Sammy Lightfoot
Encyclopedia
Sammy Lightfoot is a 1983 computer game by Sierra On-line
. The game was released for a number of 1980s-era home computer
s and game consoles, such as the Apple II, the Atari 400 and 800
, the Commodore 64
, the IBM PC
, and the ColecoVision
. The game was a multi-level platform style game in the vein of the much more popular and successful Donkey Kong. Sammy Lightfoot followed the travails of a circus worker who needed to jump and climb his way through a number of perilous situations.
The game itself was not a great commercial success. Its most notable attribute was the main character's ridiculously large pompadour
hairdo, which was used to make the character appear unique (given the limited graphical capabilities of the platforms it ran on). The character became something of a cult anti-favorite, inspiring a homemade toy written in Applesoft BASIC
called Kill Sammy, which let you murder the circus worker in a number of creative and gruesome ways, including electrocution, drowning, or chainsaw.
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
. The game was released for a number of 1980s-era home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s and game consoles, such as the Apple II, the Atari 400 and 800
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
, the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
, and the ColecoVision
ColecoVision
The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries' second generation home video game console which was released in August 1982. The ColecoVision offered arcade-quality graphics and gaming style, and the means to expand the system's basic hardware...
. The game was a multi-level platform style game in the vein of the much more popular and successful Donkey Kong. Sammy Lightfoot followed the travails of a circus worker who needed to jump and climb his way through a number of perilous situations.
The game itself was not a great commercial success. Its most notable attribute was the main character's ridiculously large pompadour
Pompadour (hairstyle)
Pompadour is a tall style of men's haircut which takes its name from Madame de Pompadour.There are Latin variants of the hair style more associated with European and Argentine tango fashion trends and occasionally with late 20th century musical genres such as rockabilly and country.The pompadour...
hairdo, which was used to make the character appear unique (given the limited graphical capabilities of the platforms it ran on). The character became something of a cult anti-favorite, inspiring a homemade toy written in Applesoft BASIC
Applesoft BASIC
Applesoft BASIC was a dialect of Microsoft BASIC supplied with the Apple II series of computers. It superseded Integer BASIC and was the BASIC in ROM in all Apple II series computers after the original Apple II model. It was also referred to as FP because of the command used to invoke it instead...
called Kill Sammy, which let you murder the circus worker in a number of creative and gruesome ways, including electrocution, drowning, or chainsaw.