Konami‘s 1987 arcade game, City Bomber, has got absolutely nothing to do with bombing cities, and is a Spy Hunter clone, twinned with a bit of Bump ‘n’ Jump.

Viewed from overhead, your car drives up a scrolling road full of traffic, shooting anything that gets in its way. Destroyed enemies drop a variety of power-ups that allow you to destroy even more of them.

The ultimate aim, though, is to reach all the checkpoints before the timer expires. You have an unlimited number of cars, but you lose time if you crash. Not reaching the finish line before the timer hits zero means: “game over“.

A handy vertical line on the left side of the screen shows how far into the course you are. Your time is shown in red, in the top/middle of the screen.

You can’t drive on water. That’s a rule to remember. And corners – which are indicated prior to them appearing – must be negotiated carefully because falling off the course loses you time. Avoid oil slicks, because they will make you spin out, and especially avoid oil being dropped by a helicopter!

One level, which impressed me enormously, was set on half-submerged decking, and required fast reflexes to avoid drowning too many times. So City Bomber at least tries to build on the Spy Hunter-style gameplay with a few interesting ideas of its own.

Again: I’ve got no idea why they decided to call this City Bomber. This is an excellent old arcade game that deserves more recognition – not a game about terrorism. Sometimes marketing men really do like to right-royally fuck it up… Forget the game’s stupid title and enjoy the crazy gameplay of this fun driving game.

More: City Bomber on Wikipedia