| Round-Up | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Amenip Corporation, Centuri |
| Publisher(s) | Amenip Corporation, Centuri |
| Year released | 1981 |
| System(s) | Arcade |
| Genre(s) | Action |
|---|---|
| Players | 1-2 |
| Modes | Single player, Multiplayer |
Round-Up is an arcade game that had been released by Amenip Corporation and Centuri in 1981; it utilizes two Zilog Z80 microprocessors (running at 3.072, and 2.5 MHz), with two General Instrument AY-3-8910s running at 1.536 MHz for sound. The player must use a 4-way joystick to take control of "Cowboy", whose objective is to change the colour of the nine white circles in the centre of the maze to red - and because he starts out as white (like the 100-point White Knights), he must collect one of the 200-point Red Knights, to change his colour to red, then make his way to the centre of the maze where the nine white circles are. Every time Cowboy touches one of the circles while he is red, it will change colour and he will reappear on the other side of the maze; the barriers also only allow him to reach them at specific times and each time he changes the colour of one, they change their position. Cowboy also has to watch out for the five "Gly Boys" - Ghastly (purple), Beastly (red), Homely (pink), Deadly (blue) and Ugly (yellow), the last of whom is smaller than the others. However, collecting the 500-point King Rompus when he appears will temporarily freeze the five Gly Boys, and render them harmless; once the colour for all nine circles in the centre of the maze has been changed to red, the game will proceed to a bonus stage that is known as the "Electronics Cube". You'll have to push the joystick left and right to select a row or column, then press a button (which is not used in the normal stages) to rotate them and try to match the patterns shown in the bottom-right corner of the screen - and it is reminiscent of the Rubik's Cube. Once you have matched the pattern, you shall receive the stage's remaining time as bonus points; the game will then proceed to a second normal maze stage.
It is also worth noting that Taito Corporation later rereleased this game in Japan under the naming of Fitter, and all the characters were renamed; Cowboy was renamed to simply "Your Robot", while the Knights and King Rompus got stripped of their naming completely. The Gly Boys were also renamed to "Boss Monster", "Boss's Girl", "Boss's Son", "Boss's Grandson" and "Slave Monster", which meant that Beastly had been given a sex change - and the "Electronics Cube" bonus stages also altered the cube to have sixteen squares as opposed to nine, possibly to distinguish it from the old Rubik's Cube. However, in both versions of the game, the word "BONUS" is misspelled "BOUNS" on regular stages.
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Title screen.
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Upright arcade cabinet.
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Screenshot of the game.
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The "Electronics Cube".
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Taito's "Fitter" flyer.
