| The End | |
| Developers | Konami (Arcade) C-Centeno (Atari 2600) |
| Publishers | Stern Electronics (Arcade) C-Centeno (Atari 2600) |
| Systems | Arcade Atari 2600 (unofficial) |
| Release dates | 1980 (Arcade) 2019 (Atari 2600) |
| Modes | Single player Two players alternating turns |
| Media | ROM file |
Background[]
The End started out as an arcade game where players had to prevent space bandits from stealing their bricks and spelling out "END" on the screen. An unofficial homebrew port would be released decades later for the Atari 2600.
Gameplay[]
The player(s) control a beetle at the bottom of the screen; a mother ship is at the top. Multiple rows of space bricks make up three defense bases located below the beetle.
At the start of each level (known as an "attack"), bandits start emerging from the top of the mother ship and begin descending towards the bottom of the screen. The player can shoot them, but if they collide with them or their shots the player will lose a life and the game will end if all lives are depleted.
If a bandit makes it to a defense base, it will steal a brick and start flying back towards the top. If they are not destroyed they will place a brick near the top of the screen. If all bricks are placed then three more defense bases' worth of bricks will replenish the spent supply. If enough bricks are placed to spell out "END" the game will end no matter how many lives in reserve the player has.
Bandits begin as all red, slightly changing directions upon their descent. Once the player has shot several of them, purple bandits start appearing, moving faster towards the blocks and usually more at a diagonal angle. The fastest ones of all are the blue and yellow bandits, making a fast, mostly straight dive for defense bases.
Starting with the second attack, bandits will begin shooting. (Note: blocks right above the mother ship denote how many bandits are left during an attack.) Some attacks are known as "chance time", which have a much fewer amount of bandits, but the majority of the bandits are the purple and blue and yellow ones. Shooting the bandits or the mother ship will also subtract bricks during these attacks.
Atari 2600 port[]
The game was unofficially ported via homebrewer C-Centeno in 2019. Differences included that the bricks are located above, rather than below the player's beetle. The bandits emerge straight from the middle of the mother ship one at a time, rather than several at once, plus there are no indicators how many bandits are left during an attack. The enemy sprites are a lot larger than the arcade version/the onscreen ratio is a lot smaller as compared with the arcade original. The bandits also move side to side/in a slightly different manner, along with hovering/pausing briefly without diving at times. Fewer bandits are also onscreen at once as well.
Scoring[]
- Shoot red bandit–40 points
- Shoot red bandit with brick–80 points
- Purple bandit–80 points
- Purple bandit with brick–160 points
- Blue and yellow bandit–200 points
- Blue and yellow bandit with brick–400 points
- Mother ship–10-100 points per brick remaining with bases
- Extra beetle–10,000 points
Controls (original)[]
- Move beetle (left/right only)–joystick
- Fire–button
(Atari 2600)[]
- Move beetle (left/right only)–joystick
- Fire–button
Links[]
- The International Arcade Museum page
- Click on the tabber below for a review.
Review[]
The End wasn't a very big arcade hit, as I only saw it at one arcade ever, yet I live in the fourth largest city in my country and we had plenty of arcades during the "golden age" of gaming.
This sounded like a good idea too, as Galaxian was still around, as you take that formula but have bugs spell out "END" to, yep, end your game if you're not careful.
This really wasn't enough to make that big of a difference though. Even though divided into "attacks", the game seems endless. Nice to play this on a retropie device at a gaming expo in 2019 though to remind me of it and make this page for it. Haven't played the Atari 2600 port of it but it doesn't look like the formula was improved much though. 5/10
(review by Darrylb500)