| Seaquest | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Steve Cartwright |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Shoot 'em up |
| Mode(s) | 1-2 players alternating |
Seaquest is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1983. The game is an underwater shooter in which the player controls a submarine.
The player uses a submarine to shoot at enemies and rescue divers. Enemies include sharks and submarines, which shoot missiles at the player's submarine . [2] The player must ward off the enemies by firing an unlimited supply of missiles while trying to rescue divers swimming through the water. The points awarded to the player for shooting an enemy starts at 10 points each, and increases as the game advances. The sub can hold up to six divers at a time. Each time the player resurfaces prior to having a full load of six divers, one of the divers is removed.
The submarine has a limited amount of oxygen. The player must surface often in order to replenish the oxygen, but if the player resurfaces without any rescued divers, they will lose a life. If the player resurfaces with the maximum amount of divers, they will gain bonus points for the sub's remaining oxygen. Each time the player surfaces, the game's difficulty increases; enemies increase in number and speed. Eventually an enemy sub begins patrolling the surface, leaving the player without a safe haven.
The player starts the game with 3 extra lives, and is awarded an additional extra life each time the player scores 10,000 points.
Seaquest can be played single-player or with two players alternating turns.
Like other Activision 2600 games, this one had a patch you can send in to get. It required you to get a score of 50,000. You would send in a photo of your game showing this, and they'd send you an "achievement patch".
Steve Cartwright designed Seaquest, and described the game as a reskin of the arcade game Defender (1981). He felt that the Atari 2600 adapted arcade games well, describing that most games of that era were "fast-paced arcade games because of this." [3]
Cartwright stated that there was a salvage company called "Seaquest Inc or something" that sued Activision for stealing their name for the game. He met the groups lawyers in Chicago and when explaining the title was original and not based on searching sunken ships or for treasure, the case was dismissed. [4]
Retro Gamer's Darran Jones wrote that the Atari and Activision titles of the Atari 2600 era featured fantastic box art on their covers and that the Seaquest title was one of the few to live up its cover saying "a shoot-'em-up at heart, it's developer, Steve Cartwright, mixed things up by giving you divers to rescue and a strict air supply to manage." [5]
Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade game Avalanche (1978), with the game now involving a Mad Bomber who drops bombs instead of falling rocks. Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after the release of the game. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system.
Solaris is a space combat video game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari Corporation. The game involves the player controlling a starship to get to the planet Solaris. To do this, they must navigate the galactic scanner to explore quadrants in space which leads to either battling enemy Zylon ships in both space or on their occupied planets and visit federation planets to refuel.
Pitfall! is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose lives or points.
Phoenix is an video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The game is a fixed-screen shooter where the player controls a space ship, and must shoot at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the enemies.
Demon Attack is a fixed shooter video game programmed by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. The game involves the player controlling a laser cannon from the surface of a planet, shooting winged demons that fly down and attack the player in different sets of patterns.
Super Pitfall is a 1986 side-scrolling non-linear platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Despite the title screen stating that it was reprogrammed by Pony Inc, the development of the NES version was handled by Micronics, a Japanese developer who mostly ported Arcade games to the NES.
H.E.R.O. is a video game designed by John Van Ryzin and published by Activision for the Atari 2600 in March 1984. It was ported to the Apple II, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, MSX, and ZX Spectrum.
Plaque Attack is a 1983 video game for the Atari 2600 that was made by Activision. The player must shoot food to protect teeth inside a person's mouth. Steve Cartwright, who designed the game, said that game was meant to help people develop good dental habits.
Chopper Command is a horizontally scrolling shooter released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in June 1982. It was written by Bob Whitehead. The player flies a helicopter left and right over a scrolling, wraparound landscape, shooting down enemy airplanes to protect a convoy of trucks below.
River Raid is a video game developed by Carol Shaw for the Atari Video Computer System and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls a fighter jet over the River of No Return in a raid behind enemy lines. The goal is to navigate the flight by destroying enemies while collecting fuel and not crashing.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600. It was released in 1984 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who must explore in wilds of Peru to find the Raj Diamond, and rescue his niece Rhonda and their animal friend Quickclaw. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose points and return to a checkpoint.
Beamrider is a fixed shooter written for the Intellivision by David Rolfe and published by Activision in 1983. The game was ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and MSX.
Steve Cartwright is an American video game designer. He is best known as one of the original Activision game designers, credited with such games as Barnstorming, Megamania, Seaquest and Hacker.
Megamania is a video game developed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. The game is a Fixed shooter, where a pilot of an intergalactic space cruiser who after eating a variety of food, has a nightmare where his ship is being attacked by food and house hold objects. Using the missile launcher from his space cruiser, he finds himself being attacked by various food items and house hold objects.
Enduro is a racing video game designed by Larry Miller for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. The object of the game is to complete an endurance race, passing a certain number of cars each day to continue the next day. The visuals change from day to night, and there is occasional inclement weather.
The Activision Decathlon is a sports game written by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, and MSX. Up to four players compete in the ten different events of a real-life decathlon, either in sequence or individually.
Barnstorming is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Steve Cartwright and published by Activision in 1982. It was the first game designed by Cartwright. The idea for Barnstorming came to him as he watched a biplane one day while driving home from work.
Laser Blast is a single-player video game developed and published by Activision in March 1981 for the Atari VCS console. Designed by David Crane, one of Activision's co-founders, Laser Blast places players in control of flying saucers attacking land targets.
Dolphin is a side-scrolling video game created by Matthew Hubbard for the Atari 2600 and released by Activision in 1983. Dolphin requires the player to use audio cues in order to survive.
Space Invaders is a 1980 video game based on Taito's arcade game of the same name for the Atari 2600. It was developed and released by Atari, Inc. and designed and developed by Rick Maurer. The game is based on the arcade game in which a player operates a laser cannon to shoot at incoming enemies from outer space. Maurer's version has unique graphics and offers some gameplay variations. These include a two-player mode and variations that allow for invisible enemies and moving shields, and for enemies shots to zig zag and potentially hit players.
