Shoei 1981 (KLOV entry)

Reviewed by Nathan Strum

Streaking may have been the first "adult" arcade video game. However, with its terrible, primitive graphics, even that dubious distinction fails to generate even a puerile interest in it.

Streaking is a Pac-Man rip-off - plain and simple. In the game, you play a woman dressed initially only in underpants, running around a maze trying to avoid police, who are presumably trying to arrest you for indecent exposure. If they catch you three times, the game is over.

The maze is filled with what appear to be pills. Your goal is to grab them all up.
In the four corners of the screens are large dots that will teleport you to one of the other corners of the maze.

As you progress through the maze, a Fatigue meter increases. If you're in an area with no pills, it climbs rapidly. If you're grabbing pills, it will go down. If it goes all the way up - you lose a life.

Periodically, an article of clothing will appear at the top of the screen. If you can grab it before it vanishes, it will appear on your character.

The game is almost painful to play. The player moves agonizingly slow, and the sound is grating. The graphics are terrible, and completely unsuited for a game with this kind of theme. It's reminiscent of the so-called "adult" video games for the Atari 2600. Only the most desperate mind would find anything of interest here.

In the movie Joy Sticks, an apparent clone of Streaking (credited to Computer Kinetics Corporation) is played in several scenes, and is referred to as "Strip Video" (or "Stripper Video Game" in the credits).

Since I'd seen Joy Sticks prior to Streaking being added to MAME, I was shocked when the game showed up on the MAME WIP page. I had no idea it existed beyond the movie. Given the little information that's available about the game, it's unlikely that it was ever widely distributed.

There are several apparent differences in "Strip Video". The player can be either male or female. The character starts out clothed, and loses clothes as the game progresses (as do the characters in the movie). The gameplay also seems considerably faster, and there is no Fatigue meter, both of which would have helped Streaking considerably. Finally, the color palette is different, but this could be attributed to an incomplete MAME driver.

At first, I was unsure which game came first, but it seems most likely to be Streaking, since its copyright date (1981) is earlier than Joy Sticks (which was filmed in at least 1982). Besides, streaking was a big fad in the 1970's and is a likely candidate for a video game. Conversely, playing a game of "Strip Video" in an arcade probably would have been frowned upon by the owners, although it probably would have been a huge hit on college campuses. Given that the "Strip Video" version was probably made exclusively for Joy Sticks, it's unlikely to ever turn up in MAME, which is just as well. Either game is terrible, and hardly worth the effort it would take to preserve them.

Offhand, I can't think of a worse Pac-Man rip-off than Streaking, or for that matter - a worse arcade game. And considering there are over 3000 games in MAME, that's saying a lot.

Rating

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