Up'n Down

• Title — Up'n Down • Developer — Sega • Platforms — Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64 • Release — Arcade 2600October 1984 • Genre — Maze • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Arcade original Up'n Down is a vertically scrolling game which has a pseudo-3D perspective. The player controls a purple dune buggy that resembles a Volkswagen Beetle. The buggy moves forward along a single-lane path; pressing up or down on the joystick causes the buggy to speed up or slow down, pressing right or left causes the buggy to switch lanes at an intersection, and pressing the "Jump" button causes the buggy to jump in the air. Jumping is required to avoid other cars on the road; the player can either jump over them, or land on them for points. To complete a round, the player must collect 10 colored flags by running over them with the buggy. If the player passes by a flag without picking it up, it will appear again later in the round. The roads feature inclines and descents that affect the buggy's speed, and bridges which must be jumped. A player loses a turn whenever the buggy either collides with another vehicle, or jumps off the road into the grass or water.

• Illustration — Atari 2600 port Sega released a port for the Atari 2600 in 1984 with jarring background music. According to Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design by Karen Collins, the arcade version's "bluesy F-sharp minor groove" was transformed into "a very unsettling version based in C minor with a flattened melodic second" because of limitations of the 2600 sound hardware.