The main villain is Pendragon, the evil sorcerer, who has witches and giants working for him. The hardware came without documentation and had to be reverse engineered. Jack the Giant Killer is a stop motion film about a man named Jack who fights against the forces of evil. After taking the princess, the giant will awaken, and it is up to the player to descend the beanstalk and chop it down before the giant reaches the ground.Ĭompleting a level results in a bonus and the player getting to repeat the cycle at increased difficulty.Ĭinematronics president Fred Fukumoto purchased 5,000 game boards from Hara Industries for 2 million US dollars, to be used for Jack the Giantkiller. A brief animated intermission featuring that specific treasure will play after the player successfully reaches the ground to end each stage. This being agreed upon, the next morning they set forward on their journey together, when, as they were riding out of the town, an old woman called after the prince, saying, 'He has owed me twopence these seven years. The player's objective is to retrieve these items on successive trips up the beanstalk, with the princess stage being the last in the four-stage level. Now Jack the Giant-Killer, coming that way, was so taken with the generosity of the prince, that he desired to be his servant. The treasures to be stolen include a musical harp, a golden goose, a bag of gold coins and the princess. In addition to facing the critters in the previous beanstalk stage, Jack must also avoid falling rocks. Again, Jack's defenses are avoiding the enemies, jumping over them or using the magic beans. In the more difficult levels, cats and mice will also appear, which the player must avoid or hit with beans to collect points, and the staircases are narrower. The most frequent challenge is navigating the gaps between staircases (the player must jump across) while dodging flying magic lamps and collecting eggs laid by the golden goose. The Giant's lair, which includes ascending stairs to reach the table where the giant's treasures are kept the giant is seen sleeping at the table.The player may enter the castle only when the drawbridge is lowered. Walking across clouds to reach the castle's drawbridge, dodging lions and other enemies that try to throw Jack off the tightrope course.Going into the house in this stage will kill Jack. The player is given a supply of beans to start, and may obtain more by moving Jack over the beans that appear along the way. Jack may also jump from one branch to another, either to gain a new path or avoid an enemy. The player may use the supply of beans (limited, with his supply indicated by a counter at the corner of the screen) to hit and destroy an enemy for points. Two buttons are available to allow Jack to jump or throw beans at enemies. The player uses an eight-way joystick to move Jack.