Bagman

Arcade Video game published 42 years ago:

Bagman (c) 1982 Valadon Automation [VA].

The objective of the game is to maneuver Bagman through various mine shafts, picking up money bags and placing them in a wheelbarrow at the surface of the mine. The player must avoid pursuing guards, moving ore carts, and descending elevators. The player may temporarily stun the guards by striking them with a pickaxe or by dropping money bags on them when they are below the player on the same ladder. The player may move between the three screens which make up the level via shafts and on the surface.

Bagman is played using one 4-way joystick and one action button. The joystick is also used to jump out of the ore cart. The Action Button is used to make the Bagman perform the following tasks:
Pick up and drop money bags
Pick up and drop pickaxe
Grab and release the ceiling beam to avoid the ore cart (this can be done while carrying a money bag)
Placing a money bag in the wheelbarrow
Pick up and drop the wheelbarrow

Points are scored for each horizontal step the player takes, for each money bag placed in the wheelbarrow, and for each guard stunned.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 3.072 Mhz)
Sound Chips: General Instrument AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz), TMS5110 (@ 640 Khz) [speech]

Players: 2
Control: 4-Way Joystick
Buttons: 1

- TRIVIA -

Bagman was released in January 1982.

The tune that plays at the start of the game is a sample from "Turkey in the Straw".

Jerry McCloskey holds the official record for this game with 6840850 points on August 2, 1983.

This game is known in France as "Le Bagnard" (translates from French as 'The Convict').

Bootlegs of this game run on the "Moon Cresta" & on the "Crazy Kong" hardware.

- SERIES -

1. Bagman (1982)
2. Super Bagman (1984)

- PORTS -

* COMPUTERS:
[US] Commodore C64 (1983) "Bagitman" by Aardvark Action Soft.
[EU] Commodore C64 (1984) "Bagitman" by Mogul Communications
[US] TRS-80 CoCo (1983) "Bagitman" by Aardvark Soft.
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1984) "Gilligan's Gold" by Ocean Soft., Ltd.
[EU] Commodore C64 (1984) "Gilligan's Gold" by Ocean Soft., Ltd.
[EU] Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1984) "Gilligan's Gold" by Ocean Soft., Ltd.
PC Windows (June.14, 2022) "Gilligan's Gold" by Pixel Games UK