Amidar (older)

Amidar is a maze video game that first appeared in arcades in 1982, developed by Konami and distributed in North America by Stern. It is widely recognized as the first game in the grid capture sub-genre, a departure from traditional maze chases like Pac-Man. The arcade version ran on standard hardware for the era and later saw ports to the Atari 2600 by Parker Brothers and the Casio PV-1000 in 1983. This rom represents the original arcade release, preserving its crisp visuals and dated but charming audio.

Your objective is to clear each maze by running over grid lines and painting them. As you move around the rectangular playfield, you must cover all the lines while avoiding patrolling enemies, typically pigs or other farmyard creatures. Touching an enemy costs a life, but the game occasionally spawns power-ups that reverse roles or grant temporary invincibility. Once a section is fully painted, you move to a more difficult round with faster foes and tighter corners. The core loop is simple: paint, dodge, survive, and score.

Today, Amidar is worth trying because it represents a forgotten branch of early arcade design. It may not have the name recognition of contemporary hits, but its grid-capture mechanic directly influenced later games like Qix and Volfied. The challenge remains stiff, and the short rounds make it ideal for quick play sessions. If you enjoy classic maze games or want to see where a whole mini-genre started, this is a neat piece of arcade history.