Vegas Jackpot, Commodore 16 and Plus/4, Mastertronic - 2C0002
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Score - 5.5/105.5/10
Summary
Although there are moral issues about making gambling games available to a younger generation, Vegas Jackpot does fit the bill of being a fruit machine of its era, and in this case, a well-executed conversion from the Commodore 64 original. It is bright and colourful with some good sound effects and tunes and takes advantage of the colour palette available to be just as good as the original, with that one more go playability in the same way.
User Review
( votes)After the success of Vegas Jackpot on the Commodore 64, it made sense for the game to be released on other formats. As the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 machines were starting to make small inroads into the UK market, Mastertronic saw this as a good opportunity to support the machine early on, and it made perfect sense for Shaun Southern to convert the game, and be able to use similar machine code to make the conversion job a lot easier. It was also a case of being able to have the same game to play as other systems so that owners of the machines felt that they were going to get some good games over the years – which later proved to be the case, hugely.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
The original release of the game is a slow blue screen loader and has a similar title screen to the Commodore 64 version. However, it was noted that if you have a Revision B Commodore 16 board, then the screen does not display correctly, although you could press the necessary key to continue. Another version (which uses Novaload, serial N103104) also doesn’t display the graphics correctly on the Plus/4, in a way similar to Rockman. The later fast load Novaload versions (serial N103108) also fixed the graphics compatibility issues and works on both formats with no issues. As with the Commodore 64 version, this too has a version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, crafted with the TED chip and a perfectly passable version at that.
As per the Commodore 64 version, the aim of the game is the same – you start with £100 and the aim is to get to £250 to effectively break the bank, or if you go down to £0, it is game over. Each spin will cost £1 once you have inserted the coin for a credit, so you can see that the money may go down very quickly if you’re not as lucky with the spins on the machine. The machine itself is well laid out on screen and exactly the same, with the middle section having the four reels of fruits and symbols, some with numbers next to them, along with how much cash and credits you have on the right side, together with the indicator of the win line in the middle. The bottom of the screen shows the amounts you can win and gamble up or down to, to a maximum of the top prize of £100. The top of the screen is for when your win line has numbers and counts those up. A total of 7 means a random spin, and 8 to 12 means you can win a number of nudges (ranging from 4 to 16 nudges) and gamble those up or down, even to the top prize of £100.
Let’s Go for a Spin
The controls are all by keyboard and relatively simple, and slightly different here due to the keyboard layout. F3 inserts coins as needed for credit, HELP spins the wheel. F1 operates the gamble functions, and F2 will collect as needed. Using keys 1 to 4 when hold is lit will effectively hold the reel for the next spin. Joystick control is not an option, which would have been a nice to have.
When you spin the wheel, each reel spins around smoothly (and quicker than the Commodore 64 version, well worth noting) with some bright and colourful graphics, making use of the colour palette here, depicting lemons, strawberries, apples, cherries, watermelons, blueberries, and also a square chip (with a CHIP logo for Mr Chip). Getting at least two of those consecutively on the win line is an instant win, which can range from £3 to £100 – note that you can lose a gamble and go down to £1 in case you wondered. You can collect the win, or you can gamble with the prize going up or down, with flashing lights for each and hitting F1 at the right time.
If the win line does not have two consecutive fruits or objects, and the numbers at their sides total at least 7, you have the randomised spin at 7, or nudges you can gamble with F1. Nudges are automatic based on what the best prize would be, so usually getting 12 or 16 nudges means that you are going to score a considerable prize on the win line once those takes place. At the end of each spin, you will occasionally get the option to hold, so you could hold the symbols and fruits with numbers to try and get to nudges, or fruits for the win line.
Difficulty Tweaks
It is worth noting though that this version does appear to have the difficulty tweaked slightly – certainly when gambling the prizes or the nudges you can manage to gamble up a bit easier. In one case I was able to gamble from £15 all the way to the top prize of £100. Here there is also a difference too – there is a win jingle that happens when you get this top prize from the machine and the sense of achieving that really does give you an incentive to gamble a bit more. There are also more numbers by the symbols it seems, so you can get nudges more too.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics are colourful and well presented, with the fruits and symbols easily identifiable. The reels scroll well with a sense of them slowing down to get to the win line. The TED chip has been used well for the use of the colour palette and the sound effects throughout, as well as good renditions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at the start, Pop Goes the Weasel when your money goes to £0, and a win tune when you achieve £250. As mentioned, you get an extra jingle for the £100 jackpot which is a nice touch.
Final Thoughts
There may be some moral reasons why fruit machine games are not ideal to be played by the youngsters back in the day, and mileage will vary as to how much enjoyment you will get out of this game. However, as a standalone fruit machine game it has the reels, the nudges, the holds and the option for a sizeable jackpot and on the Commodore 16 and Plus/4, it is a very good conversion from the Commodore 64 – with well defined graphics, lovely sound, and the gameplay being tweaked to be a little easier and therefore more fun to play. It definitely set Mastertronic on the right foot with Commodore 16 and Plus/4 owners and showed initial promise which was well rewarded in years to come.
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One of my first C16 games, and also the first for Shaun Southern (Sout) on the platform.
It’s a nice conversion. Crisp bright colours making good use of the extended colour pallete. Decent ditties, and basically a nice little fruit machine simulator.
It’s fairly basic in special features though, but what there is works reasonably well. The nudges are automatic rather than manual, but it gets the best results. You always win something with nudges.
And it’s welcome, because it’s tough enough already as the gamble feature on both (above) nudges & (below) cash prizes purely relies on luck rather than skill. It moves too fast, when really it should start off fairly slow, and then gradually increase in speed. Relying only on pure luck here does break the enjoyment a little.
But only a little. it isn’t impossible to reach £250 and break the bank. I have achieved it a few times, and the victory ditty does leave you with the feeling of achievement.
Maybe if he had slowed the gamble feature gradually increasing in speed, and increased the final cash prize target, and possibly made nudges a manual task, then the game may have been even more enjoyable to play. Just like a real fruit machine.
But as it is, it’s fine. I agree with your final score and I also give this a 5.5 out of 10. It’s a good respectable start for Sout, and his games only got better.