Guzzler

GuzzlerThe Game: As a fluid little fellow, you zip around a maze flooded with flaming foes who’ll fry you with fire without fair warning. However, since water can put out fire, you can belch forth a mighty stream of water at your enemies, extinguishing them instantly. However, you’re only a little Guzzler, so you only contain a certain amount of water. You replenish yourself very slowly, but you can gobble up clouds full of moisture or drink from a fountain that occasionally appears at the center of the maze to refill yourself more quickly. And some fires are bigger than others, and putting them out will accordingly take more out of you. And you do eventually run out of clouds… (Tekhan, 1983)

Memories: An incredibly fun, easy-to-learn, challenging, and cute game, Guzzler was always a favorite of mine, though I only got to play it in the arcade a handful of times. But this innovative take on the maze-chase theme that pervaded many an ’80s arcade game appears to have barely made a drop in the bucket of video game history.

And to the best of my knowledge, coming as it did right in the middle of the home video game 4 quarters!industry’s early ’80s downfall, Guzzler was never translated to any home platforms, which is a crying shame – porting this game to the Atari 2600, the Colecovision or any number of other machines wouldn’t have been impossible. Even more recent compilations mining the vaults of Tehkan (known these days as Tecmo) have left Guzzler high and dry. A pity.

Guzzler Guzzler
Guzzler Guzzler

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