Ghost Rush is a Coco port of the phone or online game called Pac Rush, with the Coco version done by Paul Shoemaker (who has previously done some of the best card games for the various Coco's). This is his first effort in doing an arcade style game, and it features fast, progressive game play, multi-voice musical interludes, and super easy instructions - the game is easy to play but hard to master. If played on a Coco 3, it lets you choose between 6 different sets of colors (you can cycle through these by hitting the "P" key on the title screen), the first 2 are standard Coco 4 colors (in RGB and composite); most of the other 4 are for RGB type displays, some in a monochrome style.
In the game, you are one of the Pacman ghosts, stuck in a circular track that you can not escape from, and you can not stop moving. A single fruit dot will appear on the track at any given time; you have to run over it to eat it. The left joystick button is used to change your direction circling the track, and that is the only control you have. The game has multiple stages, which are shown by the graphic in the middle of the track. Each time you advance a stage you get a little multi-voice musical interlude. And on some levels... extra opponents start showing up, making the game harder. They always come from one of 2 directions, so you can strategize based on that. The game also keeps the high score for your current session, and features multiple color options to choose from if you have a Coco 3 (only a few are shown above).
NOTE:Version 2 updates the intro title screen (shown in the first screenshot above), and updates the ghost animations so that it's feet shuffle, and it's eyes look in the direction it is moving. There is also now a special Coco 3 release, which uses the 16 color graphics mode (see top 3 screenshots)
At the beginning of both October 2022 and December 2022, Paul also release themed versions of Ghost rush (with multiple color options depending on which Coco you have - the various Ghost Rush editions also now work on the Dragon 32/64 as well). While the gameplay is identical to the original Ghost Rush, the new holiday editions feature new themed music, backgrounds and opponent sprites.
Title: Ghost Rush
Author: Paul Shoemaker (random number routine by Steve Bjork, 4 voice music routine by Rick Adams)
Publisher: Paul Shoemaker
Released: June 9, 2022, version 2 June 19. Halloween Editions: October 3, 2022. Winter Editions: December 3, 2022
Requires: Color Computer 1/2/3, 32K RAM, joystick (just for the button!).