Random Game O' the Day: Keystone Kapers

[digitalpress]

Garry Kitchen's brilliant game appeared first on the Atari 2600 and was later ported to several other systems. Many feel the 2600 version remained the best and that the game's graphics and sound really didn't NEED improvement. Chasing down the thief in the apartment store as a growing number of obstacles are presented is still great fun and Keystone Kapers repreasents what I believe is one of the best games of its era.

What do you think? Share your thoughts on the game here.

DP Guide sez:
U.S. Game Releases
Keystone Kapers (Atari 2600, by Activision) $3/R1 +
Designed by Garry Kitchen. Garry Kitchen mentioned working on an alternate design, with one screen showing the outside of the building. Scoring over 35,000 points could get you a "Billy Club" patch by sending proof to Activision. PERIODICALS: Received an honorable mention for "Video
Game of the Year (Less than 16K ROM) 1983" by Electronic Games Magazine. c1983 Activision. #AX025.

Keystone Kapers (Atari 5200, by Activision) $7/R3
Designed by Alex DeMeo, Garry Kitchen. Activision must have been trying to save money as many copies of this game came with instructions for the ColecoVision. They didn't even supply a real manual, just a single (photocopied?) sheet of paper. #FZ-006.

Keystone Kapers (Atari XE, by Activision) $6/R3
Original game designed by Garry Kitchen. #CZ-006.

Keystone Kapers (ColecoVision, by Activision) $12/R3
Designed by Garry Kitchen. One of Garry Kitchen's masterpieces is this update to the Atari 2600 classic. The ColecoVision version features more detailed graphics (which is the most common enhancement of Activision games on this system), though they're a bit gaudy. Many prefer the simple
and toned-down look of the 2600 version. Action/Platform/Fixed Screen. Released 1984. c1983, 1984 Activision. #VS-004.

[IntvGene]

I love Keystone Kapers. It's one of the best Activision games on the 2600. As you've mentioned, it's also one of the few games that is best on the VCS. The Colecovision's extra graphics do nothing but distract you. This game also has some interesting sounds, including the squeeking sound that you make when you move. Garry Kitchen's other VCS games are great. I especially love Pressure Cooker.

[FlufflePuff]

Keystone Capers and Crystal Castles are the two games I remember most from my childhood VCS. I can remember the music quite vividly (so it must be good!). I do remember really hating the airplanes that buzzed around. Since getting back into collecting, I acquired a copy, but sadly my 7800 died. Anyone have an extra working one that they don't need?

[Chunky]

ahh i love it

perfect game, just the right amount ot time(since i die between the high planes or cans? and fast carts.) and that what by the 6-7th level?

well the 2600 one anyways. great game, really put Activision on the map in my eyes.

[Kroogah]

I was raised on the NES, and Keystone Kapers is one of the 2600 games I can go back to. One of the many great titles Activision cranked out, no doubt. I haven't spent as much time with it as I should have, but I still consider it one of the titles that defines the 2600.

[vulcanjedi]

Stop, Thief!

Although the game play is exactly the same between the 2600 and the 8 bit version there are subtle differences in the sound.
And the extra rainbow colors...

My vote is for the XE version. Woo Hoo

VJ

[chrisbid]

2600 version

[Mr. Smashy]

Yup. It's a great game. It's easily on my top 10 for 2600 games. I like how it just kind of freezes and restarts when you catch the crook. I imagine that the crook just gets the crap beaten out of him with that billy club (which makes it all worthwhile).

[Flack]

I have fond memories of this game.

I remember seeing ads for this game in 1983, and I remember asking my parents for it for Christmas that year. Being a big Star Wars kid, my Christmas that year was all about Return of the Jedi toys that year as well as lots of records, an aquarium, and all kinds of other stuff. I didn't even notice I didn't get any Atari games.

That night, per tradition, we went over to my Grandma's house for dinner. My grandma was dirt poor and collected cans for spending money. Dinner at Grandma's always involved stew, Spam, or both. She had a big freezer in her back room that she used to keep filled with boxes of goodies from the day old bread store. That's where I got my affinity for frozen Twinkees from.

Anyway, after dinner that night (I'm pretty sure it was stew; I don't remember if it had Spam in it or not) my grandma said she had got me a little something. Usually Christmas from Grandma meant a cheap t-shirt, a pair of gloves, or something like that. She went to her back room, and came out with Keystone Kapers! I remember literally screaming! It was the coolest thing she ever got me. Looking back though, I feel like a piece of crap about it. $30 back then was a lot of money, especially for a woman who collected cans for cash.

