Buggy Boy
Buggy Boy, known as Speed Buggy in North America, is an off-road racing game developed by Tatsumi and released for arcades in 1985. The cockpit version of the arcade cabinet has a panoramic three-screen display, a feature previously employed in TX-1, but with Buggy Boy having a larger cabinet. An upright, single-screen cabinet was released in 1986 under the name Buggy Boy Junior.
Also recorded as Speed Buggy
Buggy Boy
- Date
- 1985
- Publisher
- Tatsumi Electronics
- Genre
- racing video game
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Buggy Boy, known as Speed Buggy in North America, is an off-road racing game developed by Tatsumi and released for arcades in 1985. The cockpit version of the arcade cabinet has a panoramic three-screen display, a feature previously employed in TX-1, but with Buggy Boy having a larger cabinet. An upright, single-screen cabinet was released in 1986 under the name Buggy Boy Junior.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1002503 · wikipedia · Buggy Boy
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Buggy Boy • Developer — Tatsumi • Composer — Mark Cooksey (C64) • Genre — Racing • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Arcade, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — Arcade version screenshot The object of the game is to drive around one of five courses (Offroad, North, East, South or West) in the shortest time possible. Each course has five legs filled with obstacles such as boulders and brick walls. Points are awarded for driving through gates and collecting flags. Offroad is a closed-circuit course that takes five laps to complete while North, South, East, and West are each a strict point A to point B style course. The player can hit logs and tree stumps in order to jump the buggy over obstacles, gaining extra points while airborne. Extra points are rewarded for driving the buggy on two wheels. • Illustration — Buggy Boy Junior
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
Explore 1985–2020
The full dated record · 3 entries
1985
Buggy Boy published.
1985
Buggy Boy is recorded as published in 1985.
2020
Buggy Boy Sketchbook (2020) is digitised and catalogued by Open Library.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Japan
Named but not plotted · 1
Buggy Boy is associated with Japan.
Country
Reception
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Buggy Boy on their September 1, 1985 issue as being the third most-popular upright arcade game for the previous two weeks. It went on to be one of the Japan's top five highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade games of 1986. In the United States, Speed Buggy was one of the top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1986. Computer and Video Games reviewed the arcade game, giving it a positive review. The review said, "if you've got nerves of steel," prepare "for the ride of your life." Zzap!64 awarded the Commodore 64 port of the game a gold medal and a 97% score, calling it "a cracking racing game that proves totally compulsive." Buggy Boy was included as one of the titles in the 2010 book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.
Legacy
Legacy
According to Andy Smith of Advanced Computer Entertainment magazine in 1988, Sega's arcade game Power Drift (1988) combined elements from Out Run (1986) with those of Buggy Boy.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Video Game Flyers: Buggy Boy, Tatsumi (EU). The Arcade Flyer Archive.
- 2.Speed Buggy (Registration Number PA0000305579). United States Copyright Office.
- 3.Akagi, Masumi. アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005). Amusement News Agency. 46, 114–5. October 13, 2006. 978-4990251215.
- 4.Computer & Video Games. worldofspectrum.org.
- 5.Crash. worldofspectrum.org.
- 6.Sinclair User. worldofspectrum.org.
- 7.Archived copy.
- 8.Zzap!64 100th Issue Pull-Out Special Page 5. Zzap64.co.uk.
- 9.MicroHobby. worldofspectrum.org.
- 10.ACE. worldofspectrum.org.
- 11.The Games Machine. worldofspectrum.org.
- 12.Amusement Press, Inc. Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - アップライト, コックピット型TVゲーム機 (Upright/Cockpit Videos). Game Machine. 267. 25. 1 September 1985.
- 13.Amusement Press, Inc. Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: '86 上半期. Game Machine. 288. 28. 15 July 1986.
- 14.Amusement Press, Inc. Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: '86 下半期. Game Machine. 300. 16. 15 January 1987.
- 15.Coin Machine: AMOA Announces Awards Nominations. Cash Box. 38. August 23, 1986.
- 16.Arcade Action. Computer and Video Games. 52 (February 1986). 50–1. 16 January 1986.
- 17.Zzap!64. Zzap64.co.uk. 32. 20–21. December 1986.
- 18.Mott, Tony. 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Quintessence Editions Ltd. 2 August 2010. 978-1-74173-076-0.
- 19.Smith, Andy. Arcades. Advanced Computer Entertainment. 14. 84–5. November 1988.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
(Open Library, catalogue records for “Buggy Boy”) • Country: Buggy Boy is associated with Japan.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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