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Crazy Climber Crazy Climber - Japanese Logo - Katakana / Kanji

Crazy Climber - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

Play human fly and scale a building while avoiding a wide variety of falling objects. Get picked up by a chopper at the top and do it all over again.

Crazy Climber was produced by Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd in 1980.

Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd released only 1 machine in our database under this trade name. Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd was based in United States.

Other machines made by Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd during the time period Crazy Climber was produced include:

Crazy Climber - Cabinet - Machine
Cabinet

Specs

Name Crazy Climber
Developer Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd (United States)
Year 1980
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 7426
Class Wide Release
Genre Platform
Monitor
Conversion Class unique
Game Specific Crazy Climber Pinout
Dipswitch Settings

Crazy Climber Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)

# Simultaneous Players 1
# Maximum Players 2
Gameplay Alternating
Control Panel Layout Single Player
Controls
  • Joystick: 8-way [Left Hand]
  • Joystick: 8-way [Right Hand]
Sound Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles
  • Upright/Standard - Taito
  • Cocktail
  • Cabaret/Mini
  • Upright/Standard - Nichibutsu Deluxe
  • Upright/Standard
Control Panel Crazy Climber Control Panel Image

Game Introduction

The game has four buildings and they are each 200 stories high. The names of each building are Nichibutsu, Nichibutsu Leisure, Nichibutsu U.K. Ltd. and Nichibutsu U.S.A Corp., respectively.

The player uses two 8-way joysticks to control each of the climber's hands during the game play.

The object of the game is to climb all the way to the rooftop of each building and get carried off by a helicopter.

Game Play

While climbing a building, there are various dangers that are encountered. On every building, there are windows which open and close simultaneously and if any of them close on either of the climber's hands he will lose his grip, so you must make sure that he has at least one of his hands securely holding onto an open window sill but if a window closes on both of his hands, he will fall. Besides those ubiquitous windows, there are also bald-headed bad guys who drop flowerpots this is all that is dropped from the first building, tin cans, sodapop bottles, baskets of fruit and buckets of water from random windows. On all but the third building, there is a pesky condor who flys by and drops eggs and droppings of an unpleasant substance. For the first and second buildings, it ejects two droppings at a time but on the fourth it ejects four. On all but the first building, there are steel girders and iron dumbells that tumble down the building. When climbing the second and fourth buildings, there is an electrical "Nichibutsu" sign with a live wire snaking out of it. On only the third and fourth buildings, there are falling "Crazy Climber" signs that come crashing down the building. During the first and third buildings, a King Kong character leaps from side to side of the building and slams his hands against the windows. Lastly, on only the second and third buildings, there is The Lucky Balloon that can lift the climber about ten stories and raise the player's bonus score if he catches it.

The climber must try to avoid or overcome each of those hazzards which he will encounter as he continues climbing in his attempt to reach the rooftop. If the climber succombs to one of those dangers, he will fall and another climber will appear at the same location of the building wherever the last one had fallen off at but that specific danger will no longer be there, so the next climber can continue the climbing onward up the building to face the next upcoming danger. Most of those hazzards are announced by certain recognizable musical themes.

When the climber is nearly to the rooftop of the fourth building, that building will be split into two seperate towers each with only two sections of windows to climb.

If the climber does not move for several seconds a voice will encouragingly say "Go for it!".

For the first three buildings, when the climber reaches the roof and gets carried off by the helicopter, he will proceed to the next building. After the climber makes it to the top of the fourth building, the helicopter transports him back to the base of the first building where he starts all over again.

As the climber scales a building, he is able to climb up and sideways but he cannot climb down.

The climber scores 100 points for every story that he climbs on the first building, 150 points for every story that he climbs on the second building, 200 points for every story that he climbs on the third building and 250 points for every story that he climbs on the fourth building.

A bonus score is awarded on each building everytime after the climber gets carried off by the helicopter. On the first building, the bonus score is 10,000 points. On the second building, 20,000 points. On the third building, 30,000 points. And lastly, on the fourth building, 40,000 points. However, each bonus score will decrease by every ten seconds that the climber will spend scaling each building as he attempts reach the top. So the climber must try to climb to the top as quickly but as carefully as possible to get as many bonus points as he can.

Each player is given three climbers at the beginning of each game and is awarded one extra climber at 30,000 points.

After the climber starts all over again on the first building after climbing all four buildings, the difficulty will increase.

Crazy Climber KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 3.32 (7 votes)

Fun Factor: 3.39

Overall Like 3.43
Fun (Social) 1.86
Fun (Solo) 3.29
Collector Desire 4.43

Technical Rating: 3.25

Gameplay 3.43
Graphics 2.71
Originality 4.14
Sound/Music 2.29

Personal Impressions and Technical Impressions each account for half of the total score. Within the Personal Impressions category, Like carries a little more weight than the other factors.

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More pictures

Trivia

Some of the musical themes used in the game are Baby Elephant Walk, The Pink Panther Theme and The Entertainer.

Cabinet Information

The game was released in several different cabinet styles. Taito licensed the game from Nichibutsu and released it in the US in a generic orange "Taito" cabinet with Americanized artwork. A cabaret version of the game was also created.

Nichibutsu's standard cabinet was shaped similar to the Taito cabinet, but it had a plain white exterior with the Crazy Climber logo from the marquee on the kickplate and diagonally on the sides. The marquee and monitor bezel art are very vibrant, using many custom flourescent colors. The control panel is black painted metal with artwork painted on in orange, white and red. The marquee had no backlighting.

Nichibutsu's deluxe cabinet was taller and had a very unusual control panel. The panel attached to the front of the cabinet seperately and was metal covered with a curved piece of plexiglass. Full color artwork of the climber scaling the outside of a building is silkscreened onto the curved plexi. The instruction sheet was moved from its position on the standard cabinet's monitor bezel to a window on the control panel. The deluxe cabinet also used several Nintendo parts, including the same type monitor Sanyo 20EZ and the same style of coin mechs used by games like Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, et. al.

Miscellaneous

This game is commonly attributed to Nichibutsu as the manufacturer. The high score screen and the name plate on the buildings both say that but the title screen very clearly states the game is copyright Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd.

Only the U.S. version has the realistic-sounding voice samples.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Crazy Climber Census

There are 14,717 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,455 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 164,291 machines (6,886 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 184 known instances of this machine owned by Crazy Climber collectors who are active members. Of these, 148 of them are original dedicated machines. 6 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 29 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 17 active VAPS members with a Crazy Climber machines for sale. There are 4 active VAPS members with a Crazy Climber circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Popular - There are 23 active VAPS members currently looking for Crazy Climber.

This game ranks a 46 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 40 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are not necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Flyers

Legacy

  1. Crazy Climber
  2. Crazy Climber 2

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. Arcade Fever Sellers (ISBN 0762409371) Page: 48; Color photo
  2. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 102; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. 3D Model (External): Upright
  2. 3D Model (External): Cabaret

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Crazy Climber Videogame machines and related items.

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TOP WATCHED LISTINGS FOR: Crazy Climber

Ebay Compatible Application

Crazy Climber High Score Save and Free Play Kit - Arcade

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CRAZY CLIMBER - Nichibutsu Arcade - GENUINE LOGIC PCB SET - WORKING 100%

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Crazy Climber Arcade Marquee 22.7" x 8"

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Nichibutsu Arcade Crazy Climber PCB board repair and refurb service

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CRAZY CLIMBER Arade Marquee. 1981 TAITO USA

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Nichibutsu Crazy Climber to JAMMA Adapter

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GRS Build A Cade Complete Graphics Kit

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Crazy Climber Free play and High Score Save Kit Arcade

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