# Talk:Berzerk (video game)

Was this one of the more popular Atari 2600 games?  I wasn't all that old when I got it, but now I think that it was, but I'm just not sure.
JesseG 00:05, May 27, 2005 (UTC)

I thought the game was great on the 2600, but I don't think it was a raging hit, either.--み使い Mitsukai 16:33, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm a little confused about how the game caused the players' deaths. Was it too intense or something? --NeuronExMachina 20:32, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
The player disintegrated (a la a phaser blast in Star Trek).  The article says "each level is designed to be more difficult to finish than the last", while my play experience doesn't indicate that at all-always seemed random.  The most challenging were the "bots in a box", where robots spawn in an inaccessible central room, requiring Evil Otto to come and kill them. John DiFool2
I think I read somewhere that the robots in the game were inspired by the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica (the 1970s version, obviously), and that the twirling eye was supposed to be invocative of the Cylon eye.  Anyone know anything about that?--み使い Mitsukai 16:33, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
Can someone find a source for the foreign language versions? In all the articles I've seen for the game, I've never seen this mentioned, and an Esperanto version seems pretty suspect. Doctor Nick 16:54, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
"In 1986, Stern Electronics and Evil Otto were mentioned as an unwholesome influence on children during the "Suicide Solution" lawsuit of Ozzy Osbourne along with Dungeons and Dragons, marijuana and Prince." = This statement seems irrelevant and I can wager most people have no idea what the "Suicide Solution" is. It should be removed. - anon

Agreed. At the very least, it should be moved to the "Problems and player death toll" section. Clayhalliwell 16:00, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
I removed it.  It had been in the article for months without being sourced.  If somebody has actual references to prove this was said, you may add it back in.  --Darth Borehd (talk) 01:26, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
I know this is nearly 15 years later, but I have added some sourced content to the player death information. Andrzejbanas (talk) 10:33, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

What is the significance of earning 910 points.  The article does not state so, just gives a strategy for doing so.
The source(s) of the information regarding "player death toll" need to be identified and properly cited (he said, nursing grave doubts that anything even remotely convincing would materialize.)

I feel I should point out the point brought up under the "910 points" section was placed here by Alan McNeil himself.  He doesn't really know how to use Wikipedia.  As he is the creator of this game, and feels your "death toll" is about 1 kid too high, perhaps someone should source it?  If not, I'm going to fix it for him. (Source: Alan McNeil himself.  Lives in Kalispell)SoheiFox (talk) 19:21, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
To specify, he is aware of Jeff, and sneds his condolence eternally to the family, but he does not know who this "Peter" person is.  As the only source listed is the MAWS, which really isn't a highly accurate source (commonly mislisting creator credits and such) that's not really a source.  I figure if in a couple of days nobody has posted a reputable source for this "Peter" person, I'll go ahead and wipe the fictional account from Wikipedia.  SoheiFox (talk) 19:26, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

You'd better look again. Peter Burkowski's death is not the one being refenced in MAWS, it is referenced in a 1982 article from Video Gamer magazine, an article that is properly cited here with a link to an electronic reprint of the original text. It is Jeff Dailey's death (the one you are not disputing) that is currently linked to a citation on MAWS. --Zequist (talk) 21:23, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Somewhere in season 3, DVD disk 2 I think, the workers are doing peer evaluations. Bill calls Dave "Evil Otto", then someone else calls Bill "Evil Otto". I am not sure if this is an official reference. Can anyone confirm that? I love Berzerk. :)
Ok, I think the episode is called Rose Bowl.
Mancomb 01:58, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
Come to think of it, there was a News Radio episode where Dave doesn't study for the SATs because he is too busy playing an arcade game where you have to save "humanoids". The description of the arcade game they play has obviously nothing to do with Berzerk but I do not think it is a coincidence that the word humanoid is used. I have a feeling the writers of the show played Berzerk. I am considering adding these references to the main article (I will mention that it is not verified as an official reference). If anyone objects, please let me know.
Mancomb 15:16, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
I have confirmed via the DVD commentary that it is a real reference to Berzerk by the writers of the show. In the commentary for Rose Bowl, around 15:50 one of the writers announces that it's a reference to Berzerk and other commentators laugh at him and say that the only people still listening to the commentary are the fans of the game and don't need to be told. Since I only listened to the commentary to confirm the reference, did I just prove them right? :)
Mancomb 15:44, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

