Banzai Bug
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| Banzai Bug | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Gravity |
| Publisher(s) | Grolier Interactive |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Action |
Banzai Bug is a 1996 video game developed by American studio Gravity and published by Grolier for Microsoft Windows 95.[1][2] It was marketed as "The Flight-Sim with an Attitude". The player controls Banzai Bug, to escape the house of an exterminator while avoiding deadly obstacles and collecting items for his eventual escape.
Banzai Bug is a game in which the player controls Banzai Bug, to escape a house that an exterminator has trapped him in.[3] The story, narrated by an older Banzai "as a grandfather's war story", involves Banzai, while vacationing from the countryside, surfing the wind in front of a moving car until he hits the car's grille, which eventually stops in the exterminator's garage.[4][5] Banzai needs to fly underneath furniture and travel through air ducts while avoiding people, shooting robot bugs, and looking for food.[2] Other threats are guns named Static Spitters, flying robots named Attack Spitters, machines named Zappers that shoot lightning bolts, and Biggies who are humans that can only be driven away.[6] The house is reminiscent of a mixture between The Jetsons and Pablo Picasso paintings. The game includes the sound of "metallic dings and dizzying twitters" whenever Banzai crashes.[2]
Characters that Banzai meets during his quest to escape include a small insect named Poolio who has a Cheech Marin accent and uses one-liners. The video game has 360-degree 3-D views and movement that was made using DirectX.[2] The game has seven levels with the first one taking place in the garage and allowing the player to learn how to properly fly.[7][8] A joystick with three buttons is an option to control Banzai.[8] There are three flying modes which are the look-around, helicopter for collecting items, and plane as a normal flight system.[9] The player can choose between a plain appearance and one that is more complex. The size of the screen can be changed along with the colors, music, and other details.[8] Banzai has to search for items which will allow him to build an anti-human weapon named a Stinkulator so that he can escape.[10][7] Each mission includes animated scenes.[10]
Banzai Bug was created as "The Flight-Sim with an Attitude".[2] It was published by Grolier for Microsoft Windows 95. The game requires a microprocessor of Pentium 90 or newer on Windows 95 with 8 megabytes of RAM.[2] The music was recorded by New Dog Music. Paul Goodwin of New Dog Music said that they "recorded a full 11-piece big band doing eight original songs."[1]
