Line #31 VideoGame/DodgeEm


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6	''Dodge 'Em'' is a 1980 driving game for the Platform/Atari2600, programmed by Carla Meninsky.
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8	The gameplay is very straightforward and simplistic, but also deceptively challenging. You're a car racing through five mazes, trying to grab all the dots in each one while dodging an opponent car. Your car can only travel counterclockwise and can't brake, but can switch one or two lanes when it finds an opening, and your only advantage over the opponent is a turbo button. Even scraping against your enemy car will cause the screen to reset. A few more deaths, and the game is over. The game comes with three multiplayer modes--one where your opponent is controlled by a second player, another which just alternates between you and your friend controlling the points car, and another which reverses who controls which car after each crash.
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10	Compare to the similar 1979 arcade game ''Head-On'', and the 1990 game ''VideoGame/DottoriKun'', which is similar in the sense that it's a [[SerialNumbersFiledOff complete and utter ripoff of this game.]]
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12	!Tropes:
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14	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
15	** Your computer opponents do not have their own turbo and can only change one lane at a time to ensure that you at least have a fair challenge. That said, the higher difficulty settings do increase their default speed.
16	** You can hold in the desired direction to change lanes ''before'' you reach a gap, which makes the switching faster. Also, you can switch two lanes if you arent using the turbo.
17	* ArtificialStupidity: The opponent's A.I. is very predictable--it never changes speeds, If it's in the same lane as the player, it stays in that lane, and if in a different lane as the player, it switches one lane closer at the nearest gap, and never more than that. The cramped maze actually makes this a disadvantage at first, but it is possible to predict the way enemies move and plan your way around them.
18	* AttractMode: The game probably has the shortest one ever for a game; it simply starts both the cars right off, which immediately meet at the top of the maze and crash head-on into each other.
19	* AwesomeButImpractical: Your turbo button may seem like a big help out of the starting gate, but it's also a double edged sword that should be used cautiously--due to the cramped nature of the maze making it very easy to get you bottlenecked into a head-on crash, it can just as easily cause you to crash into your opponent as it can help you evade him. Also, you can only move one lane instead of two if you're going fast.
20	* CarFu: Your opponents can freely use this on you, [[MyRulesAreNotYourRules but trying to do it yourself will cost you a life and reset the maze]], forcing you to play defense instead.
21	* CollisionDamage: How the enemy cars kill you.
22	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Your racer is colored orange while your opponents are colored blue.
23	* ColorCodedMultiplayer: When playing a two player game, the only difference between your cars is the color.
24	* ContinuingIsPainful: Dying resets the entire maze, forcing you to collect all the pellets again, and it also makes it impossible to get the highest score.
25	* CutAndPasteEnvironments: There is no difference between the five mazes except for the color scheme.
26	* DeadlyDodging: [[DefiedTrope Defied.]] Due to the identical speed and patterns the two opposing cars share and the way they're programmed to switch lanes, it's impossible to trick the two opposing cars into colliding into each other.
27	* DodgeByBraking: Also [[DefiedTrope defied]], as your vehicle can't brake or stop at all.
28	* DifficultyByAcceleration: The higher difficulty levels use this by speeding up your opponents.
29	* EndlessGame: Surprisingly, the game is ''[[SubvertedTrope not]]'' [[SubvertedTrope one]], unusual for an early video game. You lose a life every 5 mazes you complete, and you only have 3 total, so the maximum possible score is 1080 (it rolls over after 1000 and just leaves 80 points).
30	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It's a game where you dodge enemies, what else were you expecting?
31	* GameOver: Lose all three lives and it's back to square one. Otherwise...
32	* KillScreen: One occurs once you get 1080 points.
33	* MazeGame: It's like ''VideoGame/PacMan'', but with cars and no way of fighting back against your opponent.
34	* {{Minimalism}}: The game's spritework is primitive even by the rigid standards of the Atari 2600. There's a maze, two or three cars, pellets and a high score. That's all you get to see in the game.
35	* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Your computer opponents are free to crash head-on into you without repercussions, but trying to do the same costs you a life and resets the maze. It's impossible to trick your opponents into crashing into each other, so you can't use their own tactics against them.
36	* NoPlotNoProblem: There is no story or characters at all, not even in the manual. You're just a car racing for its life to grab as many dots as possible while dodging enemy cars to get a high score.
37	* OlderThanTheNES: By a few years, give or take.
38	* OneHitPointWonder: Your car dies instantly if it connects with the opposing cars.
39	* RedHerring: Despite what the holes on the edge of the screen might make you think, you can't use them to warp to the other side of the screen like Pac-Man. They're just there for decoration.
40	* ScoringPoints: The entire goal of the game. There's no story, no power ups, and no real ending, It's impossible to kill your enemies, so all you can do is stay on the defensive and grab as many dots as possible to get a high score.
41	* UnbuiltTrope: The game is a rare early instance of a video game that is ''not'' an EndlessGame, in that it is technically possible to complete it in a reasonably short time ([[NintendoHard assuming one has the skill to pull it off]]), though the game technically still lacks anything resembling an ending.

Context VideoGame / DodgeEm