Bank Panic

Bank Panic is a video game developed by Sanritsu and released in arcades by Sega in 1984. Bally/Midway manufactured the game in the US. The player assumes the part of an Old West sheriff who must protect a bank and its customers from masked robbers.

This article is about the video game. For financial crises involving banks, see Bank run.
Bank Panic
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Sanritsu
Publisher(s)Sega
Pony Canyon (MSX)
Platform(s)Arcade, SG-1000, MSX, Master System
Release1984: Arcade
1985: MSX
1987: Master System
Genre(s)Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player, 2 players alternating

Gameplay
The cowboy in the left door is making a deposit, while the masked cowboy on the right is about to rob the bank.

The layout of the bank is implicitly a circle with twelve numbered doors and the player in the center. The player can rotate to the left or right and view three doors at a time. The doors will open to reveal a customer (who will drop a bag of money, making a deposit), a robber (who will attempt to shoot the player) or a young boy (who will be holding a stack of three to five hats, which the player can rapidly shoot for a bag of money or bonus time). The level ends when all twelve doors have received one or more deposits. This is indicated by the numbered boxes across the top of the screen, with a red dollar sign showing a door with a completed deposit.

At random intervals, a bomb will be placed on one of the doors and a rapid timer will count down from 99. The player must move to that door and destroy the bomb with gunfire. Shooting a customer, being shot by a robber, failing to destroy a bomb, or failing to complete the level before the overall timer runs out (shown by a bar at the bottom of the screen) costs the player one life.

Some robbers will wear white boots; these robbers need to be shot twice to be eliminated.

The level starts with the word "FAIR" displayed on a cuckoo clock. Shooting a robber on sight is deemed "UNFAIR" by the robber but incurs no penalty; however, a timer will appear if the player is not fast enough. Shooting a robber while the timer counts eventually averages the timer on the cuckoo clock, and determines bonus points.

Shooting any robber with the timer showing "0:00" earns a larger amount of bonus points. Shooting a robber with a red shirt earns the maximum bonus points available (5,000). Shooting a robber with a red shirt when the timer says "0:00" lights up a letter in the word "EXTRA" (shown at the bottom of the screen); lighting up the whole word earns an extra life, even more bonus points, and automatic advancement to the next level.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Bank Panic on their November 1, 1984 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of the year.[1]

Legacy

West Bank is a clone from Dinamic Software for the ZX Spectrum,[2] Commodore 64, MSX, and Amstrad CPC. An Atari 8-bit family clone was released in 1992 as Bang! Bank!.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 247. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 November 1984. p. 31.
  2. West Bank at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
  3. "Bang! Bank!". Atari Mania.
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