Release Date: 1984
Publisher: Personal Games
Controller: Paddles
Players: 1
Genre: Shoot’em Up
Alternate Title: N/A
Model #: N/A
Rarity: 10
Programmer: Robert Anthony Tokar
The ROM for this long lost Holy Grail has finally surfaced
It’s your birthday and it’s time to celebrate the fullest! Before the party can get started however you have to blow out your candles. Unfortunately it appears as though you are an immortal because the candles never stop coming.
You control a head wearing a top hat that is patrolling the bottom of the screen. As you move about, lit candles begin to descend towards you, forcing you to shoot them out with a cannon that is hidden within your top-hat. The candles come in short waves, however if you miss one it will take away your oxygen and eventually suffocate you. Which sounds like the worst birthday party ever.
The gameplay is pretty lackluster as the candles don’t move too quickly or in too great of numbers. Even after several levels it’s still incredibly easy to pick off most of them without issue. Your gun toting maniac is apparently packing a machine gun, because he can create a constant stream of bullets, making laying down a suppressing fire very easy. The game also goes on your schedule as it will pause between rounds until you trigger the next one by firing a warning shot towards the unseen candle gods.
Outside of the initial rendition of Happy Birthday to You (which had to have cost them a fortune to license) everything else is basic. The graphics are bare bones with the candles being simple and the only animation being your top-hat firing bullets. The sound is basic as well, which matches nicely with the grey and brown background.
This is arguably the rarest video game across any platform, although it’s a shame that it’s not very much fun. For video game history buffs it’s worth checking out at least once, for everyone else there’s nothing of value here.
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