Zoo Keeper

Released: 1982

Pitch: Help the zoo keeper recapture animals and rescue his girlfriend.

Zoo Keeper is a strange game. As the zoo keeper, you run around the outside of a large rectangle, repairing bricks as you run. Animals escape from the cage in the middle. If they are trapped inside the bricks, the animals bounce around and destroy the bricks, Breakout-style. If they are on the outside, they just run like you and will kill you if you touch them but you have a floaty jump to get over them. A timer ticks down and the level ends when when it finishes. Near the end you can get a net power up to get outside animals back inside. You get points for any animals inside when the timer ends. Sound weird? There are also a couple kinds of bonus levels, including one to rescue your girlfriend. It's not a bad game but it really shows its age. It doesn't hold up terribly well.