Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 108

Video problems no secret addition, the bad guys tend to flicker, although not as much as In Atari's awful version of Pac-Man for the 2600. There are eight different screens, but again, they are hard to tell apart Blue Print (CBS, for the Atari 2600, $30). CBS has not had much success In the home video-game field. Its earlier offerings for the 2600 Gorf and Wizard of Wor had such poor graphics and game play, I didn't even bother to review them. TECHNICALLY, Blue Print Is much Improved over the others.

Blue Print features impressive graphics and a variety of screens. But the advanced technology does little to Improve the game, which is more clever than, say, Mr. Do, but still monotonous. The object Is to guide a little man through a simple maze to collect three parts needed to construct a missile. As always, there are baddies to avoid.

The parts are hidden in three of 10 houses, and if the man enters the wrong house, he comes out with a bomb, which he then must defuse. The parts must also be collected in the right order, and a blueprint at the bottom of the screen shows how it's done. Once the right parts are gathered, the game switches to a new screen. Here, the player must launch the mis By STEVE STECKLOW KnHM-RMd Ntwumrt You dont need a Wall Street analyst to discover why video game companies are losing so much money these days. All you have to do Is to look at some of the games.

Despite some recent technological breakthroughs that allow home video games to be more complex and challenging, In truth, the majority of games on the market are merely weak imitations of other games that have been huge successes. What the manufacturers dont seem to understand is that games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong were successful because they were original. With the exception of a few imaginative sequels such as Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong Junior the clones generally lack any originality at all. Without question, Pac-Man continues to be the most widely imitated.

The irony is that the game itself is no longer popular. Few arcades still have the machine and Atari, which introduced the home version, is now throwing in Pac-Man cartridges with every new video-game system it sells. THAT HASN'T stopped the Imitations, though. Two recent releases for Colecovlsion and the Atari 2600 show that the manufacturers still believe the video-game players' thirst for cutesy maze games is insatiable. Here are some of the latest game clones: Mr.

Do (Coleco, for Colecovision, In fairness, this cartridge is not strictly a copy of Pac-Man; It's a copy of Pac-Man and another arcade game, Dig Dug. In Mr. Do, the player must navigate a little man through colorful mazes that feature rows of fruit while he is being chased by the usual gang of baddies. The object is to harvest all the fruit while collecting as many points as possible. Up to two players can play.

To defend against his assailants, Mr. Do has a variety of weapons: apples that he can crush them with, a power ball that be can throw, and a special treat that, if consumed, can paralyze the enemy for a few seconds. COLECO IS promoting the fact that the game contains 10 different screens, a first for home video games. Unfortunately, the screens, colorful as they are, are so similar that it's hard to notice any real differences. What is most noticeable is a moronic nursery-type rhyme that plays Incessantly while the game is on.

And there appears to be only one way to turn it off and that's to pull out the plug. If this were Coleco's first maze game, it would be one thing. But the store shelves are already lined with plenty of other maze games that, without exception, are better. Mr. Do (Coleco, for the Atari 2600, Obviously, I can't report that Coleco's version of this game for the Atari 2600 Is any better than the version for Its own system.

As usual, it's worse. Mr. Do is a bit harder to control here and It's only a one-player game. In sile and hit an ogre who is In hot pursuit of the little man's girlfriend. Yes, they've thrown in everything here mazes, baddies, missiles and ogres.

But in the end, it doesn't add up to much. 'Flashdance' tops video sales list The following are the most popular video cassettes for the week ending Oct 15 as they appear In next week's issue of Billboard magazine. Copyright 1983, Billboard Publications, Inc. Reprinted with permission. SALES I.

Flashdance (Paramount) 2. 45ours(Paramount) 3. Jane Fonda's Workout(Ku Video) 4. An Officer and a Gentleman (Paramount) 5. 7BeOusfers(Warner) 6.

Dr.Deror(MCA) 7. ft)ry's(CBS-FoxVideo) 8. Dunn Dunn (Thorn-EMI) 9. (Thorn-EMI) 10. The Year of Living Dangerously (MGM-UA) I I.

The Man From Snowy fiver(CBS-Fox Video) 12. High Road to China (Warner) 13. Alice In Wonderland (Disney) 14. Tender Werces (Thorn-EMI) 15. Girl Croups (MGM-UA) These are the best selling home video games for the week ending Oct 15, compiled from retail outlets by the' Billboard research department.

Title, Copyright Owner-Manufacturer, Catalog Number 1. Q-Bert Parker Brothers 5360 2. Burger rmelntelli vision 4549 3. Enduro Activision AX-026 4. Pole Position Atari CX 2694 5.

Decathlon Activision AZ 030 6. Jungle Hunt Atari-C-2688 7. Robot 74nJt Activision AX-028 8. Ms. Pacman Atari CX 2675 9.

Centipede Atari CX-2676. 10. River Raid Activision AX-018 12 Oct. 23, 1983 TV DateBook.