaped zoo animals back to their cages. It was one of the few American-designed games that Taito released (with Qix and Space Dungeon being two others).

In Zoo Keeper, the player's character, named Zeke, is a zoo keeper whose girlfriend, Zelda, has been kidnapped by a malicious monkey. To distract Zeke, the monkey has unlocked the cages in the zoo, allowing the animals to escape. The player must control Zeke to run, jump, build walls, and collect bonus items in an effort to recapture and contain the animals before finally rescuing Zelda.

Unfortunately, Zoo Keeper came out just before the video game market crashed in 1983, and it was never picked up for conversion to any home system. It finally came home for the first time in 2005, as part of the Taito Legends classic compilation.

Story
Zeke was a caring zoo keeper, who tended to all of the animals. One day, a monkey in the zoo set eyes on a beautiful lady who turned out to be Zeke's girlfriend Zelda. This monkey plotted a daring escape and captured Zelda for his own. In order to keep Zeke busy, he loosened the locks on all of the cages of the other animals. Zeke discovered all at once that his girlfriend had been kidnapped by a monkey, and that the animals were beginning to run lose. With many zoo visitors in danger, Zeke had to work to recapture as many animals as he could before setting off to rescue Zelda.

Gameplay Summary

 * You control Zeke the zoo keeper, as re runs around the outside of the zoo perimeter.
 * As Zeke runs along the perimeter, he lays a set of bricks beneath his feet.
 * Animals escape from their cage and bounce around the inside of the bricks. As they hit the bricks, they chip away at them.
 * An animal that reaches the perimeter escapes from the zoo and runs along the perimeter, away from Zeke's location when it escapes.
 * Zeke must jump over any animal running around the perimeter, or he will lose one life.
 * Every few seconds, a bonus item is deposited around the perimeter that can be picked up for points.
 * Once per stage, a net will appear instead of a bonus item, which Zeke can pick up and use to return the animals inside the perimeter.