Burger Time ’97 is another unofficial Commodore 64 clone of Data East‘s classic arcade game, BurgerTime, and it is arguably better than most other rip-offs of the famous burger-dropping platform game – at least on 8-bit home computers. It was programmed by Ruben Spaans, with graphics by Roy Widding, and was first published by Loadstar in 1997.

The game runs fast and smooth and doesn’t seem to have any issues with the main character getting on and off ladders and on to platforms (which is a common problem in many BurgerTime clones). Graphics-wise, Burger Time ’97 is okay. It’s perfunctory, rather than great. The animation of the chef character is a bit weird (he seems to flail his arms around as he moves), and the burger pieces and platforms are relatively plain-looking.

The music in the game is a direct lift from the BurgerTime arcade game, which I guess is okay. It’s an instantly recognisable tune and is at least better than someone injecting their own tuneless dirge…

Gameplay-wise, Burger Time ’97 is fairly challenging, but not without its problems. Enemy AI is too direct, which isn’t good, and burger slices sometimes fall through enemies without harming them, which is even worse. Sometimes enemies spawn right on top of you too. Anyone thinking that Burger Time ’97 was a “perfect” port of the arcade original would be wrong about that, but it is what it is.

More: Burger Time ’97 on c64-wiki.com
More: Burger Time ’97 on CSDb