Play Game
Berzerk (revision RC31A)
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- Console
- Arcade
- Release
- 1980
- Players
- 2P alt
- Developer
- Stern Electronics
About Berzerk (revision RC31A)
Arcade Video game published 46 years ago:
Berzerk (c) 1980 Stern Electronics.
The player controls the 'Humanoid' and must navigate a number of robot-filled rooms; each with up to as many as eleven, laser-firing enemy robots. The Humanoid can be killed either by a single shot from a robot, by running into a robot, by running into a wall of the maze, or by being touched by the player's nemesis, 'Evil Otto'.
To advance through the game, players must fight their way through each room to an opening at one of the far walls. Each robot destroyed is worth 50 points and while it's possible to progress without killing every robot in each room, destroying all of them will earn the player a per-maze bonus (worth ten points per robot). The game has an impressive 64,000 mazes, with each level designed to be more difficult than the last.
- TECHNICAL -
The Berzerk cabinet was the first in a series of cabinets from Stern that had a patented pull out drawer that allowed access to the games circuit boards from the front of the cabinet. This title features rather primitive painted side-art that only uses two colors, but it makes up for it with the awesome comic book style art on the control panel and monitor bezel. The marquee is only a 'Berzerk' logo, and it kind of looks like something that someone might have done in their high school airbrush class.
Berzerk is technically a monochrome game. It uses a special 'color overlay' circuit board to add color to the games graphics before they go to the monitor. A side effect of this is that walking very close to a wall will cause that section of the wall to change to your color.
Player layout in our catalog: 2P alt.
If you are exploring by feel rather than by title, jump from the tags above into the matching genre rooms, or return to the Arcade hall for the full wall.
Open Play on this page to start Berzerk (revision RC31A). Keyboard, USB/Bluetooth pads, and the on-screen touch gamepad all work inside the emulator bar. Save states and fullscreen live on that same bar so you can pause mid-session and resume later.
Berzerk (revision RC31A) — play guide
What Berzerk wants from you
Berzerk is arena maze: lane honesty, robot peeks, and exit timing decide rooms more than spray tourism. Your job is reading robot paths before you commit a corridor—spraying every room as if Otto forgave empties lives fast. Continues buy lane literacy, not free rooms. Berzerk rewards short peeks with exits and planned shots over vanity full-room greed. Clear rooms with composure left; the chrome sells robot voices, but the exam is maze timing you learn cold.
First minutes in Berzerk
On room one, learn a calm clear-and-exit loop before inventing full-room tourism that invites Otto. Shoot robots with space to retreat; cornering yourself mid-spray gifts a touch death. Watch Otto’s pace—he is the real timer. Early rooms are escape labs. One clean exit with lives left beats three last-robot deaths that looked almost done until Otto arrived in the doorway.
Core systems in Berzerk
Maze rooms, robot lasers, Evil Otto, exits, and speech taunts as mapped define Berzerk. Lives punish haste and greed. Continues fund denser robot mixes as rooms tighten. Otto punishes farming after the exit is available. Survival exit discipline gates every robot fantasy the cabinet sells. Spray religions in a dead-end are still free deaths with extra voice-line humiliation.
Score, continues, and resources in Berzerk
Rooms cleared with exits taken and lives left beat robot tourism that farms until Otto deletes you. Continues while exit composure builds; cut them once last-robot greed stops ending credits. Score waits until survival loops are boring under Otto pressure. Extends follow score when present—clean exits beat farming room one forever for vanity kills that still die in the doorway.
Mistakes that burn credits in Berzerk
Last-robot greed, ignoring Otto, spraying in dead-ends, and missing the exit when it is open are classic Berzerk mistakes. Clear a path, shoot with space, exit when honest, then farm only if Otto allows. Robot art will not soften an Otto collision. Treating the exit as optional chrome is how Stern collects the next credit every time.
Next steps after Berzerk
Robotron is Williams twin-stick arena if you want pure motion after Berzerk’s maze exits. Frenzy is Berzerk’s meaner cousin when you want related Otto stress under tighter rooms. Gauntlet is Atari dungeon co-op if you want generator priority once Berzerk exit discipline finally sticks on Stern boards. Keep playing until panic-spray empties stop ending sessions mid-maze on later boards. Clear one full maze carefully before you chase vanity sprays again on denser arena cabinets.
Sources cited below under Further reading.
Cabinet dossier
Berzerk (revision RC31A) is filed in our catalog as a 1980 release.
Player layout on this cabinet: 2P alt.
Genre tags on Classic Arcade Games: Maze.
Credit line lists Stern Electronics as developer.
Next cabinets
Nearby cabinets you may also open from this hall (each on its own play page):Frenzy (revision RA1), Armored Car (set 1), Lost Tomb (easy), Dark Planet, Moonwar, Rescue, Great Guns, Minefield, 005, Amidar, Anteater, Frisky Tom (Bandai)
Explore more on this site
Same series
Same genre
Frenzy (revision RA1) · Armored Car (set 1) · Lost Tomb (easy) · 005 · Amidar · Anteater · Frisky Tom (Bandai) · Blasto · Blue Print (Midway) · Bubbles · Calipso · Changes
Same studio
Frenzy (revision RA1) · Armored Car (set 1) · Lost Tomb (easy) · Dark Planet · Moonwar · Rescue · Great Guns · Minefield
How to play Berzerk (revision RC31A) online
- Arcade stick feel: Arrow keys for the joystick, X/Z (and nearby keys) for buttons, Enter=Start.
- USB / Bluetooth pads map cleanly; six-button fighters use the face-button cluster.
- On phones, open the on-screen pad from the emulator bar; rotate sits next to fullscreen.
- Save states, load, volume, and fullscreen stay on the emulator bar between credits.
Studio notes — Stern Electronics
Stern Electronics appears on this cabinet’s credit line. Browse more titles from the same studio on the developer shelf, or stay on this page and try the next cabinets in the same hall.
Frenzy (revision RA1) · Armored Car (set 1) · Lost Tomb (easy) · Dark Planet · Moonwar · Rescue · Great Guns · Minefield
Questions about Berzerk (revision RC31A)
Can I play Berzerk (revision RC31A) free in a browser?
Yes. Classic Arcade Games hosts Berzerk (revision RC31A) as a Arcade cabinet you can start on this page. The emulator loads in the browser; you do not need to install a separate app.
What controls does Berzerk (revision RC31A) support?
Arcade stick feel: Arrow keys for the joystick, X/Z (and nearby keys) for buttons, Enter=Start. USB / Bluetooth pads map cleanly; six-button fighters use the face-button cluster.
Are there other games in the same series as Berzerk (revision RC31A)?
Yes — related series cabinets on this site include Frenzy (revision RA1). Each has its own play page with the same browser emulator path.
Further reading
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