Sky Skipper

Last updated

Sky Skipper
Sky Skipper arcade flyer Nintendo.png
Japanese arcade flyer
Developer(s)
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Parker Brothers (Atari 2600)
Designer(s) Genyo Takeda
Shigeru Miyamoto
Platform(s) Arcade, Atari 2600
ReleaseArcade
July 1981 [2]
Atari 2600
Genre(s) Action
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Sky Skipper [lower-alpha 1] is a 1981 arcade video game by Nintendo. The player pilots a biplane and must save animals and a royal family from gorillas holding them captured. This is done by dropping bombs on the gorillas to knock them out and unlock the cages, then diving down towards the cages to pick up the freed characters before the gorillas lock the cages again. An Atari 2600 port was released in 1983.

Contents

The game was poorly received in location testing and was never widely released. The cabinets were converted into Popeye machines for release the following year. Nintendo of America stored one cabinet in its archives which is now the only known Sky Skipper cabinet remaining in the world. The cabinet was scanned and photographed by arcade enthusiasts in 2016, who also sourced one of four known remaining Sky Skipper arcade boards to build a faithful cabinet restoration. The board from the Nintendo of America cabinet is the only known unmodified boardset of the game. Hamster Corporation were able to reference the only known working Sky Skipper arcade board in Japan via the cooperation of exA-Arcadia and used the ROM image from this board [3] to release it on the Nintendo Switch eShop under license from Nintendo in 2018 as part of the Arcade Archives series of digital download titles.

Gameplay

A player attacks a gorilla (arcade version). Sky skipper screenshot.png
A player attacks a gorilla (arcade version).

In Sky Skipper, the player pilots a biplane through scrolling mazes to save animals caged by enemy gorillas. The player must drop bombs onto the gorillas which will temporarily knock them out and unlock the cages. Then, the player must swoop down to pick up the animals before the gorillas get up and lock the cages again. Flying into a gorilla or wall destroys the plane, resulting in the loss of one life. The plane's fuel gauge goes down while flying, and is replenished by picking up the animals. There are four stages in total, which are repeated on increased difficulty. [4]

Development and release

In 1981, Nintendo developed and released Sky Skipper in Japan; the game was produced alongside Nintendo's highly successful Donkey Kong arcade game, with both titles releasing in July of the same year. [2] [5] It was designed by Genyo Takeda and Shigeru Miyamoto with assistance from the company Ikegami Tsushinki, [6] a company that helped Nintendo program many of their early arcade games. [7] The cabinets were produced in upright, cabaret, and cocktail variations [5] [8] with cabinet artwork done by Miyamoto. [9] [10] The game performed poorly in test markets in Japan and was not widely released there. [6] Around a dozen cabinets were sent to Nintendo of America in Redmond for location tests, [6] [10] but the game was poorly received there, too, and was never widely released in America. [10] [11] Because of the poor reception, Nintendo converted the Sky Skipper cabinets into Popeye, released in 1982. [5] [12] [13] One of the ten North American cabinets escaped this fate and was put in storage at Nintendo of America. [10] [14]

Although the game was never widely released in North America, Parker Brothers negotiated for a license to publish a home version of the game for the Atari 2600 as part of its licensing deal for Popeye. [14] [15] The port was naturally of lower production value than the arcade version. [15] [16]

During E3 2018, Nintendo revealed the impending release of Sky Skipper on the Nintendo Switch eShop in July under the Arcade Archives series run by Hamster Corporation. The ROM image for the game had been copied from the board in the cabinet at Nintendo of America because it is the only known unmodified boardset. [11] According to Nintendo World Report, the rerelease may have taken years to come to fruition due to legal issues with Ikegami Tsushinki. [7]

Reception

Reviewing the Switch release, both Nintendo World Report and Nintendo Life said the game was enjoyable when playing for a high score, but it lacked variety. [7] [17] Nintendo Life enjoyed "striking a balance between completing the levels quickly and plotting a route to maximise your point-scoring." [17] Nintendo World Report did not like how the game repeated the same few stages and felt as though the game was not finished. They also panned the stage graphics, calling them "extremely crude" compared to Donkey Kong. [7] Nintendo Life agreed in that the colors were garish in places and the environments were blocky, writing this: "The simple design and plain backgrounds ensure everything is easy to follow, but Sky Skipper certainly shows its age." [17] Both praised the extra options included with the Arcade Archives release. [7] [17]

Having played the vintage arcade, Nintendo of America's gameplay tester Howard Philips called Sky Skipper a "confusing thematic mess" [6] akin to an LSD trip. [18] : 12:55 

Atari HQ found the vintage Atari 2600 port to be average, with simple gameplay and unremarkable graphics and sound. [15]

Preservation efforts

Sky skipper panel.jpg
Skyskippercpl.jpg
The restored Sky Skipper cabinet on display in 2017

Julian Eggebrecht, founder of game developer Factor 5, made a deal with Nintendo that if he was able to ship Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001) on schedule, he could borrow their Sky Skipper cabinet for his company's arcade. Factor 5 shipped Rogue Leader on time and so received the machine. One of the ROM chips was dead, so they contacted Genyo Takeda who pulled the original files from Nintendo's archives, enabling Eggebrecht to repair the machine. [6]

In 2016, a group of arcade restoration enthusiasts decided to build a restored Sky Skipper cabinet. [19] No complete cabinets were known to exist in private collections. Four boards owned by collectors, containing Popeye ROMs, were known to have been converted from Sky Skipper based on their serial numbers. [14] [20] Using ROM images available online, [14] they converted a board to Sky Skipper. [6] To get information on the cabinet, they asked video game player Billy Mitchell to connect with Nintendo of America. [6] Nintendo said they still had a Sky Skipper cabinet [6] and granted them access to examine it. [10] With the scans they took, and sourcing one of the four known boards, they were able to create a recreation of the arcade game in Nintendo of America's archives. [20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: スカイスキッパー, Hepburn: Sukai Sukippā

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atari 2600</span> Home video game console

The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982, alongside the release of the Atari 5200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atari 7800</span> Home video game console

The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different joystick than the 2600-standard CX40 and included Pole Position II as the pack-in game. The European model has a gamepad instead of a joystick. Most of the early releases for the system are ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games. The final wave of 7800 cartridges are closer in style to what was available on other late 1980s consoles, such as Scrapyard Dog and Midnight Mutants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ColecoVision</span> Second-generation home video game console

ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision.

