If you are looking for a game that is just about as close to an
original arcade version on your ColecoVision, you owe it to yourself to find yourself a
copy of Lady Bug. This game is not to be found on any other home system. Originally
made in 1981 by Universal (remember Mr. Do?), this was a pretty obscure game in the
arcade.
The premise of this game is pretty simple: You are a Lady Bug gathering points and avoiding the insects. Sounds a little like Pac-Man you say? Yes. When you first you see Lady Bug, it might be considered to be a direct rip-off. The feature that makes this supposed rip-off shine is that the maze constantly changes as you move. Using the turnstiles changes the maze and if used effectively, they also block the pursuit of the insects.
Points are scored by eating 'dots' (actually small X's), collecting hearts and letters and getting the vegetable hidden under all 4 insects in the center of the maze. There are also skulls scattered throughout the maze which, if hit by either the evil insects or yourself, results in instant death! The hearts, which must be collected while blue, multiplies the rest of your scoring for the level from 2X, 3X and finally to 5X. The letters, which cycle from red, yellow, then blue, are used to spell certain words. Spelling EXTRA - Yellow Letters, will score you an extra man. The SPECIAL - Red Letters, will give you a free romp in a Vegetable Harvest Bonus Screen - a chance for LOADS of extra points. These EXTRA and SPECIAL are also found on other Universal games including Mr. Do and all of the sequels!
You'll notice as you play, the moving border clockwise around the screen. This is the TIMING BORDER which governs just how fast the insects come out of the center. As you progress, level to level, this gets insanely fast! Before you know it, the insects are coming out every 5 seconds! Just play it and you'll find out :)
Amazingly, the standard ColecoVision controller does not interfere much with gameplay and responds fairly well. (depending on your sticks, your results may vary) Perhaps I am a little biased when it comes to Pac-Man style games, but I enjoy them and I'm very sure you will enjoy Lady Bug. I strongly suggest you find this game for your own collection or play it on an emulator. You will NOT be sorry.
