BurgerTime
1982 · Action · Arcade
Overview
BurgerTime is an arcade video game by Data East released in 1982. According to a former Data East programmer, the game was designed in-house but the development itself was outsourced to another company.
Deep Dive
BurgerTime is an arcade video game by Data East released in 1982. According to a former Data East programmer, the game was designed in-house but the development itself was outsourced to another company.
Developer Story
BurgerTime was developed by Data East in 1982. Players controlled chef Peter Pepper who built burgers by walking over ingredients to drop them onto lower levels, while being chased by living food enemies. The game's absurdist food-based theme and the mechanic of using pepper spray as a weapon gave it a distinct personality. It was one of the most ported games of the early 1980s.
Did You Know?
- BurgerTime's enemies — Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg, and Mr. Pickle — were the ingredients that chef Peter Pepper was using, rebelling against their own consumption.
- The pepper weapon was limited — players had a finite supply, making each use a meaningful decision.
- Walking over ingredient strips caused them to fall — timing drops to crush multiple enemies simultaneously was the core skill.
- The game's food theme made it one of the most distinctive and recognisable arcade games of 1982.
