The Classic Arcade and Console Era (1972-1989) - Flicky
You may know this character from Sonic the Hedgehog! Rescue chains of little chicks and dodge cats and iguanas in this cute, fun action platformer.
RELEASE DATE: 1984
DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: Sega
BEST VERSIONS: Arcade, Sega Genesis
PLAYABILITY TODAY: Highly playable
I know I’ve stumbled on a classic when even my kids want to play it, and such was the case with Flicky – the cute graphics, simple platforming and easy controls were quite a kid magnet in my house, and even though the game is harder than it looks, it proved to be a game my kids wanted to keep playing. What’s surprising is that Sega never seemed to make a strong connection between this game and the younger audience – the most common thing anyone seems to say about the game’s blue bird mascot is that a character who looks a lot like her (and who’s also named Flicky) appears in Sonic the Hedgehog when Sonic sets his animal friends free.
The simple premise of Flicky is that you’re in a maze-like, wraparound scrolling stage and you have to rescue little birds from the two cats and eventual iguana who will appear before the time limit expires. The chicks start off in a stationary place but will follow you in a chain as you collect them and take them back to the entrance. If you don’t care about high scores, you can drop the chicks off one by one, but if you can bring along a full chain (by far the preferred way among fans to play the game), you maximize your score. The catch is that the cats can break your chain, and while they won’t harm the chicks, the little birds will start wandering around and wait for you to retrieve them.
Flicky, on the other hand, will die if one of the cats or the iguana touches her. While she can deal with both by throwing objects she’ll pick up around the stage at them, the throwing action is accomplished by jumping, which means you have to aim carefully. Tossing items carelessly often just wastes them, but tossing them with a little bit of planning can take out two or three enemies at a time, especially if they’re locked into pursuit.
The beauty of Flicky is in its simplicity. The mazes are only a little more than one screen long, but since they wrap around, there’s a lot of strategy involved in changing direction from left to right. The cats will also pause any time they reach the edge of a platform and decide what they’re doing to do based on what Flicky is doing, which means you can trick them if you’re paying attention. Flicky can bounce off walls while she’s jumping and get a slight boost, and while this might be enough to help her dodge the cats or maneuver a tight area, it also can turn the walls into obstacles that require some precision-jumping to avoid.
While the game only has 48 stages before it begins looping around, they’re fun and well-designed, gradually getting more difficult but never becoming maddening. The backgrounds also change every few levels to give you a sense of progression, and every few stages switch to an easy bonus round where Flicky has to rescue chicks being flung into the air by cats below.
Flicky is definitely best in its arcade incarnation, but the Sega Genesis version is the one everyone seems to remember, in part because Sega has re-released it in many compilations, particularly those involving Sonic. One might argue that Flicky is actually the progenitor to the Sonic the Hedgehog universe and point to the simple evidence that Sonic 3D Blast not only has the hedgehog collecting Flickies, but even uses similar mechanics where Sonic has the Flickies follow him around in a chain until he can return them to a ring portal. The game does say, however, that the Flickies are from another universe, and since Flickies appear in many other Sega games beyond the Sonic universe (from Teddy Boy Blues to Shenmue to Gunstar Super Heroes), I think it’s probably best to assume they’re interdimensional travelers who like to make cameos.
Flicky was also ported to many Japanese platforms including the SG-1000, MSX, PC-88, Sharp X1 and FM-7. And while many of the ports are decent and the Sega Genesis version is nearly arcade-perfect, I prefer the arcade original primarily because it has a very memorable (and chirpy!) music track. Many fans, however, seem to have a similar affection for the Genesis/Mega Drive soundtrack, and since the Genesis version is so easily available to play legally in modern compilations and includes a level select cheat code and bikini girl Easter Egg, it might be the best one to try.
As Our Series Continues…
It’s time to move on to console and arcade gaming in the 1970s and 80s, and we’re going to cover it all with an exploration into hundreds more games you’ve probably never played but definitely ought to check out. Come for amazingly great early 1980s games like Warlords, Super Locomotive, Shark! Shark!, Acrobatic Dog-Fight, Mysterious Stones: Dr. John’s Adventure and Intrepid and stick around for mid-to-late 1980s greats like Peter Pack-Rat, Penguin-kun Wars, Momoko 120%, UFO Robot Dangar, Wonder Momo, Raimais, Last Alert, The Legend of Valkyrie and the arcade version of Twin Eagle: Revenge Joe’s Brother, complete with a rockin’ soundtrack with wonderfully inscrutable lyrics.
If you’ve never heard of any of those games, you’re in for a treat as we explore them one by one. And If those games are all old hat to you, don’t worry; they’re just the tip of the iceberg for what we’ll be discussing!
If you missed my series on the hundreds of 1980s PC games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.
Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 2. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!