Snapper (video game)

"Snapper" is a computer game written by Jonathan Griffiths for the BBC Micro and released as one of the launch titles for Acornsoft in 1982. It was later released as one of the launch titles for the Acorn Electron in 1983.

The game is a faithful clone of the Namco arcade game "Pac-Man". In development, the game was titled "Puc Man" (also the working title of the original Namco game) but the name was changed before release to avoid legal action. However, the initial release of the game was so close to "Pac Man" (including the design of the game's characters) that this version had to be withdrawn and re-released with the characters changed. The player's character became a round yellow face with very short legs wearing a green cowboy hat and the ghosts became skinny humanoid monsters.

As in "Pac-Man", bonus items such as fruit would sometimes appear in the centre of the screen. The highest-scoring bonus item was an acorn, a reference to the publishers.

The game ran very smoothly, making it a popular release of the time. A double-speed clip can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1C8aYKYfY&watch_response here] . When Snapper was killed, he would shrink and turn into small lines pointing in all directions.