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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CC13" data-source="post: 62830" data-attributes="member: 1151">That's right!  Since my next villain's name has a word in common with the title, I'll credit you with the full guess.  Here we go!20. The Marble Munchers (Marble Madness)Developed & Published By: Atari GamesPlatform: ArcadeYear of Release: 1984In modern gaming, exceptionally bizarre settings or stories are usually considered more the purview of the East than the West.  The Occident is viewed as a land of sameness—more retro tributes, more match-three puzzle games and especially more FPSes set in WWII or the War on Terror.  Although it is true that, all things being equal, big-budget Western gaming is more risk-averse than big-budget Japanese gaming, a thread of the gonzo has run true through the history of Western gaming, encompassing the likes of Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, Joust, The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary and many others.  Marble Madness was not the progenitor of this line, but it is one of its finest scions.The gameplay could scarcely be simpler: you take on the role of a marble who has to roll down an obstacle course before time runs out.  There's a catch, though: your time remaining carries over from course to course (with the exception of the first level), so clearing each course quickly is key.  As if the sharp turns, long falls and acid puddles on each course weren't bad enough, you are also harassed by two other enemies: the Black Steelies (black marbles that try to push you off the edge of the maze) and the Marble Munchers.  The Marble Munchers are essentially Slinky monsters that jump up into the air and land on top of your marble in order to consume it.  They are probably also the single trickiest obstacle to deal with in the game, due to their random jumping patterns, which is why they were chosen as the representative for Marble Madness.Marble Madness represented the beginning of a bright new era for Atari Games.  In the next 7 years, they would create such classic games as Gauntlet, Cyberball and Rampart, among many others.  Even as they started to lose the plot in the late '80s and wind down for good in the early Noughties, they still created classic upon classic that still holds up today, including the incredible Gauntlet Legends.  More than any other company, Atari Games represented the spirit of the American arcade at its best.Next Time on The Top 25 Pre-1991 Western Arcade & Console Game Villains: Bombs away!It is indeed, as I discussed in the post-postscript to Flotsam's entry.  I was somewhat surprised that it took this long for somebody to pick up on that—I guess there aren't that many Disney fans on the forums.  Besides, as I said earlier, it was far too inscrutable a clue unless you knew exactly what I was thinking of at the time I wrote it (why, yes, I did play a lot of Sierra adventures games as a child—whyever do you ask?).</blockquote>

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