Achieved at : 2026-09-06
Rank : 1
(24% better)
Lups : t.b.d.
Approved :
No
Vote progress : 60%
| General Rules: |
Play with default settings unless otherwise specified. No use of trainers, cheats, saved game files, auto-fire (when not default present in-game), emulator save states, or other emulator advantages. No use of code modifications that give the player an advantage over other players. 1 player only. No continues. It is discouraged and may lead to voters not accepting your score to - excessively point farm - use glitches or other game exploits |
| Specific Rules: | Play the game in 1 player mode with default settings. |
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@Luigi Ruffolo 🇮🇹
TGP
Thanks. This is a very difficult game, I assume you found it hard too?
TGP
Bug Bomb is an arcade game for the BBC Microcomputer. It was written by Simon Birrell and released by Virgin Games in 1983. Simon also wrote Microbe and High-Rise Horror on the Virgin label for the BBC, as well as the C64 port of Strangeloop. Simon was 16 when he wrote the game and there is a picture online of him and the game with Virgin founder Richard Branson back in 1983. He went on to have a successful career in technology, earning him his own Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_B...
But back to Bug Bomb. According to Simon, the game was originally called Alleyways, but Virgin wanted to change the name to Bug Bomb. It was released in 1983 as part of the first tranche of Virgin Games releases. The gameplay has you fighting off creatures in a grid-like maze - you can see why Simon called it Alleyways at first. Both you and your enemies can fire at each other and contact with them or their shots is deadly. You destroy them by shooting them, but there is an interesting mechanic here as you can only fire behind you. Your shots bounce backwards and forwards in the maze and are deadly to you as well as your opponents. You can have a maximum of three shots on screen at one time, only getting a shot back when it destroys one of your enemies. Get all your opponents and it is on the next screen with new designs of enemies, more of them, and at a faster speed.
This game reminded me of the 1980 Exidy arcade game Targ. The gameplay in Bug Bomb is similar, though with a smaller maze. Gameplay is absolutely fast and frantic. The author really wanted to make you spend your virtual 10p pieces at a high rate! I guarantee that for your first several games you will be at the Game Over screen very quickly. Persevere and get used to the game though, and you will start to last longer, get through more screens, and the gameplay will begin to open up to you. Possibly as a consequence of the games high speed, the controls - especially the fire button - can be a bit over responsive, and it is easy to fire off multiple shots when you only meant to release one. As you can only have three shots onscreen at a time, this can leave you in trouble.
The game is every bit as noisy as you would expect from an arcade machine and combined with the harsh gameplay, does a good impression of coming straight from the arcade. Normally, I find games as fast and difficult as this one frustrating to play, but for some reason the game has a bit of a one-more-go feel to it. That reminded me of Tempest, where the game is hard, but you feel you can go back and do better next game. Scores in Bug Bomb, will never be very high though!
In summary then, this is a very hard and fast arcade game, lacking the polish that comes with games released for the Beeb in later years. It is also quite rewarding if you can get past that initial high difficulty level, especially if you are short of time but need a quick fix of arcade action, it is still worth a try. It won't take up much of your time before it is Game Over either way!
This run was made on the 6th September 2026 using the Pantheon emulator on PC. There are no skill levels and the final score reached was 160 points.
Time stamps:
00:30 High Score table.
00:32 Failed run starts.
00:39 Screen 1 cleared.
01:04 Screen 2 cleared.
01:08 First life lost.
01:26 Second life lost.
01:38 Third life lost. Game Over! Final score 90 points.
01:45 Best run begins.
02:04 Screen 1 cleared.
02:15 Screen 2 cleared.
02:35 Screen 3 cleared.
02:40 First life lost.
02:50 Second life lost.
02:58 Third life lost. Game Over! Final score 160 points.
03:02 Initials entry and High Score table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_B...
But back to Bug Bomb. According to Simon, the game was originally called Alleyways, but Virgin wanted to change the name to Bug Bomb. It was released in 1983 as part of the first tranche of Virgin Games releases. The gameplay has you fighting off creatures in a grid-like maze - you can see why Simon called it Alleyways at first. Both you and your enemies can fire at each other and contact with them or their shots is deadly. You destroy them by shooting them, but there is an interesting mechanic here as you can only fire behind you. Your shots bounce backwards and forwards in the maze and are deadly to you as well as your opponents. You can have a maximum of three shots on screen at one time, only getting a shot back when it destroys one of your enemies. Get all your opponents and it is on the next screen with new designs of enemies, more of them, and at a faster speed.
This game reminded me of the 1980 Exidy arcade game Targ. The gameplay in Bug Bomb is similar, though with a smaller maze. Gameplay is absolutely fast and frantic. The author really wanted to make you spend your virtual 10p pieces at a high rate! I guarantee that for your first several games you will be at the Game Over screen very quickly. Persevere and get used to the game though, and you will start to last longer, get through more screens, and the gameplay will begin to open up to you. Possibly as a consequence of the games high speed, the controls - especially the fire button - can be a bit over responsive, and it is easy to fire off multiple shots when you only meant to release one. As you can only have three shots onscreen at a time, this can leave you in trouble.
The game is every bit as noisy as you would expect from an arcade machine and combined with the harsh gameplay, does a good impression of coming straight from the arcade. Normally, I find games as fast and difficult as this one frustrating to play, but for some reason the game has a bit of a one-more-go feel to it. That reminded me of Tempest, where the game is hard, but you feel you can go back and do better next game. Scores in Bug Bomb, will never be very high though!
In summary then, this is a very hard and fast arcade game, lacking the polish that comes with games released for the Beeb in later years. It is also quite rewarding if you can get past that initial high difficulty level, especially if you are short of time but need a quick fix of arcade action, it is still worth a try. It won't take up much of your time before it is Game Over either way!
This run was made on the 6th September 2026 using the Pantheon emulator on PC. There are no skill levels and the final score reached was 160 points.
Time stamps:
00:30 High Score table.
00:32 Failed run starts.
00:39 Screen 1 cleared.
01:04 Screen 2 cleared.
01:08 First life lost.
01:26 Second life lost.
01:38 Third life lost. Game Over! Final score 90 points.
01:45 Best run begins.
02:04 Screen 1 cleared.
02:15 Screen 2 cleared.
02:35 Screen 3 cleared.
02:40 First life lost.
02:50 Second life lost.
02:58 Third life lost. Game Over! Final score 160 points.
03:02 Initials entry and High Score table.