As a mama pig whose piglets have been abducted by a bunch of mean ol' wolves, you're trying to splatter as many wolves as you can. They descend from a tree with balloons, and if you fail to shoot them down at this point, they climb up the tree you're hanging from and try to bite your butt. (Konami, 1982)

Pooyan is a wonderfully fun and funny little game, with its almost obscenely cute little piggies and wolves. Like many other cutesy games of the same era, namely Pengo and Blueprint, Pooyan almost seems to have been designed to take advantage of the character marketing mine that Pac-Man and Donkey Kong unearthed. But at its most basic, Pooyan is sliding shooter game turned at a 90-degree angle.

Pooyan, in Atari 2600 form, was the first attempt by arcade manufacturer Konami to infiltrate the home video game market - and it was one of the last, as the cartridge was released just in time for the great home video game industry crash.

Rating:  Three quarters - worth repeat play, but with some annoying features that might alienate less patient arcade veterans.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster