Flicky (1991)

Flicky is a platform game developed by Sega and released in arcades in May 1984. In Flicky, the player controls the eponymous blue bird and must gather all the small birds called Chirps in each round and bring them safely to the exit. There are cat and lizard enemies which can disperse the Chirps and kill the player, but Flicky can use items on the playing field to protect herself and the Chirps from danger.

The idea for Flicky came from Sega senior leadership, who wanted to exceed the success of Namco's Mappy (1983). Yoji Ishii and Yoshiki Kawasaki developed Flicky at Sega over one year. Originally, the game simply had the player catch ambiguous dots in a maze. Taking inspiration from a popular song in a Japanese variety show, Kawasaki gave the game an urban theme and bird characters. The game was originally titled "Busty", then "Flippy", before finally settling on "Flicky".

There have been numerous ports and re-releases of Flicky. It was first ported to the SG-1000 in Japan, and then later to other Japanese home consoles. In 1991, Flicky was released in North America and Europe on the Sega Genesis; this port was reviewed by many western publications. Critics agreed that although the game had poor graphics and sound, these problems were overcome by the simple yet engaging and addicting gameplay. Flicky has been included in various Sega video game compilations, and the main character has made appearances in several other early Sega arcade games. She has continued to hold cameo appearances in Sega video games, most notably within the Sonic the Hedgehog series.