How to play Scrapyard Dog online
- Walk: left and right arrow keys
- Jump: Z (hold it longer to jump higher)
- Throw a can: X
- Use a special weapon: down arrow plus X
- Knock on doors, answer the phone, enter sewer pipes: up arrow
- Start: X on the title screen shows Mr. Big’s first message, X again starts play
- Pause: F4. New game: F2 (Select)
- Change the background music: F5 (left difficulty switch)
Gameplay
A gang led by Mr. Big has kidnapped Scraps and wants the deed to Louie’s junkyard as ransom. Louie has other plans: follow the gang’s instructions from checkpoint to checkpoint, find their hideout and get his dog back. The game has six rounds. Each of the first five has a Junkyard, a City and a Sewer level. The last round has no sewer and ends in Mr. Big’s warehouse. You have a time limit to reach the phone at the end of each level, where the next instructions wait.
Louie starts with five cans and one shield. A shield absorbs one hit from an enemy or obstacle, but it does not help if you fall. Mice, rats, birds and gangsters can be hit with cans or flattened by jumping on them, and squashed enemies can leave money, cans, clocks (30 extra seconds) or hearts (an extra life). Bouncing tires and basketballs can only be destroyed with a bomb, so you usually have to dodge them.
Shops are hidden in dumpsters, behind city doors and at the end of some sewer pipes. There you can sell spare cans for cash, or buy extra lives, shields, extra time, bombs that clear the whole screen, and super cans that home in on enemies by themselves. Bonus rooms add mini-games: a piano room where Louie repeats a tune by jumping on the keys, an office where three prizes appear one at a time, and a sewer room where you must pick the right pipes.
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Can, clock or money bag picked up | 25 |
| Mouse or rat | 100 |
| Gangster | 200 |
| Bird, tire, basketball or hydrant | 500 |
| Each second left at the end of a round | 50 |
Tips
- Run under bouncing hazards. Learn the rhythm of tires and basketballs. Passing beneath them is easier than jumping over.
- Use super cans on birds. Flying enemies are hard to hit with normal cans.
- Recycle, but not everything. Selling spare cans pays for shields and bombs, but always keep a few to throw.
- Keep knocking. City doors open only after a full knocking pattern. If you stop, even to dodge a rat, you have to start again.
- Free cans on Eisenhower Lane. In level 1-2, stand at the end of the ledge you start under, with part of your head still beneath it, and jump three times for extra cans.
The story behind Scrapyard Dog
Scrapyard Dog was an original game made for the 7800 by BlueSky Software, which also made Motor Psycho, Ninja Golf and Basketbrawl for the system. It came out in 1990 in the last batch of 7800 games Atari released. A year later Atari released an Atari Lynx version, made by Creative Software Designs with music by John Foley. The Lynx game is much bigger, with 33 stages against the 7800’s 17.
Later reviewers have been fairly positive. They liked its run-down city setting and its surprises, such as the shops and bonus rooms, but some found certain jumps unfairly hard.
