Bank Panic is an
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
developed by Sanritsu and manufactured by
Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
in 1984.
West Bank is a clone of the game, released on several platforms.
The player assumes the part of an Old West
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
who must protect a
bankA bank is a financial institution licensed by a government. Its primary activities include borrowing and lending money.Many other financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds...
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.
Bank Panic is an
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, public houses, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers...
developed by Sanritsu and manufactured by
Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
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
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
who must protect a
bankA bank is a financial institution licensed by a government. Its primary activities include borrowing and lending money.Many other financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds...
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 or 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
bombA bomb is any of a range of explosive devices that typically rely on the exothermic chemical reaction of an explosive material to produce an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. The word comes from the Greek word βόμβος , an onomatopoetic term with approximately the same meaning as...
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 (shown by a bar at the bottom of the screen) loses one life.
Although robbers can be shot on sight (such a kill is judged "UNFAIR" but carries no penalty), greater points can be earned by waiting until the robbers draw their weapons. A red-shirted robber who is shot at the precise moment of drawing his weapon will earn maximum points and 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.
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); 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.
Clues for the player include the five indicator bars above each door box at the top of the screen. A red bar will descend, indicating a person (customer, robber or boy) is approaching the door. When the player rotates to those doors and the red bar is at the bottom, the doors will open and the player can take appropriate action. Also, after making a deposit, customers turn to leave. They sometimes will be wearing posters on their backs showing a masked face and a door number. This indicates a robber hiding behind that door.
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 bugA software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
, 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"Dixie", also known as "I Wish I Was in Dixie", "Dixie's Land", and other titles, is a popular American song. It is one of the most distinctively American musical products of the 19th century, and probably the best-known song to have come out of blackface minstrelsy. Although not a folk song at its...
. The
tempoIn musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. It is a crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring 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.
- 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 to 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 to what they read from the book.
- The game's song is "Dixie's Land", an American civil war
The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
composition, while the song in the title screen from the SG-1000The , which stands for Sega Game 1000, was a cartridge-based video game console manufactured by Sega. This system marked Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business, and while the system was not popular, it provided the basis for the more successful Sega Master System.-History:The...
version is "Marching Through Georgia"Marching Through Georgia" is a marching song written by Henry Clay Work at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. It refers to U.S. Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive March to the Sea late in the previous year.Because of its lively melody, the song became widely popular with...
", also from that period.
External links