Author and Photography Credit: Bill Loguidice
Editing: Christina Loguidice
Online Layout: Buck Feris
Notes: Portions of this article's text were previously produced by the author for and appeared in various incarnations of his personal Website. All photographs were taken directly of the actual products in the author's private collection. In the instances of screen shots, these are photos from the specific game running on the actual hardware, displayed on a television.
Special Thanks: Matt Barton

Mattel Intellivision vs. Coleco ColecoVision
Part I: BurgerTime (Data East © 1982, Mattel © 1982, Coleco © 1983)
Part II: Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack (Mattel © 1978), Ken Uston Blackjack/Poker (Coleco © 1982)

Part I
Picture yourself as a chef who for years has beaten the eggs, chopped the pickles, and boiled the hot dogs. Nothing strange there. Now imagine all that food finally getting sick and tired of this kind of treatment and coming after you in an attempt to exact their revenge. This is the strange premise behind Data East's arcade legend, "BurgerTime", which has been a favorite for home system translation since its original arcade release in 1982.

These same eggs, pickles, and hot dogs chase you around a playing field that consists of a series of platforms and ladders typical of the era. You go up and down these ladders in an attempt to drop the pieces of hamburgers (as if a McDonald's "Big Mac" was taken apart) stacked on separate levels.

The loose parts of a particular burger are stacked in such a way that when you drop a bun or other piece down a level, it falls on the one below it. This is accomplished by walking (!) on each piece until the burger has been completed. The level is over when all the burgers have been finished and the next, harder stage begins. If you are caught by any of the food, you lose a life, and your quest to make burgers continues from where you left off until you run out of chefs.

You are given several options for self defense and gaining points besides completing the hamburgers. If a food happens to be walking behind you on a piece of burger that you are walking on (i.e., about to drop to the next platform), it not only falls the one level that the food normally would, but the added weight causes both to drop down additional levels, not only eliminating the enemy food, but making your stacking job easier. In addition, if any food gets caught under a falling piece of burger, it is eliminated as well. You have to hurry though, because it doesn't take long for them to come back.

Your greatest weapon and one that should be used as a last resort, is the pepper. When thrown at the food, it causes them to sneeze and freezes them in place for a short time. Use this weapon wisely though, as you only have a small supply, and the bonus objects, like French fries, that periodically pop up to replenish your supply, are difficult to reach most of the time.