BurgerTime

Chef Peter Pepper has to assemble giant hamburgers by running across platforms and stomping pieces of buns, meat and lettuce downward, while enraged eggs, hot dogs and pickles chase at his heels. BurgerTime is one of the most distinctive arcade classics, and its home version for the Intellivision won devoted fans.

The gameplay principle is unmistakable. You move across a network of ladders and platforms and walk over the individual layers of ingredients, dropping them to a lower level until a complete hamburger comes together. You're pursued by animated foods, which you must either walk over onto a falling ingredient or briefly stun by sprinkling pepper, of which you have a limited supply. This combination of maze strategy and timing creates a brisk and cleverly designed challenge.

BurgerTime originally comes from the arcades, where it was created by the Japanese company Data East at the start of the eighties. The game became popular enough to earn conversions to a range of home systems including the Intellivision, where it demonstrated the console's ability to handle colorful and legible platform environments.

Culturally, BurgerTime belongs to the golden era of so-called character games — games built on a striking, memorable hero and an original idea. At a time when arcades were dominated by shooters and Pac-Man-style mazes, it stood out with its playful, almost cartoon-like approach and humorous theme.

To this day BurgerTime remains a textbook example of perfectly tuned arcade design, where simple rules lead to surprisingly deep tactical play. It's a title that entertains instantly and at the same time hides room for mastery.

Why play: An unmistakable arcade classic where you build giant hamburgers and flee from animated hot dogs. Simple rules, addictively deep tactics.