My grandmother was also a quilter, and one year she made me what I call "sailboat quilt". It's a big quilt made of triangles that look like sailboats out on the ocean. I still sleep with it regularly. In 2000, my grandma was diagnosed with dementia. My son was born in December of 2001 and when we took him to the nursing home to meet her, she was more interested in his bright red blanket than seeing her great grandson.

Shortly after that meeting, my grandma fell and broke her hip, and was bed ridden for the rest of her life. She died in March of 2002.

I still have that quilt on my bed and that same Keystone Kapers cartridge on the top of my Atari pile. Every time I use either one of them I smile a little and think of her.

[klausien]

Keystone Kapers, along with Pitfall, Combat and Asteroids, is one of the games that got me hooked on gaming in the first place. It was the first game I had ever seen that felt cartoon-like. I still play it all the time!

[thehistorian]

I loved this game back in the day... I still could shoot myself for selling all my atari stuff back in the 80s.

Side note:
Flack, I'm sure watching you completely flip out was worth far more than the $30 she spent. Now does this story have anything to do with the Gamecube event that you so aptly put together this past Chrstmas?

[Lady Jaye]

I love Keystone Kapers, the best Keystone Kops/Charlie Chaplin-inspired game ever! (replace the escaped convict by Chaplin and you get a mix of his early Keystone Kops movies and his movie The Floorwalker)

I was a very late convert to this game, as I never played it before getting Activision Anthology. It's one of my fave titles in the compilation, along with Pitfall!, Pressure Cooker and Beamrider.

Simple gameplay but oh! so much fun to play! It's definitely one of the 2600 jewels!!!

[o2william]

Keystone Kapers is truly one of my favorites. I remember being impressed back in the day by all the new obstacles that kept appearing in each new level. Shopping carts! Airplanes! Two bouncing balls! There was a strong incentive to beat each level just to see what challenge would be added to the next. For a 2600 game, it had amazing depth.

Never played the ColecoVision version. I think I have an XE cart lying around somewhere but my 130XE has been in storage so I haven't tried it yet. Maybe it's time to bring the 130XE back out...

[NeoZeedeater]

Cool game. I haven't played the 5200 version yet but between the 2600 and Coleco versions I doubt I need to.

[NE146]

Being 35, I grew up with the 2600 and Keystone Kapers is one of those games my mom bought me so I have plenty of memories of it.

However to be quite honest, those memories are of a bland game. What was it I didn't like about it.... (trying to get back into my 12 year old mindset) Hmmm, the biggest thing was I didnt feel there was any closure to the game.. you catch the crook, and then BAM you're chasing him again! I think even some semblance of a cutscene (although I realize that was probably out of the question) would have made it seem more rewarding. Heck even some bad 2 second graphic or even a little tune would've worked as a reward... SOMETHING. Also there are gameplay elements that annoy rather than enhance it for me.. like the elevator. You stand there and wait, then once you get on it, the crook senses it and turns right around! It just got frustrating. The jumping and ducking just wasn't all that challenging either.

So although I had it in it's day (and got reeeaall good at the game through constant repeated play) I've always thought this game was a less than average title from Activision.. much like Freeway and Barnstorming. Nice graphics.. but less than thrilling as a game. Just my humble opinion of course

[fergojisan]

I didn't have it when I was a kid, but I'm with NE146 here, I don't really care for it that much, sorry.

I do want to say that I think Flack needs to be nominated for Best Poster, or something like that. I am constantly entertained and riveted by Flack's posts. Flack, here's to you! You rock!

[Sotenga]

I can probably narrow Activision's best games down to a mere ten, and I do believe Keystone Kapers would be on that list. I love it when games only have one objective. It keeps things simple, and it can often be addictive. Just catch the freaking robber! That's all there is to it. Oh, and jump over lots of things too. Don't forget the escalators. The elevators can be used to your advantage too.

Yup.

...

Forgot something: The faster you catch the pinstriped plunderer, the more points you get... I think. I haven't played this one in a bit of a while, but just catch him as fast as you can. Heh, if you're not playing for points, you can play for time. The possibilities are endless with this one, and it's classics like these that warrant many smiles out of me when Activision is mentioned.

[ubersaurus]

As a kid, we didn't personally own this (at least right off the bat). My aunt and my grandparents both had a copy, however, so I remember going to their houses to play it(2600 version). I don't know what it was about the game that I thought was so cool, but man, I could play that for hours.

Of course, then my aunt got rid of her games, and gave em all to me, so now I can play it whenever I get the craving for it

[Videogamerdaryll]

All can say is..Till this day I still love that game...

It's a must play everytime I play the 2600.

[kainemaxwell]

I never had this as a kid, and discovered it when I got into Activision cart collecting and when Activision Anthology came out. I loved the bright colors and as mentioned before, the Charlie Chaplin-like premise.