Arcade / Arcade - Collect'em! · 1982

Buried Bucks

Published by ANALOG Software

atarimania.com — atari-400-800-xl-xe-games-buried-bucks-844

Information

Genre: Arcade - Collect'em!
Language: Machine Language
Controls: Joystick
Players: 1
Programmer(s): Hudson, Tom
Year: 1982
Publisher: ANALOG Software
Country: USA
License: Commercial
Medium: Tape, Disk

Votes / Statistics

Rating: 7.0/10 · Votes: 33 · Downloads: 2,470 · Hits: 13,081

Additional Comments

Missing original disk image!

Thanks to Fred_M and Kr0tki for help in dumping the cassette.

Screenshots (2)

Cover Art (1)

Ads (1)

The Explosive New Game From Analog Software · 1983

Book / Magazine Reviews (1)

Electronic Fun · October, 1983 · Rating: 2,5 / 4

Buried Buck$ is a fine example of an unfortunate trend-placing originality before quality game play. There simply must be some reasonable middle ground between all the Pac-Guys and Protectors other than something as far-fetched as digging for bags of money by dropping bombs from a helicopter. Of course, all would have been forgiven if it had been a good game, but it isn't.

You are the pilot of a helicopter, whose job is to mine for $. You do this (stage left) in your funny little orange helicopter, and looking for big gold $ signs. You then dig for them by making a hole in the ground with your trusty bombs and then flying down to retrieve them by touching them. Your life is complicated by a big fat plane which drops clods of dirt which will bury you if you are unlucky enough to be caught under one of them. They will also fill any hole located under them. r• Your only other obstacles are rocks which obstruct your digging. To get past them, you use the gun mounted in the front of the helicopter. As the levels get higher the dirt gets faster, and the rocks become more numerous.

This is a cute premise with no promise. My main complaint is that this game is boring. It goes too quickly from ridiculously easy to impossible, and along the way it completely fails to capture your attention or provide excitement for any prolonged gameplay. The sound effects leave something to be desired, too. The graphics are good, but graphics can only enhance a game, not make it into a good one.

Don't overestimate the dirt. On the easier level there is enough time to go into a tunnel and come back up before the dirt gets you.

Comments (7)

The Big M — 20 Sept 2022
First impressions are poor simple graphics. Yet this game has some really neat touches. From the title song to the cool explosions and sound of the helicopter. Gameplay is king and this game rocks! 10 out of 10 for me. We're in the money!
dbb — 23 Apr 2015
I spent a lot of time playing this game and while it is very simplistic and unrealistic that isn't the point of the game. The game is a time waster and that is it. It is fun and addictive for a while with out a complicated story or controllers to slow you up.
Punkydudester — 21 Dec 2014
This game I would play when I needed a break from the rest. Not bad but not great.
Ernie Moore Jr. — 24 Feb 2012
Interesting you should mention boring, because that's where I get the fun. I play games so they are interesting to watch. Games are tools for learning-and investigating limits--resource management and Thought to physical execution. For those still reading, strategizing and timing your plan implimentation...the oh sh..ucks it's not working-out, is interesting and exciting to me and at least one other. I suppose as with at least a few other things, how you deliver might matter. If you can bomb decoy holes deep and multiple tunnels to surface on the other side of the screen and it's Yawn, O.K. But I like this game at my current understanding of play.-Ernie Moore Jr.
Tomasz Tatar — 24 Sept 2007
This game is probably the one on which I've spent the most time on my Atari 65 XE and later on emulators. It is extremely addictive. It does not become impossible (at least up to about 12th level), but needs some strategy. For example, sometimes it is better to let bucks drop from a board to complete level then to retrieve it when it is too difficult. Regards to all Buried Buck$ maniacs!
Thomas Smailus — 17 Jan 2006
Buried Bucks is one of the great classic games I played many years on my Atari 800 and still do these days, when I drag out the Atari. The game premise is simple - but the complaint that the game stinks is misplaced. The beauty in many of the simplest of games is the simplicity - that lets you focus on the game play without being overwhelmed by lots of superfluous junk. There is a lot of strategy, agility and timing in those $ and falling dirt.
martin — 20 Jun 2004
this is so pretty and chillout like a Bill Williams game. rescue the dollars and dont get dumped on. there is a follow-up called Chopper Hunt with a few enhancements