Museum of the Game ®

International Arcade Museum® — Killer List of Videogames®


Kangaroo

カンガルー
Kangaroo - Cabinet - Video Game Marquee

Description

A mother kangaroo must climb through the treetops trying to rescue her son while punching out pink monkeys that throw apples at her. The kangaroo may eat fruit along the way to receive points.

Kangaroo was produced by Atari in 1982.

Atari released 139 machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972. Atari was based in United States.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Kangaroo was produced include: Neutron Star, Tempest Tubes, Tempest, Triangle, Maze Invaders, Akka Arrh, Atari Force Liberator, Fast Freddie, Black Widow, and Gravitar

Specs

Name Kangaroo
Developer Atari (United States)
Year 1982
Type Videogame
KLOV/MOG # 8275
Class Wide Release
Genre Platform
Monitor
Conversion Class unique
Game Specific Kangaroo Pinout
Dipswitch Settings

Kangaroo Dipswitch Settings (user contributed)

# Simultaneous Players 1
# Maximum Players 2
Game Play Alternating
Control Panel Layout Single Player Ambidextrous
Controls
  • Joystick: 8-way
  • Buttons: 1 - Punch
Sound Amplified Mono (one channel)
Cabinet Styles
  • Upright/Standard
Bezel Kangaroo Bezel Image
Control Panel Kangaroo Control Panel Image
Side Art Kangaroo Side Art Image
PCB Kangaroo PCB Image

Game Play

Mama Kangaroo must save Kid Kangaroo from an entire gang of nasty monkeys. She must climb up ladders, jump onto platforms, leap across gaps and so on to rescue him.

The monkeys will oppose her by throwing apples at her, either overhand or underhand. If they throw apples at her underhand, Mama Kangaroo must jump over them, but if they throw them overhand, she must duck. The monkeys will also drop apple cores and Mama Kangaroo must either avoid them or punch them to score points. Mama Kangaroo can also collect fruits and vegetables including strawberries, pineapples, cherries, tomatoes, etc. to score points. Mama Kangaroo can also ring a bell to make more fruits and vegetables appear.

Whenever Mama Kangaroo is close to a monkey, she can punch the monkey and knock him out. There is also a boxing gorilla called Big Ape who will occasionally appear on some levels and will try to deprive Mama Kangaroo of her boxing gloves and leave her defenseless, but she can punch Big Ape to knock him off the screen. If Mama Kangaroo is disarmed of her gloves, she must reach Kid Kangaroo before the dangers increase.

There are four different levels. The first level just has three floors connected to three long ladders. The second level is the same as the first except that on each floor, there are platforms that Mama Kangaroo must jump onto to get to each short ladder on each floor. On the third level, the cage in which Kid Kangaroo is imprisoned is held up by an entire stack of monkeys and there is an entire horde of apples that the monkey will unleash if five of them climb up there. On this level, Mama Kangaroo must punch each monkey in the stack several times until the cage is lowered and when the cage has been lowered enough, Mama Kangaroo must climb to the next floor to get to Kid Kangaroo before the cage is raised again or before the monkeys have the horde of apple cores unleashed. On the fourth level, there are odd connections of floors, platforms and ladders and the monkeys will throw apples and drop apple cores more unpredictably.

On each level, Mama Kangaroo must rescue Kid Kangaroo in order to proceed to the next. Everytime Kid Kangaroo is rescued, he says "MOM" while "Oh! Susanna" plays. After all four levels are completed, the game starts over again and with increased difficulty.

Jumping is kind of tough in this game because you have to make a quick direction change. The game play would be improved if a jump button had been added to the original control panel. The graphics in this game have a lot of glitches.

Kangaroo KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 2.91 (5 votes)

Fun Factor: 2.96

Overall Like 3.20
Fun (Social) 2.40
Fun (Solo) 3.20
Collector Desire 3.00

Technical Rating: 2.90

Gameplay 3.20
Graphics 3.00
Originality 3.25
Sound/Music 2.60

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.

Log in to rate this game!

Images

Cabinet Information

The side-art on this game features a white background with an cartoon-ish action shot over it.

Conversion

Game uses the same Audio Regulator II board as most other Atari games of this era Dig Dug, Star Wars, et. al..

Miscellaneous

Sun Electronics licensed Kangaroo to Atari, Inc. Two different program ROMs where made for this game. The only difference was the Sun Electronics and Atari copyright notice. Both program ROM boardsets for Kangaroo have Sun Electronics silkscreen on them.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Kangaroo Census

There are 15,333 members of the Video Arcade Preservation Society / Vintage Arcade Preservation Society, 9,697 whom participate in our arcade census project of games owned, wanted, or for sale. Census data currently includes 167,268 machines (7,015 unique titles).

Very Common - There are 247 known instances of this machine owned by Kangaroo collectors who are active members. Of these, 173 of them are original dedicated machines. 5 of them are conversions in which game circuit boards (and possibly cabinet graphics) have been placed in (and on) another game cabinet. 67 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 9 active VAPS members with a Kangaroo machines for sale. There are 5 active VAPS members with a Kangaroo circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - There are 10 active VAPS members currently looking for Kangaroo. There is one active VAPS member looking for a Kangaroo circuit board set.

This game ranks a 63 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 22 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

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (Books)

  1. Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games Kurtz (ISBN 0764319256) Page: 138; Color photo

Additional References (logged in members often see more)

  1. 3D Model (External): Upright (f3d4cb310a6106f5e66202687a227eab)

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for Kangaroo Videogame machines and related items.

Click to search eBay for Atari for machines and parts.

When you click on links below to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Such revenue helps to fund this site's operations. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

TOP WATCHED LISTINGS FOR: Kangaroo

Ebay Compatible Application

Kangaroo Arcade Marquee 26"x8"

Auction ends in: 2 days, 4 hours

FixedPrice
$19.95

Atari Kangaroo to JAMMA Adapter

Auction ends in: 1 week, 3 days

FixedPrice
$45.99

Kangaroo Arcade Game Schematic Package

Auction ends in: 4 weeks, 1 day

FixedPrice
$15.00

ATARI: Kangaroo Operation Maintenance and Service Manual & MORE

Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 5 days

FixedPrice
$14.95

Kangaroo Arcade PCB Atari Tested Working 100%

Auction ends in: 3 weeks, 6 days

FixedPrice
$250.00

KANGAROO Original 1982 Video Arcade Game Schematic Package Manual Only

Auction ends in: 6 days, 17 hours

FixedPrice
$20.40

Auction Results

Logged in members can see all related auctions.

Auctions Recap

Year Count Median $ Average $
2015 1 575.00 575.00
2016 2 460.00 460.00
2017 3 708.00 676.83
All Years 6 575.00 587.58

Contribute

  1. Log in to contribute content to this page
  2. Please consider donating to the International Arcade Museum Library