Lock'n'Chase



When Pac-Man arrived on the arcade scene, and literally took it over, the arcade industry stopped and took notice. So it wasn't long before imitations arrived on the scene. Three such imitations were Mouse Trap, Lady Bug, and Lock'n'Chase. Interestingly, all three games offer the player with a mechanism to alter the layout of the maze.

Lock'n'Chase was an arcade game developed by Data East, and published by Taito Corporation, in 1981. Out of the three Pac-Man imitators mentioned above, Lock'n'Chase is the most similar. This game gives the player and his chasers more defined roles; a thief and four cops. As the cops chase your thief throughout the maze, you can give them the slip at certain locations by triggering a gate to spring up between you and the cop, effectively cutting off their chase. Bonus points can be earned by trapping a cop or two behind two gates. There are two kinds of bonus items to collect, one of which will temporarily stun the police, but there is ultimately no way of removing them from play.

When Mattel and Atari were duking it out for more customers, Atari had secured the rights to Pac-Man. So Mattel looked for a maze game that they felt could compete, and they found it in Lock'n'Chase. Mattel proceeded to develop a close conversion for the Intellivision. They went on to create a less visually faithful adaptation for the Atari 2600 as well. And lastly, the developed a conversion for the Apple II. Much later on, Tonkin House developed a much upgraded conversion of the game, with multiple mazes snd new features, for the monochromatic Game Boy.

Story
You've been tipped off to the possibility of the greatest bank heist in history. However, when you arrive, you find out that it's a setup! You can either high tail it out of there, or take the risk and grab the gold right from under the police's noses. You decide that those cops aren't as smart as they look, and make a dash for the cash!

Gameplay summary

 * You control the Lupin the thief through the bank corridors. Your goal is to eat every coin in the bank, and safely exit.
 * You must avoid contact with all of the cops. If you touch one you will lose a life.
 * Cops start out in each of the four tunnel entrances and come out one at a time.
 * You can erect up to two temporary walls, at the most recent wall junctions that you have passed.
 * If you lock a cop up between two gates, you are awarded bonus points.
 * Two kinds of bonus items appear in the center of the maze; a stage bonus, and an increasing point value money that stuns cops when collected
 * When you collect the money bag, the cops freeze in place for a brief period of time. You may pass through them at this time.
 * Both tunnels are not always available every stage, and several green walls randomly appear throughout the maze, opening and closing.