BurgerTime

1982 · Action · Arcade

Overview

BurgerTime (1982) is Data East's arcade game of giant burgers: walk across buns, patties and lettuce to drop them onto plates while dodging living food.

Deep Dive

Chef Peter Pepper builds burgers by walking across each ingredient until it drops a level, eventually stacking complete burgers on the plates below. Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg and Mr. Pickle chase him around the ladders and girders; a limited supply of pepper stuns them briefly, and dropping an ingredient on top of enemies — or while they ride it — scores big. Its absurd food theme made it one of the most recognisable and widely ported games of the early 1980s.

Developer Story

BurgerTime was developed by Data East in 1982. Players controlled chef Peter Pepper who built burgers by walking over ingredients to drop them onto lower levels, while being chased by living food enemies. The game's absurdist food-based theme and the mechanic of using pepper spray as a weapon gave it a distinct personality. It was one of the most ported games of the early 1980s.

Did You Know?

BurgerTime's enemies — Mr. Hot Dog, Mr. Egg, and Mr. Pickle — were the ingredients that chef Peter Pepper was using, rebelling against their own consumption.
The pepper weapon was limited — players had a finite supply, making each use a meaningful decision.
Walking over ingredient strips caused them to fall — timing drops to crush multiple enemies simultaneously was the core skill.
The game's food theme made it one of the most distinctive and recognisable arcade games of 1982.