Character Assassination

A row of little characters stands on the street. One after another, from left to right, a letter or a digit falls toward each of them. Stop it before it lands: six cards under the street show the falling character and five others, and you must pick the matching card. The sooner you stop it, the more it scores. Pick a wrong card and that card is crossed out and the character can no longer be stopped. A character that a falling letter reaches is struck down for good and a tombstone takes its place, and the sweep skips it from then on. The sweep goes round again and again, a little faster each time, until no character is left and the game is over. Choose a speed from 0 to 9. The high score is kept.

Controls: Use either controller. Push left or right to move the cursor over the cards and press either button to pick one. On the title, up and down choose, left and right set the speed, and a button starts.

ColecoVision version credited in the source to Claude (an AI made by Anthropic) for Amy Studio, in Amy, the language by Amy Bienvenu, 2026: a reimagined adaptation of the published rules. From COMPUTE!'s Gazette, June 1985: original Commodore 64 program (no author named in the issue). Printed for both the Commodore 64 and VIC-20; the original was a keyboard typing game. This is a modern homebrew adaptation, not a commercial Coleco release.