Atari 8-bit Apple II Adam, IBM PC CPC
|genre = Platform
|modes = Single-player
Hard Hat Mack is a platform game developed by Michael Abbot and Matthew Alexander for the Apple II, which was published by Electronic Arts in 1983. Versions for the Amstrad CPC and IBM PC compatibles (as a self-booting disk) followed in 1984.
Though not a direct clone, Hard Hat Mack is similar in theme and gameplay to Nintendo's 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game. Video also reviewed the Apple version in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was described as "a 'must' buy for Apple arcaders" and "indisputably one of the finest programs ever made for the Apple". Reviewers noted that the game's "look and play" were inferior to the Atari version, but this was attributed to the Apple II's systemic limitations and designers Abbot and Alexander were recommended for a "round of applause" from readers.
In 1984 Softline readers named the game the sixth most-popular Apple program of 1983. Computer Gaming Worlds reviewer in 1984 called the game "a brand new concept in arcade action", stating that he was unaware of another set in the construction industry. PC Magazine in 1984 gave Hard Hat Mack 10.5 points out of 18. It described the game as "computer game pop art—flashy to the eye, but hollow inside. For all of its nice touches, I quickly became bored."
In late 1983, California state senator Dan McCorquodale, offended by the portrayal of OSHA as a villain in the game, sent a complaint letter to an Emporium-Capwell store in Santa Clara, California, accusing the game of being "anti-worker" and of skewing the public perception of the federal government. As a result, six days later the store pulled Hard Hat Mack from the shelves.
Amstrad Computer User stated the Amstrad CPC version is ″not an outstandingly good game, or an absolutely crummy one either″.
In 1996, Next Generation listed Hard Hat Mack at number 92 in their "Top 100 Games of All Time". They judged it the most successful attempt at a platform game for its time, due to the developers' effective execution of a number of elements that have since become mainstays of the platforming genre.
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