and a webgame version that was previously distributed by Midway before it was discontinued.Rampage is the first game in the series of the same game by Midway, when it was owned by Bally, and enabled up to three people to play as George, Ralph, and Lizzie, each having been mutated differently from people to monsters, George (Player One) when he consumed a mutagenic Mega-Vitamin, Lizzie (Player 2) when she dove into a mutagenic lake, and Ralph (Player 3) when he ate a dubious hot dog he created for business purposes. Each will travel across the United States of America, starting in Peoria where they began their rampage where they wreck cities across over 700 levels where the monsters scale buildings and wreck them and eat people hiding within them until all buildings present are reduced to rubble.
The police and the army are out to stop the monsters where they shoot their guns or launch explosives, either from the ground, in the buildings, or from armed vehicles such as tanks, cop cars, and helicopters. Lightning can also zap your monsters on the behalf of God who tries to stop the rampage in outrage at the destruction caused by the monsters. Monsters can also clobber eachoter as well. Once the health bar is reduced to zero, the beast is reduced to their original human form, naked and vulnerable as they try to flee the scene or get Eaten Alive, unless a credit is used and they revert back into a monster and even then, a flying craft will bring the monster back onto the stage.
The game saw various home releases such as the Sega Master System, the DOS, Atari 8-Bit Computers, the ZX Spectrum, the Apple ][, the Commodore 64, the Atari ST, the Amiga the Atari 2600, the Amstrad CPC the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Atari 7800 and the list goes on. It also saw release on compilations like Midway Arcade Treasures 1 and Midway Arcade Origins.
Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: As one of the first monsters, George is known as George the Gorilla.
- Ascended to Carnivorism: Toyed with when George became both a gorilla and a man-eater despite gorillas not eating humans, but he was once a man actually.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: As the first game, it just consisted of the tower-size George, Ralph, and Lizzie.
- Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: In the original game, each of the three monsters fall under this. George is the balanced one, Lizzie is the speedy one, and Ralph is the strong one.
- Black Comedy: It's mostly downplayed in the original, as the mere premise of playing as a giant monster who smashes buildings and eats people was absurd in and of itself.
- Carnivorous Healing Factor: Dating back to this game, the monsters can regain health by eating people.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Most ports to non-arcade systems can let you continue by reverting your monster back from a human with one button press.
- Defeat by Modesty: If a monster is defeated he or she will revert back into a human, cover him or herself, and scurry off the screen while naked and vulnerable with one bite from an active monster being needed to end their life/lives.
- Endless Game: The game continues without any sign of an ending.
- Failure-Induced Transformation: Once a monster is defeated, it reverts into a naked and vulnerable human who covers up his or her private zones before scurrying off with the worst case scenario being Eaten Alive.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: When male monsters revert back into human men, they position their hands at their groins to hide their iffy bits before scurrying off. For Lizzie, she just uses one arm for hiding her bottom bits and covers her breasts with the other.
- Mutants: All three monsters were once people, but each is different on how they became mutants unlike later games, such as George becoming a Killer Gorilla when he ate a flawed Mega-Vitamin, Lizzie diving into a contaminated lake and emerging as a Not Zilla, and Ralph becoming a wolf monster after eating a hot dog he planned to sell after use of dubious ingredients in its recipe.
- Naked Vulnerability: The first instance of the trope in the franchise. Each monster reverts back into their human form naked after a Game Over, leaving them open to be eaten by a monster who is still a monster.
- No Ending: The destruction simply goes on and on and on and on…
- Shout-Out:
- In the original Rampage there were certain people that the monsters could hold in their hand for a short time. George's resembled that girl from King Kong.
- In the Atari Lynx port of the original, the newspaper may mention one of the monsters eating a "pizza-lovin' plumber."
- Skewed Priorities: In the Arcade original, sometimes the between-level newspapers will say an ex-mutant was arrested…for streaking. It's implied this was right after they finished causing millions of dollars in property damage and eating numerous people.
- The Smurfette Principle: Lizzie is the only female monster in the game.
- Subliminal Seduction: Parodied in the Atari Lynx version.There are no (Buy a Lynx) subliminal messages (Or two) in this game (Buy a Lynx).
- Version-Exclusive Content: The Atari Lynx port of the arcade game added a fourth monster, Larry the Lab Rat, to take advantage of the four-player capability of the system. He's never been seen in any other sequel, being replaced by Curtis and Rhett.
- Wrap Around: In the original game, but only when hitting another player off the side of the screen.