Bank Panic
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| Bank Panic | |
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Cover art of Bank Panic
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| Developer(s) | Sanritsu |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platforms | Arcade Game, SG-1000, MSX (ported by Pony Canyon), Sega Master System, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum as West Bank, 1991 Atari XL/XE in Poland as Bang Bank! by Mirage and Our Soft |
| Release date(s) | 1984 (Arcade) 1985 (ZX Spectrum, SG-1000) 1986 (MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC) 1987 (Sega Master System) |
| Genre(s) | Retro/shooter, Western |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, up to 2 players, alternating turns |
| Cabinet | Standard upright, horizontal |
| CPU | Z80 |
| Sound | SN76489 |
| Display | Raster, 224 x 224 pixels, 32 colors |
Bank Panic is an arcade game developed by Sanritsu and manufactured by Sega in 1984. West Bank is a clone of the game, released on several platforms.
Game description
The player assumes the part of an Old West sheriff who must protect a bank and its customers from masked robbers. The layout of the bank is implicitly a circle with twelve numbered doors and the player in the center. The player can rotate to the left or right and view three doors at a time. The doors will open to reveal a customer (who will drop a bag of money, making a deposit), a robber (who will attempt to shoot the player) or a young boy (who will be holding a stack of three to five hats, which the player can rapidly shoot for a bag of money or bonus time). The level ends when all twelve doors have received one or more deposits. This is indicated by the numbered boxes across the top of the screen, with a red dollar sign showing a door with a completed deposit.
At random intervals, a bomb will be placed on one of the doors and a rapid timer will count down from 99. The player must move to that door and destroy the bomb with gunfire. Shooting a customer, being shot by a robber, failing to destroy a bomb, or failing to complete the level before the overall timer runs out (shown by a bar at the bottom of the screen) costs the player one life.
Although robbers can be shot on sight (an "UNFAIR" kill), greater points can be earned by waiting until they begin to draw their weapons (a "FAIR" kill). Shooting a robber at the precise moment of drawing his weapon awards a large point value and, in the case of a red-shirted robber, a letter in the word "EXTRA" (indicated in the lower left corner). Completing five such kills finishes the word, earning the player an extra life, bonus points, and instant advancement to the next level. Extra lives can also be earned by reaching certain scores.
At the end of each level, the player earns bonus points based on the total number of deposits received, the amount of time remaining, and the average time for all "FAIR" kills during the level. Extra points are also earned whenever a customer makes a deposit at a door where a bank teller is sitting.
Later levels introduce variations, including customers who will be shoved aside by robbers; customers who are bound by ropes (shooting them once will destroy the ropes and earn the player three bags of money, while waiting will reveal a robber); robbers who duck away from the door before drawing their guns; and red-shirted robbers who wear white boots (distinguishing themselves from the other red-shirted robbers) who carry two handguns and thus must be shot twice, though even doing so with perfect timing will not earn an EXTRA letter. At times, a robber will take money that has been deposited at one of the doors, making its red dollar sign disappear, and will be hiding behind that door, money in hand. Shooting the robber makes him drop the money, returning the deposit.
Each numbered box at the top of the scree has an indicator bar that shows whether someone is approaching that door or standing behind it. When the player rotates to a door with someone behind it, it will open and the player can take appropriate action. At times, when a customer turns to leave, a WANTED poster unrolls on his/her back; the number on the poster indicates a door where a red-shirted robber is waiting.
Earning a high score can allow a player to enter his or her initials in a top ten "BEST SCORE" list, which also records the level the player reached and the length of the game. Due to an odd software bug, this list is only visible when a player is making an entry, unlike the vast majority of arcade games which periodically display the list when the game is idle.
The game's background music is a repeating cycle of Dixie. The tempo of the music increases when a player has nearly run out of time.
Trivia
- Alessandro Giuriato and Gary A. Hatt share the official record for this game, with a maximum possible 9.999.999 points.[1]
- Fun fact: In the last stages of the games, the boy who carries the hats is seen lifting up the woman client's skirts.
- The Sega Master System version of this game is very different from the original. It was also released on two types of media, the standard Master System game cartridge and the Sega Card. On this game, the timer above the robbers goes up, and the robbers also can't steal money bags. Upon completing a round, you are awarded points for up to 48 money bags, instead of 36 on the arcade. Upon reaching round 15, the game becomes nearly impossible due to the extremely short amount of time it gives you to shoot a robber, especially if the robber opens the door; a robber behind a bank customer can be timed to at least an 'unfair' kill. There is also no end to the game (completing round 50 just goes to 51, although it is nearly impossible to complete any rounds after 14. Via a cheat device, one can complete any round except for round 253. Round 253 has a programming bug which will cause the game to crash if the boy holding the hats appears. On this round, he will appear holding no hats, but the game will crash before you can see this. On rounds 254 and 255, the boy holds 1 and 2 hats respectively. The instruction manual is mostly copied from the arcade game, and even has a screenshot of it at the top of page 9, thus reading the instructions will leave an unknowing player wondering why their game plays differently from what they read from the book.
- The game's song is "Dixie's Land", an American civil war composition, while the song in the title screen from the SG-1000 version is "Marching Through Georgia", also from that period.
See also
- Hogan's Alley
- Westbang (an iPhone/iPod Touch remake of Bank Panic)