"Chicken, fight like a robot": Heard when the player escapes a room without destroying every robot. 
It was "Chicken, fight like alien robot" wasn't it?   (actually it sounded more like "roblot" - wonderfully primative speech synthesis!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.75.166 (talk) 08:15, 25 October 2008 (UTC) 

No, it wasn't. Clayhalliwell (talk) 16:42, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

While the article has it as "Got the humanoid", I always heard this as "Delta humanoid, Delta intruder!", which is something of an in-joke (delta of course means a change in some quantity, hence the human has been "changed" to a disorganized cloud of atoms).  Puzzled me at the time, in my ignorant youth. John DiFool2 06:38, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Clever, but no, you misheard. Clayhalliwell (talk) 17:21, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

There is a track by The Aphex Twin (aka Richard D James) under his Caustic Window moniker entitled "Humanoid Must Not Escape"
It features several samples from the game, including the phrase "Humanoid Must Not Escape"
See this link for details and proof
http://www.last.fm/music/Caustic+Window/_/Humanoid+Must+Not+Escape
I think this should be added to the Songs section of teh article  —Preceding unsigned comment added by JoyrexJ9 (talk • contribs) 16:35, 1 April 2008 (UTC) 

There previously was information regarding the Aphex Twin sampling, but I've since removed it as it didn't really have a lot of context for anyone reading about Berzerk. The game has been referenced several times in pop culture (see above discussions) but that's probably something that better belongs in an article about the Aphex Twin release/song than here at the moment. Andrzejbanas (talk) 10:37, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

Right now the Features starts like this: 

Probably the best-remembered feature of Berzerk is that the robots talk. This was one of the first video games to use speech synthesis.
In 1980 computer voice compression was extremely expensive—estimates were that this cost the manufacturer US$1,000 per word; the English version had a thirty-word vocabulary. Stern nevertheless did not spare this expense, and some non-English versions were made, for example a Spanish version in which the robots would say "Intruso alerta" and "El humanoide no debe escapar,".[dubious – discuss]

Wouldn't expensive data-heavy voice that cost per amount stored be "voice recordings," as opposed to "synthesized speech?" Synth speech might cost you $1000/word to develop based on how many words you ended up having in the game, but it seems like a voice synthesizer would have unlimited potential words at fixed hardware cost.
Is this the kind of quibbling that wikipedia is meant to encourage?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.188.233.210 (talk) 00:48, 18 August 2008 (UTC) 

No, what the article is referring to is the method in which hardware based speech synthesis was done at the time.  These were not recordings, rather many of the "voice synthesis" chips were "dumb chips" that had to be fed actual vocabulary/phonetics.  They "played back" the pre-mapped words, the creation of which was of course expensive.  Some packaged voice synthesis chip sets came with already predefined vocabulary roms of course.  You're confusing things in modern terms vs. how it was referred to at the time, i.e. using hindsight.  --Marty Goldberg (talk) 02:46, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

An entire SECTION has gone missing. The "problems and player deaths" section is no more, and I have no idea why. 92.39.189.2 (talk) 19:10, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

I keep hearing this claim that the game has 64,000 different mazes, but how do we know this? Do we know the exact algorithm that the game uses to build mazes? - furrykef (Talk at me) 19:33, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
This means 64,000 SCREENS, i'm pretty sure. and yes the generation algorithm is known.  The coordinates (randomly selected on each life) are plugged into a formula to generate the room. 198.153.92.254 (talk) 18:24, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

The "over 64,000 different mazes / screens" refers to how each room is generated. Each room has outer walls with four openings for entering / exiting the room. Each room then has 8 inner walls which can point either Up, Right, Down or Left. A pseudorandom number gen was used to determine which way each inner wall pointed. In some rooms, walls overlap so that it looks like less walls. So 8 walls in four possible different directions means that the total number of room wall configurations is 4x4x4x4x4x4x4x4 = 65,536 different possible room configurations and hence "over 64,000 different screens / mazes". Raandaall Flaagg (talk) 11:13, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

