How to play Upān Down online
- Speed up / slow down: up and down arrow keys
- Turn left or right at a fork: left and right arrow keys
- Jump: Space bar
- Second player: T/G to speed up and slow down, F/H to turn, A to jump (players take turns)
- Choose one or two players: F11 (the consoleās Select switch)
- Start a new game: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Easy or exact jumps: F4 (left difficulty switch)
- Five or three buggies: F9 (right difficulty switch)
Gameplay
The road scrolls down the screen and splits and rejoins as you go, so you are always choosing which branch to take. Flags are placed along the course. Drive over all eight and you move on to the next road, which is harder to survive than the last; the manual counts up to road nine. Cherries, balloons, lollipops and ice cream cones give extra points.
Other vehicles share the road with you. Running into one destroys your buggy, and so does jumping off the road. Landing on top of a vehicle, though, flattens it and scores points. The jump has two limits: the buggy can only jump while it is moving forward, and it only jumps straight up, so you cannot leap sideways onto another branch of the road.
| What you get | Points |
|---|---|
| Cherry | 50 |
| Balloon | 65 |
| Lollipop | 70 |
| Flag or ice cream cone | 75 |
| Land on a pick-up truck | 100 |
| Land on a flag carrier | 125 |
| Land on a Camaro | 150 |
| Land on a truck | 175 |
With the left difficulty switch on B, jumps are forgiving until round 4; on A they must be exact from the start. The right switch gives you five buggies on B and three on A. The game ends when the last one is gone.
Tips
- Keep moving forward. You cannot jump while reversing or standing still, so braking hard can leave you with no escape.
- Jump onto the big vehicles. Trucks and Camaros are worth more than twice a flag, so landing on them is the fastest way to build a score.
- Plan your branch early. Since jumps go straight up, pick the fork with the flag you need before you reach it.
History
Sega released Upān Down in Japanese arcades in September 1983, and Bally Midway brought it to North America in 1984. The 2600 cartridge followed in October 1984. AtariAge credits it to the developer Beck-Tech, with programming by Phat Ho. The home version is simpler: you collect eight flags per round instead of the arcadeās ten, and the music was rearranged to fit the consoleās limited sound chip. Other versions appeared on the ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Apple II and Atari 8-bit computers. The 2600 cartridge is very rare today.
