Retro Gaming: Circus Charlie

Are you familiar with the game called Circus Charlie? Or have you played it even once?

Circus Charlie was initially released as an arcade game back in 1984 by Konami, a Japanese company. Now this game can be enjoyed in various platforms including "Arcade, Commodore 64, MSX, NES, Sega SG-1000 and ColecoVision", information based in Wikipedia.

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I first learned about Circus Charlie when we had a game disk and browsing the games included on it. I tried it and I immediately liked the game with its simplicity of its rules, which is to avoid those obstacles by controlling the character. The character is Charlie the Clown and he performs various tricks/shows in the circus. In reality, performing in the circus is risky especially for those dangerous tricks. In case of this game, the safety or success of the circus performance of Charlie lies on the player of the game.

Graphics

The graphics may seem simple for some but the simplicity of it makes me enjoy the game more. It is easy to the eyes with its cute characters such as the animals and the main character Charlie.

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Gameplay

In this game there are 6 regular stages and there are extra/bonus stages which give you the opportunity to gain more points. There are several ways to earn points that include successfully performing the dangerous tricks in every level like jumping in the ring of fire, grabbing the money bags while performing the tricks, being able to avoid enemies and completing each stages. The player also need to do all these within a certain period of time or you will lose a life for Charlie. Remaining time will have bonus points as well.

When you completed all the stages, it will just go back to the first stage but it will be faster which makes it more difficult yo complete.

Levels

"Its standard Arcade version has six levels in total. Levels 1, 2, 4 and 5 have 5 sub-levels. Level 3 contains 7 sub-levels. Difficulty increases in every sub-level. Level 6 also has 5 sub-levels, but repeats as long the user has lives."

"Level 1 - Ride on a lion and jump through flaming rings."
"Level 2 - Tightrope walking whilst jumping over monkeys."
"Level 3 - Jump between trampolines and beware the knife throwers and fire breathers. In sub-level 3 and 6 the trampolines are placed in a swimming pool and the knife throwers and fire breathers are replaced by jumping dolphins."
"Level 4 - Jump from ball to ball."
"Level 5 - Ride a horse and jump over trampolines and walls."
"Level 6 - trapeze."

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In terms of controls, since there is no attack mode or any control combinations needed for this game, it will be easy. You will be mostly using the left, right and jump controls. It is more of the proper timing to execute the tricks successfully. The sound used in this game is also entertaining.

Overall this game is entertaining and challenging. You will need proper timing and patience in order to finish each stages. Below is a video of my sample gaming session for Circus Charlie. Enjoy!