Original Release: Playmark, Arcade, 1995
An “uncover the naked lady” game with a twist, this one plays more like a space shooter than the usual Qix clone.
Excelsior (Playmark, Arcade, 1995)
Where to Buy: KLOV, QuarterArcade, ebay
How to Emulate: Arcade Emulation Guide
Review by: Master-B
These pervy “uncover the GIF” arcade games most commonly came out of Asia, but here’s an oddball from Italy. I guess it deserves a little credit for not being the 400th Qix clone of this nature, and instead having some slightly more interesting gameplay. Also for just generally being tripped-out.
Each game opens with you choosing from a selection of five girls and Sean Penn. This person will actually be your bonus round character, not the first nudie pic you uncover. You then get to work with your power tools, as some mound of rock or wood or something covers up your GIF and ruins your fun. You have to uncover the GIF in chunks, and each chunk takes a couple of seconds to chip away.
Of course, while you’re trying to work you are being harassed by all sorts of flying enemies. You can shoot them, but it requires pressing the stick toward the enemy which also causes you to start moving in that direction (since you’re floating with some sort of jetpack). So basically all of the challenge of the game revolves around awkward firing controls.
Each level is some new girlie GIF for you to uncover, the standard thing from the ’90s with pictures probably scanned without permission from some magazine or another. Since it’s out of Italy, however, there is full frontal nudity. In between levels, you play an enemy-free bonus round in which you gradually uncover the main girl (or Spicoli) that you picked back at the beginning. Which for some reason is underneath some hot dog-on-pig or giraffe-on-elephant action. You won’t have enough time to do this in one go, it’ll take several bonus rounds. At which point you choose a new bonus round girl to gradually uncover, and lord knows how long this all just keeps going on for.
Though the gameplay isn’t great, it is at least present and unique and it isn’t yet another low-effort lame Qix knockoff. Really, it’s almost mildly fun to play except for having to push your player in the direction of enemies to shoot at them; I know Robotron-style dual sticks would have been asking waaaay too much of a low-budget sleaze game like this, but a setup such as that would have actually made it fairly entertaining.
As is it’s just another dumb arcade porn novelty from the ’90s, just with a bit more effort put into it and a bit weirder than most of the field.
Links
Advertising flyer
Videos
Gameplay Video