Bank Panic is a 1984 Arcade Game by Sega set in the Old West.
You play a gun-wielding bank guard stationed in a bank with twelve doors; you can rotate through to the left or right to view three doors at a time. The doors contained: a customer who would make a deposit; a robber who tried to kill you and rob the bank; a boy with hats you'd have to shoot (the hats, not the boy); or a bomb. You lost a life if you shot a customer, got shot by a robber, let a bomb go off or ran out of time. A round ends when deposits are successfully made at all 12 doors. Later levels were harder as some of the robbers took two hits to kill, dodged your shots, or would take customers hostage.
An interesting quirk with the robbers: when you encountered them, a timer would count up to 0:30 and then down to 0:00. If you shot them while the timer was running, the kill was considered "FAIR" and you got more points depending on how close you were to 0:00. If you shot them before the timer appeared, the kill was considered "UNFAIR" and you received very few points but were otherwise not penalized.
The game only got ported to the SG-1000 and Sega Master System but no other home consoles.
Not to be confused with an actual bank panic
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Tropes Included:
- Ash Face: Happens to the hero if he lets a bomb go off by failing to shoot the fuse in time, complete with Symbol Swearing.
- Bank Robbery: The object is to shoot the robbers, not the legitimate customers.
- Cartoon Bomb: Occasionally appears and you have to shoot it before it detonates and costs you a life.
- Celebrating the Heroes: When you successfully complete a level, all three doors on the screen open to reveal the townspeople cheering for you.
- Good Wears White: Your character is a bank guard, dressed in a white suit and hat with a blue vest and red neckerchief.
- Honor Before Reason: The aforementioned timer. Shooting a robber during the timer before he draws on you nets you more points; being a Combat Pragmatist by drawing and shooting before the timer earns you fewer points.
- Hostage Spirit-Link: When you accidentally shoot a customer, he/she immediately sits up, bullet hole on the forehead still oozing blood, and angrily proceeds to show you a "wanted" poster to school you on what a real criminal looks like. It's actually pretty funny, except for the fact that you lose a life, of course.
- Impact Silhouette: Getting shot by a robber results in you flying back into the wall and leaving a human-shaped hole in the paintwork, showing the brickwork underneath.
- 1-Up: Could be earned by reaching score thresholds, or by spelling the word EXTRA (shooting a red-shirted robber when the timer showed 0:00 awarded one letter at a time).
- Public Domain Soundtrack: Folk song "Dixie" plays during the game.
- Stock Money Bag: How the customers deposit their money.
- Timed Mission: You lose a life if the timer runs out.
- The Wild West: The setting of the game.
