History VideoGame / Berzerk

** In the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} version, the robots couldn't walk into each other (due to a one-robot-per-scanline technical limitation), but were much more likely to walk into walls.

* MoralGuardians: (see above)

* RandomlyGeneratedLevels: The stages are all randomly selected from pre-generated stages.

* InvincibleMinorMinion: Evil Otto cannot be destroyed, but his appearance forces the player to exit the room. In ''Frenzy'', Otto can be destroyed (it takes three hits); however, each such destruction will result in a new Otto spawning immediately thereafter, and moving faster than the previous one. (More than 3 Otto kills on one level can be said to constitute a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for the player who accomplishes that.)

* OhCrap: "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" (or, in the sequel, "Robot attack!")

* [[TakeThatAudience Take That, Player!]]: Exit a screen before killing every robot and they chastise you for it. "Chicken! Fight like a robot!"

* NothingIsScarier: Much of the game's atmosphere is derived from this.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: ''Everything''.

* CrushKillDestroy: Destroying an Evil Otto in ''Frenzy'' will result in the robots shouting ''"Charge! Attack! Shoot! Kill! Destroy!"'' as the new Otto appears.

''Berzerk'' (Creator/SternElectronics, 1980) was one of the first video games to have voice synthesis, which it put to good use. It compels passersby to play by saying, "Coin detected in pocket"; spurs its computerized cohorts to victory with, "Stop the humanoid. Stop the intruder"; expresses its consternation with the player's success by saying, "The humanoid must not escape", and, most famously, insults fleeing players with, "Chicken. Fight like a robot."

''Berzerk'' was even blamed for two deaths. Two teenagers in separate arcades had heart attacks after achieving high scores, causing MoralGuardians to wonder whether arcade video games were too much excitement for people to handle[[note]]One of the two deaths was completely fabricated, with one of the victims in question not actually existing. There was, however, a murder directly involved with the game.[[/note]]. Even in 1980, most people didn't take them seriously.

* CollisionDamage: Touching another robot will kill you instantly. Robots [[ArtificialStupidity touching each other]] will also die instantly. Evil Otto will kill anything he touches.

''Berzerk'' was even blamed for two deaths. Two teenagers in separate arcades had heart attacks after achieving high scores, causing MoralGuardians to wonder whether arcade video games were too much excitement for people to handle. Even in 1980, most people didn't take them seriously.

* EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. ''Everything''.

* InvincibleMinorMinion: Evil Otto cannot be destroyed, but his appearance forces the player to exit the room. In ''Frenzy'', Otto can be destroyed (it takes three hits); however, each such destruction will result in a new Otto spawning immediately thereafter, and moving faster than the previous one. (More than 3 Otto kills on one level can be said to constitute a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the player who accomplishes that.)

* [[TakeThatAudience Take That, Player]]: Exit a screen before killing every robot and they chastise you for it. "Chicken! Fight like a robot!"

May have inspired ''VideoGame/CastleWolfenstein'' and its update, ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', or even ''VideoGame/Robotron2084''. Not to be confused with the 1967 British B-movie ''Film/{{Berserk}}'' or to the dark fantasy manga ''{{Manga/Berserk}}''.

* TheDreaded: Even the robots, who normally are after your blood, are afraid of Evil Otto, who is capable of killing them indiscriminately, and as such will drone out "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" when he shows up.

* KillerRobot: Every enemy that isn't Evil Otto, though in Frenzy, some looks like skeletons instead of robots.

* AmbiguousAllegiance: Evil Otto. The fact that the robots shout "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!" when he makes his appearance suggests he doesn't belong here any more than you do, and he's more than happy to crush an entire army of robots just to get to you, which only makes it even harder to figure out just ''what the hell he's supposed to be''.

* BossWarningSiren: "Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

* CrushKillDestroy: Destroying an Evil Otto in ''Frenzy'' will result in the robots shouting ''"Charge! Attack! Shoot! Kill! Destroy!"''

* DeadlyWalls: The walls don't discriminate between player and robot; it is possible to get a robot to destroy themselves by walking into a wall. Averted in ''Frenzy''.

* KillerRobot: Every enemy that isn't Evil Otto.

* UndergroundMonkey: There is only one type of robot; as the game progresses, it changes color as it shoots more/faster shots.

''Berzerk'' (Creator/SternElectronics, 1980) was one of the first video games to have voice synthesis, which it put to good use. It compels passersby to play by saying, "Coin detected in pocket"; spurs its computerized cohorts to victory with, "Stop the humanoid. Stop the intruder"; expresses its consternation with the player's success by saying, "The humanoid must not escape", and, most famously, insults a fleeing player with, "Chicken. Fight like a robot."

A forgotten classic of TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames. The player controls a humanoid, who must shoot robots and/or escape the room.

* FollowTheLeader: ''K-razy Shoot-Out'' by CBS Electronics for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computer family is a clone of this game, minus the Evil Otto figure.

* DamageDiscrimination: Averted. Robots can accidentally kill each other by way of CollisionDamage, running into walls (usually by touching the end of one), and shooting each other. Evil Otto will kill anything he touches, even robots.
* DeadlyWalls: Rare non-shoot'em up example. The walls don't discriminate between player and robot; it is possible to get a robot to destroy themselves by walking into a wall. Averted in ''Frenzy''.