Motos

Motos is an arcade game, that was released by Namco in 1985. It was the last of the 7 games from the company to run on the Super Pac-Man hardware (two Motorola M6809 microprocessors running at 1.536 MHz), but with a video system similar to that used in Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, Grobda (minus the DAC) and Dig Dug II. It was also their last 8-bit game to use a vertical-orientated monitor.

The player must take control of the eponymous Motos, a bumper car whose goal is to force enemies over the edge of the playfield, by bumping up against them; however, all the enemies are capable of doing exactly the same thing to it. “Power parts” and “jump parts” can also be collected during the 62 rounds, which will give Motos extra bumping power, and the ability to jump over gaps in the playfield.

The game was later ported for the Amstrad CPC, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Commodore 64, and the Sharp X68000 – and was later featured in the “Encore” edition of their Namco Museum series, for the Sony PlayStation, along with two of Namco’s Japan-exclusive titles: Wonder Momo (which was to be their last 8-bit game in 1986), and Rompers (the key-collecting maze game from 1989). One of the enemy characters (the Taitorian) also made an appearance as a bonus character in Tinkle Pit (1993).