Make Trax

Make Trax
Developer(s)	Alpha Denshi
Publisher(s)	Kural Samno Electric (Arcade, JP) Williams Electronics (Arcade, NA) Karateco/Exidy (Arcade, EU) SNK (Neo Geo Pocket Color)
Platform(s)	Arcade, Neo Geo Pocket Color
Release	1981
Genre(s)	Maze game
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns

Make Trax, known in Japan as Crush Roller (クラッシュローラー, Kurasshu Rōrā), is a Template:Vgy arcade game developed by Alpha Denshi and published by Kural Samno Electric in Japan. It was later licensed for North American release to Williams Electronics, and in Europe to both Karateco and Exidy. It has been also remaked for Neo Geo Pocket Color always by ADK, and released worldwide by SNK under its original name Crush Roller in 1999.

Gameplay

Make Trax is a maze game in which the player controls a paintbrush and must paint the entire layout in order to advance to the next stage. Two fish – one yellow, the other light-blue – emerge from separate aquariums to pursue the paintbrush around the board, and if either of the fish succeeds in making contact with the paintbrush, the player loses one of three lives.

The player may use two "rollers" to attack the fish. They are located on two overpasses, one vertical in its orientation, the other horizontal. To use them, the player positions the paintbrush on its forward end, waits for either or both of the fish to approach, then pushes the paintbrush along the roller, attacking the fish. The fish is removed from the maze for a few seconds, then returns to one of the aquariums and resumes its pursuit of the paintbrush. Killing fish in this manner scores bonus points.

The fish initially are dumb, but as time goes on they get "smarter" learning to avoid the roller when the paintbrush nears it, and develop strategies to trap the player between them.

A third character, appearing to be an animal, rolling tire, or invisible man depending on the level, may enter the maze and leave tracks that must be painted over in order for the board to be completed. The player can limit the damage by running over the figure, which not only stops further tracks from being left but also awards the player a score, which progressively increases as more boards are cleared.

Variant

Some time after its release, was added a "speedup chip" allowing to move faster the paintbrush (but not the fish). It was accorded the name Make Trax Turbo.

Unlicensed Famicom clones

Title	Release date	Developer	Publisher	Notes
Brush Roller	1990	Hwang Shinwei	Many Publishers	The player starts with nine lives plus 200 time seconds available, and besides attacking the fish, the scores are also obtainable through the remaining time sum once painted the layout. Finally, the main game theme is an 8-bit version of Dana's "All Kinds of Everything" (also used in Magic Jewelry).
Bookyman	1991	NTDEC	NTDEC	A Brush Roller hack, later included on 1992's Caltron 6 in 1 multicart. Here changed all the maze animated images (in addition to music and intro), and the paintbrush plus the two fish were respectively replaced by an insect and by two frogs.

External links

Make Trax at the Killer List of Videogames