In the game, the player manages a community of Baldies in order to build structures, increase their population, and create weapons to fight against enemies known as Hairies. Its gameplay combines strategy with simulation and god game elements.

The Story Behind Baldies

It was co-produced by Faran Thomason, Larry Pacey, and Vince Zampella of Atari Corporation. Banpresto later distributed PC and Macintosh versions in Japan under the title Baldy Land on 4 December 1998, as well as a trial version for Microsoft Windows. Wightman stated that the game was intended to be bundled with a mouse peripheral, as Atari was clearing out their ST mouse inventory, but had to be released without it as mouse support for the game was not completed in time.

Baldies was created by Creative Edge Software, an Edinburgh-based game developer founded by David Wightman in 1989. The PC port was then published in Europe by Sold-Out Software on 13 February 1998. The claymation cutscenes were produced in-house by Creative Edge.

How Baldies Plays

Grey Baldies function as soldiers to fight against Hairies. Dropping Baldies into a house's bedroom is the only way to breed more Baldies. The player can use environmental objects on the playfield like trees to hide Baldies for strategic purposes against Hairies.

Progress is manually saved after completing a level if a Memory Track cartridge is present, but the player can otherwise play through the game using passwords in the Atari Jaguar CD version. Without any kind of structure, the player is incapable of breeding Baldies, develop inventions or fabricate ammunition. The player does not have full direct control of the Baldies themselves and their actions or movement.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Next Generation highlighted its "cute" graphics, numerous levels, and novel premise. The others were near completion prior to cancellation: Battle Lords (a Gauntlet-style hack and slash dungeon crawler), Chopper (a Choplifter-esque action game), Green-Thang (a run and gun platform game), and a soccer title. Coming Soon Magazines Glenn Soucy praised the game's action, colorful graphics, and detailed structures.

VideoGames compared the game with Cannon Fodder (1993) and noted its advanced artificial intelligence, but found the claymation sequences to be bleak. Iida said the controls were okay but occasionally difficult when pointing an object due to lack of mouse and trackball controllers on Jaguar. Author Andy Slaven concurred with Iida regarding the Jaguar's controller not being suited for the game, but ultimately found it to be an entertaining action-strategy title and noted its sense of humor.

Baldies — Frequently Asked Questions