Bank Panic dates from 1984, developed by Sanritsu Denki and published by Sega. Our record files it under MSX; the 1984 date belongs to the original arcade cabinet, with home conversions to eight-bit computers including the MSX following shortly afterwards.

The premise is simple and still perfectly legible today. You stand inside a bank facing a row of doors and have to watch all of them at once. Out of each door comes either a customer depositing money or a robber who must be shot before he shoots you. Shooting a customer is punished immediately.

That turns the game into an exercise in divided attention. The player does not pan a camera but shifts aim rapidly between doors while remembering which ones are opening. Rising tempo is the sole source of difficulty; no additional mechanics are ever introduced. The MSX was a mid-eighties standard shared by several Japanese manufacturers, and arcade conversions were produced for it in quantity. The record lists a side view and support for one or more players, which for this type of game usually meant taking turns.

It is worth noting how long the idea lasted. The pattern of several doors from which either a target or someone you must not shoot emerges recurs through many later games, including motion-controlled shooting galleries. The reason is simple: the rule is explained in one sentence, a mistake is instantly obvious, and difficulty can be raised by speeding everything up. Designs like that survive for decades regardless of how the hardware changes.

Consult OldGame.cz for this game's release year, its developer and publisher, and a set of screenshots.