Wacko

Wacko is a 1983 arcade game by Bally Midway. It debuted during the "Golden Age of Arcade Games". It featured a unique angled, or "sloped" cabinet design and a combination of trackball and joystick controls.

Description
The player assumes the role of Kapt'n Krooz'r, a small, green alien within a bubble-topped spaceship. The goal of each level is to eliminate the monsters, accomplished by shooting twin pairs in succession. As the player progresses, shooting monsters out of order creates mutants that must be unmatched before they can be eliminated.

Gameplay
The player moves Kapt'n Krooz'r with the trackball and fires using either joystick. (A similar shooting scheme was used in Robotron 2084, although in 8 directions rather than 4.) Shooting a single monster stuns it for a few seconds. Krooz'r must then shoot the monster's twin before the first one recovers in order to eliminate the pair.

Shooting a different monster, on later boards, results in the two becoming a mutant—the head on one joins with the torso on the other, and vice versa. To eliminate these mutants one must either "unmix" them, by shooting the same pair again, or produce a second set of identical mutants which can then be paired up with the respective members of the first pair. Eliminating a pair of mutants is worth more points than eliminating a pair of non-mutants.

As the player advances from board to board, the following additional transformations appear, introduced one at a time:


 * Matched pairs of large monsters become tiny and fly around the screen
 * Tiny monsters turn into eggs and run around
 * Eggs turn into people

Each new form requires only one shot to be either destroyed or changed into the next one. All monsters on the screen must be turned into the next form before any of them can be destroyed or further transformed.

Ports
Wacko is available as a part of two compilations of arcade games: Midway Arcade Treasures 2, for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox; and Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition for the PC.

Highest score
Steve Harris of Missouri, USA, scored a world record 1,608,100 points playing Wacko at the NKC Pro Bowl in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on March 31, 1983.