video meanies Commodore 64 game

Working in an eccentric millionaire's video store can get quite hectic, especially when his shop is located in a castle filled with meanies.

As the sole maintenance robot, your task is to roam around the building, turning on all 15 videos to prepare for the day's customers. However, this is no easy feat since certain room sections are locked, and the keys are scattered all over the castle – many of them hidden in rooms that are themselves locked. As a result, you must scurry back and forth between rooms, collecting the necessary keys to access the video sections.

The creator of Video Meanies must have had a love-hate relationship with gamers – it's exasperatingly challenging yet oddly addictive at the same time. You'll find yourself playing until you either conquer the game or nearly punch through the screen. It certainly offers a formidable challenge but remains the kind of game you'll return to repeatedly. Besides, it's only two quid, and who wants to stay completely sane forever?

Despite its unimpressive appearance and sound, Video Meanies is both enjoyable and demanding. Initially, it might be frustrating, but as you make progress, the game becomes highly entertaining. The gameplay mainly involves plotting the correct route through the "video shop," which for some reason becomes strangely addictive, perhaps due to the bizarre scenario and graphics. Regardless of the reason, Video Meanies is a solid game well worth its two-quid price tag.

Upon contact with a video, a "fruit-machine" style bonus screen appears, giving you the option to gamble for extra lives. Refusing to play leaves the video on and rewards your robot based on the remaining energy. However, accepting the gamble starts a moving bar that continuously cycles through various options. Depending on where you stop the bar, you either activate the video and receive extra lives or your robot perishes, leaving the video inactive. In that case, you'll need to navigate the room again with a replacement robot.

A dormant video awaits, but how do you reach it?

P.S. This is one of those games that may not look impressive but offers loads of fun. Some of the obstacles and traps are incredibly challenging to navigate, yet the frustration level has been well-balanced, making the game addictive, even after repeated deaths at seemingly impassable hazards. At two quid, it's a worthwhile purchase – give it a try.