Data East‘s 1982 arcade release, Bump ‘n’ Jump (aka Burnin’ Rubber in its native Japan), is a jolly, vertically-scrolling driving game with a car that can jump up into the air for a few seconds to avoid gaps in the road.

The jump can also be used to crush other cars as you return to earth. Actually, the point of Bump ‘n’ Jump is to score points by running other road users off the road, so crushing them by jumping on them provides bonus points.

The road scrolls quickly and your car can speed up and slow down in order to dodge its way through traffic. If you take a hit from another vehicle your car will lose control momentarily. If you hit the scenery – or any obstructions in the road – you lose a car. Every now and then a warning flashes up, meaning there’s a gap in the road coming up. You have to time your jump carefully so that you have enough ‘air time’ to make it safely over the entire gap.

Bump ‘n’ Jump is very simple, but it still feels pretty good to play nowadays. The car handling is very primitive, and the odds are stacked against you, but it’s still fun trying to ram other people off the road in this early arcade classic.

More: Bump ‘n’ Jump on Wikipedia