Jungle Hunt - History

History

Jungle Hunt changed names several times during development. The original prototypes were called Jungle Boy and later became Jungle King for release to the arcades. In these earlier versions the playable character was a bare-chested man with a loincloth who resembled Tarzan.

Taito was sued by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate for copyright infringement for using the character's likeness. This led to a re-release as Jungle Hunt, with the following changes made to the game:

• The character was replaced with a jungle explorer wearing a pith helmet and safari outfit.
• In the first scene, ropes replace the vines as the objects that the player has to swing on.
• The Tarzan yell was removed and cannot be heard throughout the game. It was replaced by the music from the end of the second scene.
• Taito Brazil (Taito do Brasil) released a version of the game in Brazil in 1983 under the title 'Jungle Hunt' which included the bare-chested character and the Tarzan yell.

Yet another variant of the game was called Pirate Pete. Gameplay in this version was identical to Jungle Hunt but the character was replaced with a pirate (complete with eye patch) and the levels had a pirate theme.