Universal

I have been searching for info on one of gaming's early arcade developers, Universal. Does anyone know exactly what happened to this company? I don't think they made any games past 1985 so I'm guessing they went bankrupt but maybe they had a name change or were bought up. The only info I have is the list at http://www.klov.com/manuf_detail.php...ame_id=&sort=3

Anyway, they made some good stuff in the early '80s. I enjoyed these games:

Mr Do!(1982)
This was probably Universal's biggest success. There were several games in the series including a 1996 Neo Geo game by Visco.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...M/xMr._Do!.png

Space Panic(1980)
This is pretty significant in that it's a "ladder climbing" game that predates Donkey Kong. As a kid I had a clone of it called Apple Panic on my Vic 20. Space Panic has a nice Coleco port too.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...pace_Panic.png

Ladybug(1981)
This also was ported to Coleco.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/.../wLady_Bug.png

Snap Jack(1982)
I never played this one until emulation but it's neat stuff. It's like a side-scrolling Pac-Man in that you have to gobble dots. You can extend your legs up and down.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...wSnap_Jack.png

Any Universal fans here?

Quote:

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Universal released one animated
laserdisc game called "Super Don Quixote," which I never saw. They had
planned to release several games on laserdisc, among them was "Adventure
Mr. Do!". I can only assume that Universal went belly-up shortly after
their first laser game was released, and that killed any chance of the
fifth Do! game ever seeing the light of day.

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http://www.mrdo.com/mrdo/mrdofaq.txt

It's a clue at least.

I used to love playing Dig Dug as a kid till that one day I came across a Mr. Do! cabinet.

Which came first, Mr. Do! or Dig Dug? I love Dig Dug but have never played Mr. Do! Dig Dug get all the glory.

I'm pretty sure that Dig Dug came first. I think Mr. Do is leagues better though. I played Mr. Do religously on my Colecovision back in the day. Damn, I loved that game, and that system.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

I have been searching for info on one of gaming's early arcade developers, Universal. Does anyone know exactly what happened to this company? I don't think they made any games past 1985 so I'm guessing they went bankrupt but maybe they had a name change or were bought up.

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I really don't know what happened to them for sure. In recent years, I've seen many slot machines in casinos that have a Universal logo on them, which resembles the Universal logo used on the old video games that you mentioned.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Son of Bryce

Which came first, Mr. Do! or Dig Dug?

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Good question. They were both released the same year.

I used to play a lot of Mr. Do at my Aunt's house on her colecovision. Good times.

Great thread Neo, as per usual.

I wonder if Universal was bought out by Visco, considering they were the ones who released Neo Mr. Do! for the MVS. The name Visco never materialized until after Universal quit appearing on arcade cabs.