Hunchback Arcade Game by Century Electronics

Although most people will remember the various home ports for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and BBC Micro, Hunchback was originally released by Century Electronics in 1983 as an arcade machine. The game itself was a relatively simple “pitfall” style platformer, with multiple left to right flip screens, each one featuring a number of challenges to overcome, in order for for Quasimodo to rescue Esmerelda.

Origins of the Arcade Cabinet

The origins of the game are however more interesting, given that the original theme of the game was apparently nothing to do with the famous Victor Hugo novel. As the story goes, the original artist had penned a fairly lumpy version of Robin Hood, that appeared to look more like a Hunchback. After the artist left the company, it was decided to rename the game to fit the artist’s rendition of the main character in the game. Looking back at the game with this in mind, it does appear to fit based on the available clues:

1) Liberal use of arrows in the game as hazards, and the bright green costume, very Robin Hood

2) The seemingly “bolted on” nature of the bells at the of each stage, and fact that the castle ramparts seem out of place on Notre Dame cathedral

3) The soldiers are dressed as crusaders, as featured in Robin Hood, from a war that ended in 1291, and the Victor Hugo book is set in 1482

This does not detract from a great game, that clearly captured the public’s imagination, everyone accepting the premise that Quasimodo was on a jaunt to rescue Esmerelda, and nothing to do with Nottingham Castle, King Richard, Robin or Marion.

Playing Arcade Hunchback

The game itself was quite tricky, with increasing levels of challenge as the game went on. Mastering the game required perfectly timed jumps across ramparts, catching ropes, and avoiding flaming pits and arrows. Faster completion times awarded higher bonuses, with 5 screens cleared in a row without loss of life awarding a Super Bonus. When you reach the end of the ramparts, you rescue Esmerelda, and the game starts again, only faster.

Hunchback Home Computer Versions

There were conversions of the Hunchback arcade game for pretty much all of the 80’s home computers, many of them through a licensing deal with popular software publisher Ocean. All of the home computer conversions stuck to the central theme, but with varying results:

• Commodore 64 (Ocean) – generally considered the best conversion, with detailed colourful graphics and solid gameplay
• ZX Spectrum (Ocean) – another good conversion, although suffering from attribute clash of many Spectrum games. Not to be confused with unofficial clone Punchy, also for the Spectrum
• BBC Micro (Superior Software) – not a great conversion, graphically inferior and poor sound effects. This and the Electron version were (at first) unofficial clones of the arcade game which lead to some legal challenges before an agreement was reached to licence the game.
• Acorn Electron (Superior Software) – as per the BBC but even worse sound effects (or none)
• Amstrad CPC (Amsoft) – a passable conversion but suffers slowdown when too much happening on screen
• Dragon 32 (Ocean) – limited colour palette of the Dragon renders the screen a green mess, albeit one with detailed graphics and decent animation
• ORIC (Ocean) – slow animation and strange on-screen colour glitches mark this game down along with the Acorn and VIC-20 versions
• MSX (Ocean) – possibly the best graphics and smoothest animation of any home conversion, but let down by poor sound effects
• VIC-20 (Ocean) – fairly basic with blocky animation, even the rope couldn’t be made to swing in an arc. One to be avoided.

What happened to Century Electronics?

Century Electronics had an interesting but very derivative back catalogue of games, many of which were sold as “conversion kits” for existing cabinets. Back in the 80s, arcade operators would look to extend the life of expensive but outdated cabinets by installing new rom chips on existing gaming PCBs to create an all new game. Although “new” is probably a stretch for Century, who created games that were blatant copies of Donkey Kong, Amidar and even Track & Field, to name but a few. Ironically, the donor cabinet for conversion was often Donkey Kong.

Despite the success of 1983’s Hunchback, Century were unable to repeat it and soon after in January 1984 declared bankruptcy.

Hunchback Summary

I had fond memories of this game, starting at the end of Southend Pier in the early 80’s, and continuing through ZX Spectrum and BBC versions which I owned. Only putting this review together, almost 20 years later, did I discover the strange provenance of the game, and the alleged links to a Robin Hood game that never was.

For more information on the history of Century Electronics, check out this definitive All In Colour For A Quarter article.