Big Bob's Drive-In

Big Bob's Drive-In

Release type: Shareware
Release date: 1992
Levels: 5
Author: Sherwood Forest
Registration bonus: Free game or two + current catalog
Registration price: $15
Related games: none

A top-down arcade action game, controlled with the arrow keys and the space bar. Big Bob’s Drive-In has a 1950s diner setting, which rationalizes attacks as food orders and monsters as customers. As with several Sherwood Forest titles, Big Bob's is a difficult game to play. The controls are less than intuitively mapped. The levels are enormous and labyrinthine, with few markings to lead the player forward. At least the enemies stick to easy-to-predict patterns, unlike some of their other games.

Big Bob's also exhibits Sherwood's trademark copy-paste level design, where several or all of a game's levels are exactly the same aside from enemy placement and perhaps a few small features.

The visuals at least are stylized and charming. The premise, defending one's self by satisfying customers, is unusual. In a way it's a shame that the execution comes off so poorly, as there's a glimmer of inspiration in here.

Story

The time, the mid-fifties. The place, Big Bob's Drive-In. The job, feed the customers.

You are Skatin Stacy, the top waitress at Big Bob's Drive-In. It is a busy night here at Big Bob's, and the customers are everywhere.

You have to see that all the people get the food that they want, and make sure to satisfy all the customers. If they get a hold of you, they will take you for a spin that you might not enjoy.

Instructions

Giving orders in Big Bob's Drive-In

The object of the game is to successfully make it through all five screens of the game the screens consist of the drive-in known as Big Bob's as well as the parking lot. You start in the entrance way of Big Bob's, and travel all the way to the flashing star in the parking lot on field five.

You can move Stacy by using the four main arrow keys. You must satisfy the many customers in the drive-in by dropping food in their path to stop them. You can do this by pushing the following keys:

• S: Soda
• F: French fries
• H: Hamburgers
• B: Super burger

Some customers are not too particular what they get, just about anything will be satisfying to them. Some of the customers want some of the food, and not the other. So you must be careful what you give them. also you have a limited supply of all items so be conserevative with your food or you will not have enough to finish the game.

In the last screen (the parking lot, you will be given super burgers, these are the only defense against the cars you must face down as you search for the shining star that lets you win the game.

Good luck, and have fun.

Credits

Big Bob's Drive-In is another fine game from the nut bunch at Sherwood Forest Software.

The current line-up is (as always), Rob Sherwood, Dan Whalen, and the Zoo Crew that tests all these games before we ship them.

Availability

Available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs, including:

• Public Software Library's PSL Monthly: November 1993 (November 1993),
• The Chicago Computer Broker's Games 1994 (April 1994),
• Public Software Library's PSL Monthly #2-07: Games (July 1994),
• Adventures in Heaven 2 (1994),
• Software Vault: Platinum (1994),
• Software Vault: The Ruby Collection (1994),
• Software Vault: Games 2 (January 1995),
• Public Software Library's PSL Monthly Volume #3-01: Games (January 1995),
• Softkey Shareware 2000 Hit Games (January 1995),
• Public Software Library's PSL Monthly #3-10: Education (August 1995),
• Game Empire (1995),
• Public Software Library's PSL Monthly #4-08: Games, Sound (1996),
• Softkey Entertainment Pack (1996), and
• International Software Values' 10 Tons of Games Mega Collection 1 (June 1997).

Archive History

Big Bob's Drive-In was added to the archive on July 25, 2010. It was located on one of several shovelware CD-ROMs hosted on cd.archive.org (see #Availability), during ongoing research for the Game-Maker Archive article series at DIYGamer.

Links

Interviews / Articles

• Cut-and-Paste Opportunism (DIYGamer) (archived)
• Big Bob's Drive-In (Nap'n'Retrogaming)

Listings

• MobyGames entry
• archive.org entry
• demu.org entry
• My Abandonware entry
• old-games.com entry

Misc. Links

• Chili Con Comrades vs. Big Bob's Drive-In (YouTube)
• Shovelware Diggers #50 - Everything is Broken (YouTube)
• Play Big Bob's Drive-In online

Downloads

• Big Bob's Drive-In (146.6 kB)
• Level 1 map (125.1 kB)
• Level 2 map (127.9 kB)
• Level 3 map (188.0 kB)
• Level 4 map (188.8 kB)
• Level 5 map (93.2 kB)