BurgerTime

aka: Arcade Archives: Burger Time, BurgerTime!, Burgertime, Hamburger
Moby ID: 467
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Description official descriptions

You play as Chef Pepper and your goal is to make giant hamburgers while evil eggs, sausages and pickles chase you around the game area.

To properly make a hamburger you must assemble all of the ingredients together, dropping them from higher up onto the burger area below. To actually do this you have to let Chef Pepper step over every burger ingredient. As soon as an ingredient (a piece of lettuce for instance) has been stepped on, it will fall to the level below. Falling food will squish any enemy following you and will also "bump" any other ingredient below it farther down. Also, as an emergency defense against the enemy food, you can collect pepper shakers which will allow you to puff out a small pepper cloud that will momentarily stun enemies, allowing you to walk past them.

Higher levels result in new level design, faster enemies and more ingredients to assemble.

Spellings

  • アーケードアーカイブス バーガータイム - Japanese PS4 / Switch spelling
  • ハンバーガー - Japanese spelling
  • バーガータイム - Japanese Famicom spelling
  • 汉堡时光 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 버거 타임 - Korean spelling (Hangul)

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Intellivision version)

Program
Graphics
Music
Sound Effects

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 67% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 153 ratings with 10 reviews)

One of the true Mattel classics.

The Good
An excellent arcade game, Burger Time is a true classic. The charming, addictive gameplay shadows the simplistic graphics and sound effects. The gameplay is often intensive, often challenging and always fun!

The Bad
Silly graphics, but that's a plus... the only real minus I can think of is the overly simplistic sound effects.

The Bottom Line
A true classic!

PC Booter · by Tomer Gabel (4539) · 1999

One of Intellivision's finest - get it!

The Good
Burgertime hails from that period in the early 1980s when the "Big Three" (Atari, Coleco & Mattel) were trying to maximize profits by releasing big games across all platforms (sound familiar?). As a result, there are multiple versions of Burgertime, presenting casual retrogamers with a bit of a problem, since the core game represents arcade gaming at its pinnacle - addictive, rewarding, yet very, very challenging.

The Intellivision version shines brightly. The graphics resemble that of the arcade to an acceptable degree, and the Intelly's circular pad does not hamper gameplay at all. Plus, you get a slew of stages to complete, some of them nightmarishly difficult.

If you're not familiar with the basics of Burgertime, you play a chef you needs to make burgers. He does this by running over components of the uncompleted meal (buns, meat, cheese, tomato, etc.), causing them to fall to the bottom of the screen where they land on a plate (thoroughly tenderized, one assumes). However, he is pursued relentlessly by evil hot dogs, eggs and pickles, who can be thwarted, but never killed. You can stun your foes with pepper (of which you have a very limited supply), drop burger components on them, or send them flying down with the burger components if you're skilled enough.

The Bad
It's quite difficult. Just try making it through one complete game cycle, and you'll see what I mean.

The Bottom Line
Well, it's Burgertime, except it's much better than the crap Atari 2600 version.

Intellivision · by Lucas Schippers (57) · 2003

Burger Time - All the time!

The Good
Words fail me when I try to accurately describe what a little wonder of a game this is. One of my all time favourites, I'm insanely addicted to it and still have to play it every week after all these years. I dream about descenting buns and salad at night, and when something terrible happens in my life I hear the little piece of music that plays when Peter (that main character) dies inside my head.

The Bad
Nothing - this game simply has no flaws. Find one - I dare ya.

The Bottom Line
It's the true meaning of life. Remember: Don't use the peppers until you've got no other way out.

PC Booter · by mobster_lobster (24) · 2001

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

Trivia

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In the television commercial for BurgerTime, two teenagers drive up to a burger stand in which the chef is being chased around the kitchen by giant hot dogs. One of the hot dogs (an actor in a foam-rubber costume with only his red-painted face showing) slams the drive-up window while sneering into the camera "We are CLOSED now!" These prophetic words were repeated many times by the programmers as they packed up their personal belongings a few months later when Mattel Electronics was shut down.

Development

BurgerTime was created by Data East Corporation for its DECO Cassette System.

Egg

Ever wondered why one of the evil guys is an egg? In Japan where the game was made, it is common to add a fried egg to your burger.

High score

According to the Twin Galaxies Intergalactic Scoreboard, the world record high-score on BurgerTime is 9,000,000 points, achieved by Bryan L. Wagner of Turbotville, PA on June 2, 2006 at the Funspot Family Fun Ctr. in Weirs Beach, NH. History's first documented Burger Time champion was Franz Lanzinger who scored 1,081,900 points at the Sunnyvale Golfland in Sunnyvale, California on November 1, 1982.

References to the game

An unofficial parody of the game was released in adult bookstores called Furrburger Time.

Unofficial DOS port

There is an unofficial DOS port of the game.

RGB versus Composite Monitor

The color card (CGA) for an IBM PC had two monitor outputs: RGB and composite video. The standard PC color monitor was RGB and displayed 8 colors. However, a composite monitor hooked up to the PC could display 16 colors. Few applications, though, used the additional available colors. Gene Smith, however, wrote completely separate graphic routines to take full advantage of each type of monitor. The results on a composite monitor were stunning - even visiting representatives from IBM were shocked. Information found on Intellivision Game Club

Additional Levels

The Apple II and IBM versions of BurgerTime have six additional levels not found in the arcade or Intellivision versions. Information found on Intellivision Game Club Information also contributed by Nélio, STiGMaTa_ch

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by emerging_lurker.

Mattel Aquarius added by Rola. TI-99/4A added by Corn Popper. Wii added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 added by Rik Hideto. Sharp MZ-80K/700/800/1500, PC-8000, Sharp X1 added by Infernos. Antstream added by firefang9212. Coleco Adam added by Hipolito Pichardo. Arcade added by Pseudo_Intellectual. Atari 2600, Apple II, NES, ColecoVision, Intellivision added by Servo. MSX added by koffiepad. J2ME, BREW added by Ms. Tea. Commodore 64 added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: Grov, Shoddyan, Nélio, formercontrib, Patrick Bregger, STiGMaTa_ch, Rik Hideto.

Game added November 24, 1999. Last modified March 2, 2024.