Circus Charlie

サーカスチャーリーNES, Arcade, MSX, Commodore 64 +51984

  1. JP1984
  2. NA1984
  3. EU—
  4. RUDendy

Circus Charlie has the same name everywhere; in Japan it is サーカスチャーリー. The easiest legal way to play it today is Hamster's Arcade Archives CIRCUS CHARLIE on Nintendo Switch, which uses the Japanese arcade ROM.

Circus Charlie is a 1984 Konami arcade game in which the clown Charlie performs a series of circus acts: walking a tightrope over monkeys, jumping from ball to ball, riding a horse over obstacles and swinging between trapezes. The music borrows from "American Patrol" and "The Blue Danube". Centuri released the arcade game in North America in March 1984, a month before Konami's Japanese launch in April.

Home versions followed quickly. Konami's MSX version came out in Japan in July 1984, and Soft Pro published the Famicom version there on 4 March 1986; it never left Japan. Both home versions drop the trampoline stages. A Commodore 64 version appeared in 1987, the arcade game was included in the PlayStation compilation Konami 80's Arcade Gallery in 1999, and the MSX version came to the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan in 2015.

Charlie also has a cameo in Konami's Mikie, where headbutting the teacher's desk three times makes him appear for extra points.12

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA Circus Charlie Arcade March 1984 Centuri 1
JP サーカスチャーリー Arcade April 1984 Konami 1
JP サーカスチャーリー MSX July 1984 Konami 2
JP サーカスチャーリーFamicom; Japan only NES Mar 4, 1986 Soft Pro 2
WW Circus Charlie Commodore 64 1987 — 1
JP Konami 80's Arcade GalleryKonami 80's Arcade Gallery compilation (Konami Arcade Classics in North America), arcade version PlayStation May 13, 1999 Konami 2
JP サーカスチャーリーVirtual Console, MSX version Wii U Jun 24, 2015 Konami 2
WW Arcade Archives CIRCUS CHARLIEArcade Archives on Switch and PS4; Japanese Wikipedia cites 6 August, English Wikipedia says August 2016 Switch August 2020 Hamster 2

Also known as: サーカスチャーリー JP2

Box art by region

  • サーカスチャーリー box art, Japan release
    JP サーカスチャーリー

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.

Version differences

  • ContentMSXFamicom

    The MSX and Famicom versions cut the trampoline stages, leaving five stages instead of the arcade's six plus a bonus stage.2

  • DifficultyFamicom

    The Famicom version adds a B mode that repeats all the levels at a higher difficulty.1

  • GameplayArcade (Level Select)

    One arcade version lets you pick each stage a limited number of times; the Famicom version has no stage select.2

Where to play legally today

  • Arcade Archives Purchase

    Arcade Archives CIRCUS CHARLIE

    Japanese arcade ROM

    Checked: 2026-10-133nintendo.com

Reception

In its 15 May 1984 issue, Game Machine listed Circus Charlie as the third most successful table arcade unit in Japan.1

In lists

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2ja.wikipedia.org
  3. 3nintendo.com
  4. 4stopgame.ru

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.