Zoo Keeper (arcade game)
Encyclopedia
Zoo Keeper is an arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 created by Taito Corporation
Taito Corporation
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....

 and released in 1982. In the game's storyline, the player's character, named Zeke, is a zookeeper
Zookeeper
A zookeeper is a worker in a zoo, responsible for the feeding and daily care of the animals. As part of their routine, they clean the exhibits and report health problems...

 whose girlfriend, Zelda, has been kidnapped by a malicious monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

. To distract Zeke, the monkey has unlocked the cages in the zoo, allowing the animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

s to escape. The player must control Zeke to run, jump, build walls, and collect bonus items in an effort to recapture and contain the animals before finally rescuing Zelda.

In 2005, the game was ported as part of the Taito Legends
Taito Legends
Taito Legends is a compilation of 29 arcade games released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC in October 2005. The games were originally developed by Taito Corporation. The European release was published by Empire Interactive, who had licensed the games from Taito and developed the compilation...

arcade game collection for PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

, and home PCs.

Gameplay

Zoo Keeper has three different types of stages: a main stage and two bonus stages. In each stage, the player's score and the number of lives that Zeke has left are displayed in boxes at the top of the screen. Two players can play the game in alternating turns. The arcade cabinet controls consisted of a 4-way joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...

, a button on each side of the cabinet for jumping (one per player), and one-player and two-player start buttons on the front.

Main Stage: Contain the Escaping Animals

In the first type of stage, Zeke moves and jumps along a rectangular perimeter
Perimeter
A perimeter is a path that surrounds an area. The word comes from the Greek peri and meter . The term may be used either for the path or its length - it can be thought of as the length of the outline of a shape. The perimeter of a circular area is called circumference.- Practical uses :Calculating...

 surrounding a cage in the center of the screen, which is unlocked and thus allowing animals inside to escape. Zeke's orientation changes as he walks around the perimeter (at the bottom of the rectangle he appears to be upside-down), and players must adjust their joystick movements as he moves around corners. As he walks, he quickly builds a brick wall under his feet that is intended to keep the animals from moving outside the perimeter. The wall he builds becomes thicker as he walks around the same area multiple times, but the animals are also breaking the wall from the inside as they try to escape, so the stage is a constant fight between Zeke and the animals to build up and tear down the perimeter wall. The first two main stages begin with a thin wall already in place, but after that the wall must be built from scratch. Zeke builds thicker walls as the game progresses.

If an animal escapes from the perimeter, it roams freely around the perimeter just like Zeke, who must then avoid the animal by running in the opposite direction or jumping over it. If Zeke touches an animal (without using the zookeeper's net), he will lose a life and have to start over again, although any walls currently in place will still remain. Jumping over animals earns points, and the number of points increases exponentially with the number of animals under Zeke during the jump. Zeke's jump distance is fairly long, he can jump around corners, and he can change directions in mid-air. Therefore, part of the stage's point-earning strategy is to jump over as many animals as possible in a single jump. A musical sound is played when Zeke jumps over animals (very similar to the music played at a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 game before fans chant "Charge!"), and the pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...

 of the music increases depending on how many animals were jumped.

While Zeke is building walls and jumping over animals, a timer
Timer
A timer is a specialized type of clock. A timer can be used to control the sequence of an event or process. Whereas a stopwatch counts upwards from zero for measuring elapsed time, a timer counts down from a specified time interval, like an hourglass.Timers can be mechanical, electromechanical,...

 at the top of the screen is counting down to the end of the stage. The animation of the timer graphic is analogous to a fuse
Fuse (explosives)
In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...

 like one would see attached to a stick of dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...

. As this fuse "burns" from left to right, the burning end crosses over a series of four items along the fuse. When an item is burned by the timer fuse, a distinct sound is heard, the item appears on the perimeter (in a pre-determined position for the stage), and Zeke can then grab the item by moving over it. The item disappears if the fuse moves over to the next item before Zeke can grab it.

There are two types of items: bonus items and the zookeeper's net
Net (device)
A net, in its primary meaning, comprises fibers woven in a grid-like structure, and is very infrequently mentioned in discussions of philosophy. It blocks the passage of large items, while letting small items and fluids pass...

. The player is awarded a set number of points for the first item that is grabbed, and each additional item collected will award double the points of the previous item. The zookeeper's net will also award points just like a bonus item, but additionally the screen will turn blue and Zeke will briefly be able to use the net to recapture animals that are roaming the perimeter by touching them with the net to force them back into their cage. The net only moves the animals back inside the perimeter, the cage is still unlocked and Zeke must continue to maintain the wall to keep the animals contained.

