Classic Moments: Bob’s Bad Day

All of Nick’s favourite bits from this impressive looking Psygnosis release

» Platform: Amiga » released: 1993 » developer: The Dome

Thanks to the title ‘Bob’s Bad Day’, you didn’t really think much about the game bearing it – after all, it sounds a bit like a forgotten Seventies sitcom. But after having seen it in a magazine, you had to get it. Not only was it an unusual action puzzle game, it was rather like Cameltry, one of your favourites amongst the arcade’s lesser-known games. To be honest, you were just amazed that the rotation effect worked.

But it turns out that Bob’s Bad Day isn’t just a clone – it has plenty of ideas of its own, the most mind-bending of which are the gravity modifiers. Bob didn’t always just fall down, you see. He could also fall left, right and upwards, depending on what you’d picked up at the time. Hence in this picture, Bob is rolling rapidly uphill, collecting coins along the way. With coins on every surface, he’ll need to mess with laws of physics plenty more in order to finish the stage. Do your best, Bob!

BIO

At first glance, Bob’s Bad Day seems an odd fit for publisher Psygnosis – after all, the studio made its name on graphically stunning games like Shadow Of The Beast. But while Bob’s Bad

Day doesn’t look too impressive in static screenshots, the game’s technical effects were pretty impressive in motion. With a full playfield rotation effect and transparent objects to be found, this spin on Taito’s classic puzzler Cameltry was an impressive Amiga game. It earned some good reviews, too – 80% each from The One and CU Amiga, 82% from CVG and 85% each from Amiga Action and Amiga Power.