Bigtop Barney

Bigtop Barney is a video game in the action genre and published by Interceptor Software originally released in 1985. It is currently playable on Commodore 64.

You are Barney the clown and your goal is to entertain the circus audience with four acts, each one more difficult than the previous one. You can select any act to play, as well as the number of lives (1-8), the difficulty (1-3) and the score you receive an extra life from 20000 to 40000 increasing by 5000. The acts you perform are all seen from one side and are:

Act 1: You have to walk a tightrope for 100m within a time limit from left to right with the screen constantly scrolling and you can move left or right. Monkeys and fire rings appear. You have to jump over the monkeys and go through the hoops, but you can go under some hoops. There are also money bags that you can jump over and collect, but on higher difficulty they turn into golden eggs that can hatch if you don't collect them by releasing a bird. If you touch the monkey, bird or fire, you lose a life.

Act 2: You have to collect ten balloons in this single-screen platformer while avoiding being touched by the strongman, Otto, who wanders around the screen. Some platforms appear and disappear but you can fall one level, if you fall further then you lose a life. In addition to the steps to climb you can jump to a higher level but only through the gaps that appear. If you touch Otto or jump to a platform then you lose a life.

Act 3: You ride a unicycle and have to ride 100 meters within a time limit from right to left with the screen scrolling constantly but you can move left or right. Wooden platforms appear, some high enough to pass under, but to score points you must jump over them to land on top of your unicycle. If you jump off the unicycle and land on it without jumping onto a platform, you lose a life. You also lose a life if you jump or hit a platform.

Act 4: The final act is a single screen and sees you bouncing on one of three trampolines where you can jump from one to another, but you must watch out for fire coming up from the fire eaters between the trampolines. There are platforms to jump on, conveyor belts to climb and two trapezes that you can pick up to swing across the screen. The idea is to get six keys to open the cage that holds Chester the Lion prisoner, and the keys appear in different parts of the screen.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.