The stage is over when the timer fuse burns to the "END" box in the upper righthand corner (the box "explodes" and a "gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....

" sound is played). At the end of the stage, the player receives bonus points for each animal that was within the perimeter when the time expired. The number of points for each animal depends on the type of animal (bonus points for lions also increase with harder stages). A distinct sound is played for each animal type as they are inventoried at the end of the stage. A laughing
Laughter
Laughing is a reaction to certain stimuli, fundamentally stress, which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. Traditionally, it is considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may ensue from hearing a joke, being tickled, or other stimuli...

 sound is heard if no animals were contained.

The escaping animals stages are the most common stages in the game, with the other stage types interspersed between them. When the game is first started, instructions are shown for how to play this type of stage, but not for the other stages. The number, diversity, and ferocity of the animals increases with each new stage. Each stage has its own type of bonus items and item distribution along the fuse, meaning that the zookeeper's net may appear early or late in the stage. Additionally, the fuse itself takes longer to burn to the end in later stages, making animal containment and survival more difficult. The color borders around the stages also begin to flash after the first lion stage. Zelda does not appear in these stages.

Bonus Stage: Rescue Zelda from the Monkey

In the second type of stage, Zelda is tied to a palm tree on a stationary platform
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...

 at the top of the screen, yelling "Save Me!". A monkey
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...

 hangs by its tail
Tail
The tail is the section at the rear end of an animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammals, reptiles, and birds...

 from the top of the palm tree, picking coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

s from the tree and hurling them to bounce around the moving platforms below. Zeke starts on the bottommost platform and must jump up and across the platforms to reach Zelda, avoiding the coconuts as he ascends. Many elements of this stage have striking similarities to stages in the arcade game Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (video game)
is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. It is an early example of the platform game genre, as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging and jumping over obstacles. In the game, Jumpman must rescue a damsel in distress, Lady, from a...

, which was very popular when Zoo Keeper was released.

The moving platforms move horizontally in both directions across the screen. Platforms move in and out of the screen viewing area, but Zeke can not move out of the screen area, so he must constantly move and jump to avoid falling. If Zeke falls below the bottommost platform, he will lose a life. Points are earned every time Zeke jumps to another platform level, even if he jumps down and back up again, and the number of points for each level doubles as he gets closer to the top. Moving platforms sometimes have various bonus items that Zeke can pick up for extra points (four times the value of the platform they are on). Each row of platforms has its own type of bonus items, and items closer to the top give the most points. Some cabinets also offered a free game as a bonus item in this stage. However, the longer Zeke spends getting bonus items, the more coconuts the monkey will have time to throw. Zeke will lose a life if he touches a coconut or falls off the bottom of the screen (Zelda will say "Oh No!"), and he will have to start over again. Rescuing Zelda awards double the value of the topmost platform.

This rescue stage first appears after the second escaping animals stage. The monkey becomes more aggressive in later stages, throwing many more coconuts in series, but the bonus items are also more valuable. The platforms themselves are invisible in later stages, and the player can only tell they are there by where the coconuts bounce and the bonus items. Gameplay in this stage is very different from the escaping animals stages. There is no zookeeper's net or any offensive weapon against the coconuts, no animals in this stage other than the monkey, there is no timer, and Zeke is always facing upright and no walls are built. This stage is analogous to reward/bonus stages seen in other video games, an intermission
Intermission
An intermission or interval is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening....

 from the main action. Zeke receives bonus points when he rescues Zelda, who then says "My Hero!" Rescue bonus points are doubled each time Zeke rescues Zelda from the monkey.

Bonus Stage: Ride the Escalators

The third type of stage finds Zelda on a platform at the top of a series of escalators and poses the question "Can you win a bonus keeper?". At the bottom of each escalator is an unlocked cage filled with animals of various types which charge out away from the escalator toward Zeke. Zeke must jump over the animals and the cages to ascend the escalators to get to Zelda. This is challenging because while players will be familiar with how to jump over the animals, they may have trouble anticipating the pattern in which they emerge from the cages. Furthermore, the cages themselves are taller than the animals and electrically charged, so jumping over them requires a correct starting position. If Zeke does not clear the cage, a loud noise is heard and he is bounced backwards (a reaction to the electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 around the cage). Each stage has at least two escalators, alternately ending on the right and left sides of the screen on the next platform.

