Toppler

Toppler is a video game in the action genre developed by Locis and published by Locis originally released in 1990. It is currently playable on DOS.

Perestroika (also known as Toppler) is a fun game from a small Russian developer called Locis, which quickly disappeared after this 'one hit wonder'.

What makes the game interesting and historically valuable is not only its great gameplay, but the fact that it works on two levels: as a game and as a subliminal instrument of Russian propaganda (okay, this is a joke, folks, don't take it too seriously ;)).

The player plays a frog who must jump from one water lily to another to reach the goal before the water lilies sink under water. At the same time, you must avoid the big ugly flies that chase you around the screen and devour you. The game represents three elements of the Russian Perestroika movement: the citizens, the bureaucrats, and the capitalists. I'm not going to say which element of the game represents which, let's see if you can figure it out ;) Suffice it to say that you will build a democracy in Russia by the time the game is over.

Overall, Perestroika is a fun little action game that manages to get a political message across. If you like the game, check out Toppler for Windows, an excellent fan-made remake of the game, also on this site. If you don't like political messages in games, ignore the connotations and play Perestroika for what it is at heart: a fun, unpretentious action game. Recommended, although it's a shame that the game is very difficult to get running on Pentiums and above.

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