originally released as Hamburger in Japan, is a 1982 arcade video game developed by Data East, initially for its DECO Cassette System. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients in a maze of platforms and ladders while avoiding anthromorphic hot dogs, fried eggs, and pickles which are in pursuit.
In the United States, Data East USA licensed BurgerTime for distribution by Bally Midway as a standard dedicated arcade game. Data East also released its own version of BurgerTime in the United States through its DECO Cassette System. The Data East and Midway versions are distinguished by the manufacturer's name on the title screen and by the marquee and cabinet artworks, as the game itself is identical. The game's original Japanese title Hamburger changed outside of Japan to BurgerTime, reportedly to avoid potential trademark issues. In addition to all releases in the Western world, BurgerTime also became the title used for the Japanese ports and sequels.
The first home port of BurgerTime was released for the Intellivision console in 1983, followed by versions for other systems. There have been multiple sequels for both the arcade and home.
When Data East went bankrupt in 2003, G-Mode bought most of Data East's intellectual properties, including BurgerTime, BurgerTime Deluxe, Super BurgerTime, and Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory.
The object of the game is to build a number of hamburgers while avoiding enemy foods. The player controls the protagonist, chef Peter Pepper, with a four-position joystick and a "pepper" button.
Each level is a maze of platforms and ladders in which giant burger ingredients (bun, meat patty, tomato, lettuce) are arranged. When Peter walks the full length of an ingredient, it falls to the level below, knocking down any ingredient that happens to be there. A burger is completed when all of its vertically aligned ingredients have been dropped out of the maze and onto a waiting plate. The player must complete all burgers to finish the board.
Three types of enemy food items wander the maze: Mr.