Old-skool platform fun for one to four players.
"It's difficult to say where it all came from. There was some inspiration from the original Donkey Kong arcade game, mixed with an idea of a guy running around collecting things. At that time, machines and games were somewhat smaller than today, and so it was easier to throw in ideas, try them out, and then either keep and improve on them, or throw them out and try something else. So Chuckie Egg was never really thought up, planned and then programmed... it just kind of evolved."
- Doug Anderson. Source: The Chuckie Egg Appreciation Society
Originally an 8-bit computer game written by Doug Anderson and published by A & F Software in 1983, Chuckie Egg remains as one of the all-time classics of computer gaming history for two reasons: Simple idea, perfectly executed.
The game itself is your standard platformer, similar in ways to Manic Miner but at a faster pace. You take control of Hen House Harry, a tiny fat guy with a wide brimmed hat, and charge like crazy through eight single-screen levels collecting eggs and, optionally, scattered piles of corn while avoiding the two patrolling chickens. Should you complete every level, you return to the start with slightly increased difficulty.
Originally released on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC platforms with an Atari ST version following in the early nineties featuring spruced up graphics but no real change in gameplay. Versions of it are available for most emulators or, failing that, there's a Windows conversion that remains faithful to the original game, albeit (it seems, judging by the graphics and the music that plays when you die, thankfully a good deal shorter than the long, drawn out Spectrum version) the BBC Micro and stroke or the strangely similar Amstrad CPC version.
Chuckie Egg went on to spawn a more puzzle-oriented sequel in 1985 and, according to an interview with the author in October 1998, a third installment is in the pipeline.
research thanks and additional links:
appreciation society:
http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~csufh/chuckie/
windows conversion:
http://www.gershwin.force9.co.uk/chuckie/
emulationstation:
http://www.classicgaming.com
if it's classics you're after, see also: spindizzy.