Good job on reorganizing (disamgiuating, renaming).  But it shouldn't be "Berzerk (arcade game)"; it should be "Berzerk (video game)".  It only started as a game for arcades; that is a coin-operated, cabinet-based, all-in-one system, intended for business colocation instead of home or educational use.  The article's contents, including graphics, expound upon the many versions.  I just thought I'd post the fact here just to be polite.  Thanks. — Smuckola (Email) (Talk) 03:10, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

User Wgungfu please stop removing 'Manik' from the list of clones. Manik is a popular and modern Berzerk clone. That by default gives it notability. Further more notability guidelines apply to the creation of articles, and to the creation of lists. Directly from the guidelines: 'They do not limit the content of an article or list.' It is not appropriate to remove 'Manik' from the list of clones for this reason.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 111.69.199.234 (talk) 16:04, 2 February 2014 (UTC) 

Actually no, there are guidelines as well on notability for subject matter - including the guidelines formed by the video game project here. If it's a "notable" clone, there should be plenty of coverage from sites that meet Wikipedia's reliability guidelines (note that blogs are not normally reliable references) stating it's importance as a clone of Bezerk. I.E. differentiating it from the 100s of other clones on mobile devices and desktop over the last decade. Otherwise such additions are viewed here as  promotion and promptly removed. Calling it vandalism to remove these as they're always removed is also a violation of WP:Civil. Likewise, if you're in any way related to the game (the author, etc.) it's a violation of WP:COI. Once again, this is not a place for advertising games. --Marty Goldberg (talk) 20:58, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
Marty's right on this one.  According to consensus reached by the video game project, we only include clones that meet wikipedia's notability guidelines by receiving significant coverage in reliable sources.  If the game is truly as popular as you claim, you should have no trouble finding this coverage.  If you do, neither of us will have any problem with the game being added to the list.  Wikipedia is not a platform to promote products, however, so without sources establishing notability this clone cannot be allowed. Indrian (talk) 22:21, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

There's an image of the Atari 2600 box at the top of the page and there's an image of the gameplay further down the page. It was originally an arcade game, so why is there not an image of the arcade game anywhere?

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I just double checked. The link is live, but the information is not corroborated. It lists the highest "fast bullets" score as 325,270 (as set by Chris Ayra). Meanwhile the non-broken live version (found here) seems to split the "Fast bullets" category into "Pattern Play (Pattern Allowed)", "Random Play (No Pattern Allowed)", "One Life Only - Pattern Play (Pattern Allowed)", and "One Life Only - Random Play (No Pattern Allowed)". Steve Wagner (the person to which the reffed claim refers) is only listed on a "Slow Bullets" scoreboard for "Random Play (No Pattern Allowed)". So the whole thing is a mess... -Thibbs (talk) 00:39, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

this is actually linked to on the chipspeech website but I'll highlight it here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SkiekH5oRk
Also, chipspeech notes the original synth used for the voice in the process. They took the voice straight from the synth.89.168.11.159 (talk) 09:51, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

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A lot of the text in the gameplay section seems like original research, especially the descriptions of tactics and robot behaviour. Can we get reliable sources for this? Ashmoo (talk) 14:06, 10 November 2017 (UTC)

Looks like this has since been removed from the article even before I got to it, but we generally don't include tips or tricks sections in wikipedia per WP:VGLAYOUT. Andrzejbanas (talk) 10:40, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

Im not sure if this would be considered a reference, so I thought I would bring it up here. The following is for the Adult Swim series The Venture Bros., and how it references the Berzerk game in relation to the sudden death that was reported.
In the episode "A Party For Tarzan" (Season 6, Episode 7), Henchman 21 narrates parts of his youth growing up as a henchman for the Monarch. At the age of 16 he recounts an encounter with Professor Vibrations, a protagonist that fought all his battles with robots and vibration-based firearms. While attempting to hide during battle he accidentally encounters Professor Vibrations, who holds him at gunpoint briefly before suddenly dying of what Henchman 21 believed to be of happiness. He equates the phenomenon back to 1981 where a similar story was heard surrounding the game Berzerk. However in the show, two kids died after achieving high scores: Jeff Daily in 1981, and another unnamed victim a year later. Redterror117 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 02:14, 7 September 2018 (UTC) 