The first escalator stage is after the second time Zeke rescues Zelda from the monkey. It is another intermission/bonus stage and, aside from avoiding the animals, has no other elements from the main escaping animals stages. If Zeke rescues Zelda, the player receives a bonus life and Zelda also has a romantic exchange with Zeke (she showers him with kisses the first time, but in subsequent escalator stages a "curtain
Curtain
A curtain is a piece of cloth intended to block or obscure light, or drafts, or water in the case of a shower curtain. Curtains hung over a doorway are known as portières...

" is pulled down over them, and players are left to their imaginations). If Zeke touches the animals, Zelda will say "Oh No!", Zeke will curse "#$%&*@!!!!", and he will have to try again.

Points

Players earn points in the game by containing animals, jumping over animals, and collecting bonus items.

Containing Animals

Aside from the monkey, which really doesn't count as one of the main escaping animals, there are six types of animals in Zoo Keeper, shown here in order of appearance and increasing difficulty, along with points rewarded if they are contained:
  • Elephant
    Elephant
    Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

     (250 points)
  • Snake
    Snake
    Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

     (500 points)
  • Camel
    Camel
    A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

     (1,000 points)
  • Rhinoceros
    Rhinoceros
    Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....

     (2,000 points)
  • Moose
    Moose
    The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

     (4,000 points)
  • Lion
    Lion
    The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

     (30,000 points to start, up to 60,000 points for later levels)

Jumping Over Animals

Players can earn extra points by jumping over animals in the main stages and escalator stages. The number of animals that Zeke jumps over determines the bonus.
The veracity of the point system should be controlled - one gaming expert claims that jumping over a rhinoceros is actually worth 4000 points, while jumping over a moose is only awarded with 2000.

Collecting Bonus Items

These items can be picked up in the escaping animals stages or the coconut monkey rescue stages. They are listed in order of first appearance in the main stages and bottom-to-top in the bonus stages, along with their initial point values on the main stages:
  • Root beer
    Root beer
    Root beer is a carbonated, sweetened beverage, originally made using the root of a sassafras plant as the primary flavor. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. The historical root beer was analogous to small beer in that the process provided a drink...

     (120 points)
  • Four-leaf clover
    Four-leaf clover
    The four-leaf clover is an uncommon variation of the common, three-leaved clover. According to tradition, such leaves bring good luck to their finders, especially if found accidentally...

     (250 points)
  • Sundae
    Sundae
    The sundae is an ice cream dessert. It typically consists of a scoop of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup, and in some cases other toppings including chopped nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, or maraschino cherries.-History:...

     (500 points)
  • Watermelon
    Watermelon
    Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...

     (1,000 points)
  • Strawberry
    Strawberry
    Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...

     (2,000 points)
  • Trophy
    Trophy
    A trophy is a reward for a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics...

     (3,000 points)
  • Money
    Money
    Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...

     (5,000 points)
  • Pot of gold
    Gold
    Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

    (7,500 points)

Game Sequence

After a player presses the start button, the gameplay proceeds in the following order:
  • An introduction screen (showing how to play the main stages of the game).
  • Main Stage #1: Elephants only, with Root Beer bonus items. The wall is initially two bricks thick.
  • Main Stage #2: Snakes added, with Four-leaf Clover bonus items. The wall is initially one brick thick.
  • Monkey Stage: Bonus items from Root Beer up to Strawberries.
  • Main Stage #3: Camels added, with Sundae bonus items. There are no initial walls from now on.
  • Main Stage #4: Rhinoceroses added, with Watermelon bonus items.
  • Monkey Stage: Bonus items from Four-leaf Clovers to Trophies.
  • Escalator Stage: Two escalators.
  • Main Stage #5: Moose added, with Strawberry bonus items.
  • A notification screen that tells the player to try to capture the Lions in the next stage.
  • Main Stage #6: Lions added, with Trophy bonus items. Captured Lions are worth 30,000 points.
  • Monkey Stage: Bonus items from Sundaes to Money.
  • Escalator Stage: Three escalators.
  • Main Stage #7: No new animals but increased difficulty, with Money bonus items. Captured Lions are worth 40,000 points. Sides of the screen flash beginning with this stage.
  • Main Stage #8: Even more difficult, with Pot of Gold bonus items. Captured Lions are worth 50,000 points.
  • Monkey Stage: Bonus items from Watermelons to Pots of Gold.
  • Escalator Stage: Four escalators.
  • There are additional, more challenging stages.


When all of Zeke's lives are gone, the game is over. As with other typical arcade games, if a player's score is high enough, they may enter their initials to record their score on the machine.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK