Wacko
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| Products | Wacko |
Wacko is an arcade game from 1983, created and released by Bally Midway. It is distinguished by its uniquely angled cabinet and innovative control scheme that integrates both a trackball and a joystick.
The player assumes the role of Kapt'n Krooz'r, a green extraterrestrial piloting a spaceship enclosed in a bubble, a character also appearing in Kozmik Krooz'r. The main goal involves eliminating monsters by consecutively shooting matching pairs. As the game advances, mutants—creatures formed by merging two different monsters—emerge, requiring players to tactically separate these combinations before destroying them.
Gameplay
Players navigate using the trackball, while the joystick allows firing in four directions. Striking a single monster temporarily immobilizes it; the player must then target its identical counterpart before it recovers to remove the pair from play.
In later stages, gameplay becomes more intricate: shooting dissimilar monsters results in mutants composed of combined heads and bodies. These mutants can be broken apart by shooting the original pair again or eliminated by matching with another mutant pair, which awards increased points.
Additional monster transformations occur as the game progresses:
- Large paired monsters shrink and take flight
- Small monsters turn into eggs that move independently
- Eggs evolve into bats
- Some sizeable monsters begin as mutants
Each transformation or elimination requires a single shot. Players must convert all monsters through these stages before any can be destroyed or further altered.
Legacy
Wacko has been featured in arcade collections such as Midway Arcade Treasures 2 for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, as well as Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition on PC.
In 1983, Steve Harris achieved a remarkable high score of 1,608,100 points at the NKC Pro Bowl event held in Kansas City, Missouri.
The game served as inspiration for Weirdo, a 1987 clone developed for the TRS-80 Color Computer.