| Locomotion | |
|---|---|
A screenshot from the original arcade version of the game.
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Centuri/Konami |
| Released | 1982 |
| Genre | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Platform(s) | Arcade game |
| Input methods | 4-way joystick |
| Arcade cabinet | Standard upright |
| Arcade CPU | 1x ZiLOG Z80 @ 3.072 MHz |
| Arcade sound system | 2x AY-3-8910 (mono) @ 1.789772 MHz |
| Arcade display | Vertically oriented, 224 × 256, 96 palette colors |
Locomotion is an arcade game developed by Konami in 1982 and licenced to Centuri.
Contents |
Overview
Build a path for your unstoppable locomotive by moving tracks which will allow it to pick up the passengers.
Description
Locomotion is basically an updated version of the Sliding block puzzle game where the player can moves pieces horizontally or vertically within a frame to complete a picture. However, in this game, everything's moving! The player controls the playfield and the aim is to guide your locomotive around the tracks to collect the passengers waiting at the stations located around the edges of the screen. A joystick is used to slide a piece of the track into the vacant square. The locomotive is always moving, but the player has the option of making it move faster to get to the passengers more quickly by using a button next to the joystick. The player must avoid crashing the locomotive into the dead end pieces of track (marked with a yellow 'X'), and also ensure that it does not run off the edge of the screen, either of which instance costs a life. Eventually, the passengers waiting too long at one of the stations will be replaced by a countdown timer. If the player collects the passengers before the timer counts down, the value of the counter is added to the score. If the timer reaches zero, a moving wagon is added to the track and the player must prevent the locomotive from crashing into it. When there is more than one wagon on screen, there is the possibility to make them crash into each other and score a bonus. As the player moves the pieces of track around, the route the locomotive will take is highlighted in yellow up to any dead end. On higher levels, there are special pieces of tracks that have one entrance and 3 different exits. The player cannot choose which exit the locomotive takes from these, as it is picked randomly. Bonus points are awarded each time the locomotive crosses one of these pieces of track, but they do make it tricky to plan a route to a station. A level is cleared when all passengers are collected, and the player then moves onto the next level which is a different layout, bigger or smaller with more dead ends. Also, the bonus stations appear more frequently and, on later levels, more than one wagon is on screen at the start of the level. If the player creates a closed loop of track on which the locomotive is caught, a loop sweeper appears which moves around the loop behind you. If the loop is not broken before the sweeper reaches the locomotive, the player lose a life. An extra life is awarded at 30,000 and every 70,000 points.
Scoring
| Action | Score |
|---|---|
| Travelling across bonus lines (lines which connect at junction) | 150 points |
| Picking up passengers at each railroad stop | 100 points |
| Crossing each block of train track to reach railroad stops | 10 points per block |
| Perfectly clearing all stations when bonus station has no counted down to zero points | 5,000 points |
| Perfectly clearing all stations after bonus station reaches zero bonus | 1,000 points |
Bonus station points are randomly determined, with a beginning high of 2,470 points.
Hints/tips
- On early stages aways go for the bonus stations, as they yield the biggest points score during normal gameplay.
- If a bonus station timer is getting low, don't go for it unless you are 100% sure you will make it. It's not worth risking a life for a 20 point bonus!
- Learn to move the track quickly, as this is the key to getting your train to its desired target. You should be able to move a piece of track 3 or 4 times while your train is still on it, moving at normal speed.
- If you have a long route opened up in front of you, run it at full speed, but remember it takes a couple of seconds at the end for your train to slow to its normal speed.
- When your train is moving along a long route try to plan where it will go next by moving pieces your train has already passed over and maybe even swapping some of those around ahead of you to change your route.
Ports
Intellivision is the only platform on which Locomotion was ported. While they were working on a release, Activision was also secretly working on one called Happy Trails which is not exactly like Locomotion, but has the same type of gameplay. Happy Trails was released first and got great reviews, so Intellevision was forced to release Locomotion at a reduced price [1] M-networkalso made a prototype [2] for the Atari 2600 video game system, but the graphics were no match against the Intellivision version. On July 5 1983, Atari decided to drop the attempt to release the game [3].
References
- ^ http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/1983b.html
- ^ http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/locomotion/locomotion.htm
- ^ http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/atari3.shtml
External links
- Locomotion at the Killer List of Videogames
- Technical information on Locomotion
- Locomotion entry at the Centuri.net Arcade Database