@Redterror117: No it would not, and thanks for asking. The entire "in popular culture" section had to be deleted as being patently unencyclopedic as per WP:FANCRUFT and WP:TRIVIA. We are required to provide WP:RS secondary reliable sources explaining exactly why a given item is WP:N notable or directly enhances the notability of the subject, not just listing trivia because it exists even if WP:OTHERSTUFFEXISTS. But good news! Go put it at Wikipedia's sister site, wikia, which is exactly the right place for fandom. — Smuckola(talk) 08:13, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

Just for the record (would need to get some source to clarify):  Otto was not exactly indestructible.  It took six or seven shots, but you could definitely kill him.  On the down side, a new Evil Otto would form at the original location, and this one moved many times faster than the first.  You had to be positioned right at the exit to a level if you wanted to try offing Otto and escaping with your life, but it was possible. Dpiranha (talk) 19:32, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
He is indestructible in Berzerk.  Frenzy is the one where you could wear him down with multiple shots.  198.153.92.254 (talk) 18:26, 30 May 2021 (UTC)

The redirect Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 June 13 § Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! until a consensus is reached.  cogsan (nag me) (stalk me) 19:31, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

I gave this article a re-write to expand on its development, gameplay, release, reception and legacy. I tried to incorporate most of the content that was previously within the article without losing significant details. I think the only thing lost was some pop-cultural references to some sampling or television references, but these were primarily sourced to questionable sources, or were self-referential. 
If anyone has any questions or comments, I'll be happy to try address them. Please ping me if you do! :) Andrzejbanas (talk) 09:55, 3 October 2024 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Berzerk (video game)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Nominator: Andrzejbanas (talk · contribs) 07:59, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
Reviewer: PresN (talk · contribs) 17:35, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Hi, I'll be reviewing this for GAN. I do these as a series of comments as I read through the article, not using a review template.

