@!#?@!: The making of Q*bert

Q*bert is a weird videogame, and the story of its creation is even weirder. Well, maybe not weirder. But it’s close, I swear!

For instance, did you know that it had one programmer, Warren Davis, and a single artist, Jeff Lee? Perhaps that wasn’t unseen back in those days, but Q*bert was Davis’ first game, believe it or not.

“As the game got noticed by others at Gottlieb, everyone seemed to have ideas and I saw myself as the filter through which all ideas passed,” says Davis. “Since I was the only programmer, if I didn’t like an idea it didn’t go in the game. I really wanted to keep it simple.”

One such proposed idea was giving Q*bert the ability to shoot out of his nose, which thankfully didn’t make it through his filter due to the complexity of implementing such a thing. That, and the game was already plenty tough enough. I still suck at it to this day.

Also, I am reasonably certain that the image up there is going to give me nightmares for weeks to come. @!#?@! you, creepy Q*bert!

[Via Go Nintendo]