Lady Bug



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 Lock'n'Chase, Mouse Trap, and Lady Bug. Interestingly, all three games offer the player with a mechanism to alter the layout of the maze.

Lady Bug was an arcade game developed by Universal in 1981. While it borrowed heavily from the Pac-Man theme, it incorporated a few new ideas, more than most imitators. For one, the chasers and chasee were all insects, the protagonist being a ladybug. Next, not all of the maze walls are stationary. A good portion of the maze features turnstiles that can be swung about, providing you with escape routes from your would-be killers. And lastly, bonus items are scattered around the maze to spell out words like "SPECIAL" and "EXTRA" and increase the bonus multiplier.

Lady Bug had its share of fans, and so when Coleco was hunting for licenses that would compliment its ColecoVision system, they saw Lady Bug (as well as Mouse Trap) as good competition to Atari's Ms. Pac-Man. Coleco proceeded to develop and manufacture the game for their own system, as well as port it to Intellivision. While they advertised it in a catalog that listed forthcoming Atari 2600 games, Lady Bug never saw an official release. Until 2006, that is, when John W. Champeau of Champ Games programmed the game for the Atari 2600 from scratch, resulting in an outstanding conversion of a game that was almost lost to time.

Story
In a world beneath man's notice, a war is being playing out in the gardens of every home; a survival of the fittest among all insect-kind. One Lady Bug is destined to outwit all of the others in a mad dash to claim all of the food in the garden before the other insects can get her. Will she be able to use the nature of the garden to outsmart her opponents, or will she end up as worm food. Only you can decide.

Gameplay summary

 * You control the Lady Bug through the maze. Your goal is to eat every little "x" flower in the maze.
 * You must avoid contact with all of the enemy insect. If you touch one you will lose a life.
 * You can push the turnstiles at any time. The enemy insects do not possess this ability.
 * There are several objects scattered throughout the maze. Some are letters, some are hearts, and the rest are skulls.
 * If you or any insect touches a skull, that insect dies. Dead enemy insects return to the base.
 * If you touch a letter, when it is red or yellow, and that letter corresponds to "SPECIAL" or "EXTRA", that letter will light up in the chart at the top of the screen.
 * If you spell out EXTRA, you get an extra life. If you spell out SPECIAL, you win a free game.
 * If you touch a heart when they are blue, the bonus multiplier will increase from ×2, to ×3, to ×5.
 * After all of the insects leave the base, a vegetable will be left behind, which if collected, immobilizes the enemy insects for a short while (but they are still lethal).