"Following a task to fix some technical problems on boards" - need to clarify that by board you mean arcade system boards, though I see that we don't have a more specific article than Arcade video game#Technology
Yes this is what is meant, although I guess linking to this is a big generic, it will help someone who might be confused by the term. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"He slowly developed a game" - development section doesn't seem to support "slowly", only that he found the revision process to be a drudge
Fair. I've altered this sentence. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"the arcade game shifted 15,000 units" - odd wording; also, the article body says that they produced 15,000 cabinets, but it doesn't say that they sold them all
This appears to be an edit from @Indrian: as seen here. I don't have access to the source they are using, but I will assume they can clarify this. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"The game went on to receive ports" - passive voice, also, did Stern develop/publish the ports?
I'll see if I can find a bit more information on this. I've re-phrased this bit, but I did not find much content on the ports, hence I didn't say who did them in the lead. I'll get back to this. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
Gameplay is inconsistent in capitalization ("Humanoid Intruder"/"Humanoid intruder", "Humanoid"/"humanoid")
The Manual for the arcade seems to say it capital letters, so I've adjusted it to match that. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
Do we know how many quarters it cost per game? Do games end only when you run out of lives or is there a timer?
No timer. If you stay too long in a maze, Evil Otto comes out and chases you until he catches. He acts as the defacto timer. As for coins, the manual for the arcade seems to suggest that the arcade retailer could change this on their own standards, so I don't know if its worth adding as it will be different depending on the machine. The machine can even be set to freeplay, so it could potentially cost nothing. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
link coin-op as jargon
Done, linked to arcade game. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
Don't start sentences with "Therefore"
I believe this was another Indrian edit. I wasn't sure when they were done with the article, so I didn't get a chance to copyedit them, but yeah, this should go. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"after he could fix a problem" -> "after he fixed a problem"
Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"it took no fewer than 33 separate programs" - what are "separate programs" in this context? Like, revisions of the game?
Reading the source again, I can't really clarify what is meant, as unfortunately its the author of the article not quoting him directly, so this may be misunderstood (33 different programs running to make Berzerk work? 33 revisions?) As its not clear, I feel like him describing it as drudge work sort of gets the point of his frustration on it, so I'll remove the other bit as I can't clarify what this means. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
There are multiple spots in the development where multiple sentences in a row have the same reference
Tried to clear these out. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"between October 31 to November 2" - either "from...to" or "between...and"
Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
As in the lede, who developed/published the ports?
Will try to dig into this a bit more to get some information when there's a bit more spare time. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"Welu wrote that the Stern's game did not look attractive, it was still his vote for the best of the show." - "Stern's game", not "the Stern's game", and either "while Stern's game... it was" or "Stern's game... but it was"
Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"while and praising"
Dropped the "and". Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"all found the game strong port"
Added some missing words. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"While the Atari 2600 version was described as "generally well regarded" by Grannell" - this is the only mention of Grannell and gives no context
Clarified who he is. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
It's too much of a deep cut for GAN, but consider working through the exercises at User:Tony1/Noun plus -ing - you have a lot of awkward constructions e.g. "the major hindrance on the game was the controls involving the player having to use joystick for both aiming and movement" -> "the major hindrance on the game was that the player was required to use the joystick for both aiming and movement"
Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"In their list of the top 25 Atari 2600 games in 2008, Stuart Hunt and Darran Jones of Retro Gamer included Berzerk on their list" - their list, their list. "Stuart Hunt and Darran Jones of Retro Gamer included Berzerk in their 2008 list of the top 25 Atari 2600 games."
Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"On April 3, 1982 an 18-year-old male named Peter Burkowski of South Holland, Illinois, entered Friar Tuck's Game Room in nearby Calumet City, Illinois." - this reads like a police report. "On April 3, 1982, 18-year-old Peter Burkowski entered Friar Tuck's Game Room in Calumet City, Illinois."
Oh yikes, does it ever! Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"Mark Allen, the deputy coroner said" -> "Mark Allen, the deputy coroner, said". Also "The owner of the Friar Tuck's, Tom Blankly said" -> "The owner of the Friar Tuck's, Tom Blankly, said
Done. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
Maybe link "second joystick" when talking about Robotron to Twin-stick shooter
Hmm. Wouldn't that be a big against WP:EGG? I mean, I get it and sort of approve, but you know. WP:EGG! Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"McNeil said he left Stern following a stressful period where he was in charge of eight programmers, was interviewed during a period where items were being stolen from the company, and that on asking for a raise from his boss, received a response that "the designer of Space Invaders (1978) had merely 'got a watch and liked it' and said [McNeil] should do the same."" - this sentence reads weird, I think because it jumps around in time and tenses without a framing device and is so long. Also not clear what the "interview" portion means. Maybe "McNeil left Stern a couple of years after Berzerk was released. He said that he had been placed in a management position that he found stressful, and was refused a raise on the basis that the designer of Taito's Space Invaders (1978) had only received a watch."
Going to slightly chop out that Space Invaders bit on hindsight, but basically used what you had. Its a bit of heresay to say that, and I have no backing if that story is true, even if we do have him saying that. I think the fact he left due to frustration gets the point across well enough. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
You said in the lede that Frenzy was a sequel, but no mention of such is given here
You see, I think what was worse was earlier, I didn't even mention Frenzy in this part and had it in the lead (!). The source indicates it as a sequel, so I'll add that in there now. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"In 2023, Atari, Inc. announced that they have acquired" - "had"
Changed. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
"Berzerk was re-released as downloadable content for the Atari 50 (2022) compilation" - mention that the DLC came out in 2024, I was confused how it was released before they had the rights
Fair. Clarified this. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
Refs are inconsistent on if they have ISSNs or not, the first column is missing them but later refs have them
is "The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer" actually the name the magazine went under for that issue?
Yes it is. The mag goes through a few name changes. From The Video Game Update, to The Video Game Update includes Computer Entertainer, to eventually just Computer Entertainer. You can see it here. but I'd be happy to alter the name to just The Video Game Update if you think that makes more sense. Andrzejbanas (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
That's it, this is pretty solid overall, so most of my complaints are just grammar issues. --PresN 17:35, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

I checked my copy of Smith and tweaked the wording to match (I'm sensitive in arcade sales to the nuances between "they made X cabinets" vs "they sold X cabinets", as some sources don't pay enough attention and it gets muddled, but here Smith says sold so we're all good). No sourcing problems found, so I'm good to pass this for GA! --PresN 20:20, 17 March 2025 (UTC)