<i>Mario Bros.</i> 1983 video game

Mario Bros. is a 1983 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for arcades. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's chief engineer. Italian twin brother plumbers Mario and Luigi exterminate creatures, like turtles (Shellcreepers) and crabs emerging from the sewers by knocking them upside-down and kicking them away. The Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System version is the first game to be developed by Intelligent Systems. It is part of the Mario franchise, but originally began as a spin-off from the Donkey Kong series.

<i>Radar Scope</i> 1980 shooter arcade game

Radar Scope is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Nintendo R&D2 and published by Nintendo. The player assumes the role of the Sonic Spaceport starship and must wipe out formations of an enemy race known as the Gamma Raiders before they destroy the player's space station. Gameplay is similar to Space Invaders and Galaxian, but viewed from a three-dimensional third-person perspective.

<i>Frogger</i> 1981 video game

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and published by Sega. In North America, it was distributed by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct five frogs to their homes by dodging traffic on a busy road, then crossing a river by jumping on floating logs and alligators.

<i>Popeye</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Popeye is a 1982 platform game developed and released by Nintendo as an arcade video game. It is based on the comic strip of the same name created by E. C. Segar and licensed from King Features Syndicate. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki did programming work on the game. As Popeye, the player must collect hearts thrown by Olive Oyl from the top of the screen while being chased by Bluto. Popeye can punch bottles thrown at him, but can only hurt Bluto after eating the one can of spinach present in each level. Unlike Nintendo's earlier Donkey Kong games, there is no jump button. There are three screens.

<i>Donkey Kong Jr.</i> 1982 video game

Donkey Kong Jr. is a 1982 arcade platform game that was released by Nintendo. It is the sequel to Donkey Kong, but with the roles reversed compared to its predecessor: Mario is now the villain and Donkey Kong Jr. is trying to save his kidnapped father. It first released in arcades and, over the course of the decade, was released for a variety of home platforms. The game's title is written out as Donkey Kong Junior in the North American arcade version and various conversions to non-Nintendo systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nintendo VS. System</span> Arcade cabinet series

The Nintendo VS. System is an arcade system that was developed and produced by Nintendo. It is based on most of the same hardware as the Family Computer (Famicom), later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). As Nintendo was planning to release the NES in North America, they were aware of the video game crash of 1983 and its effects on the home console market. By March 1984 the arcade industry recovered enough for a plan to introduce NES titles there, with the VS. System later being a presentation to players who did not yet own the console. It became the first version of the Famicom hardware to debut in North America.

The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development, and cultural influence of arcade video games from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The release of Space Invaders in 1978 led to a wave of shoot-'em-up games such as Galaxian and the vector graphics-based Asteroids in 1979, made possible by new computing technology that had greater power and lower costs. Arcade video games switched from black-and-white to color, with titles such as Frogger and Centipede taking advantage of the visual opportunities of bright palettes.

<i>Donkey Kong</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Donkey Kong is a 1981 arcade video game developed and published by Nintendo. As Mario, the player runs and jumps on platforms and climbs ladders to ascend a construction site and rescue Pauline from a giant gorilla, Donkey Kong. It is the first game in the Donkey Kong series and Mario's first appearance in a video game.

<i>Congo Bongo</i> 1983 video game

Congo Bongo, also known as Tip Top, is a platform game released as an arcade video game by Sega in 1983. A message in the ROM indicates it was coded at least in part by the company Ikegami Tsushinki. The game is viewed in an isometric perspective, like Sega's earlier Zaxxon (1982), but does not scroll. Numerous home ports followed.

<i>Kangaroo</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Kangaroo is a 1982 four-screen platform game released as an arcade video game by Sun Electronics and distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. Kangaroo is one of the first arcade games similar in style to Donkey Kong without being a direct clone. The player takes the role of a boxing glove-wearing mother kangaroo who is trying to rescue her joey from fruit-throwing monkeys. Jumping is integral to the game, but there is no jump button. Instead, the player pushes up on the joystick—or up and diagonally—to leap. The arcade version of Kangaroo has visible glitches in the graphics, such as sprites briefly flickering.

Ikegami Tsushinki Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of professional and broadcast television equipment, especially professional video cameras, both for electronic news gathering and studio use. The company was founded in 1946.

A dedicated console is a video game console that is limited to one or more built-in video game or games, and is not equipped for additional games that are distributed via ROM cartridges, discs, downloads or other digital media. Dedicated consoles were popular in the first generation of video game consoles until they were gradually replaced by second-generation video game consoles that use ROM cartridges.

<i>Sheriff</i> (video game) 1979 video game

Sheriff, also known as Bandido, is a 1979 multi-directional shooter arcade game by Nintendo. It is one of several Western-themed video games from the 1970s, along with Western Gun, Outlaw, and Boot Hill. The player controls a county sheriff tasked with defense of a town against bandits, to rescue the captured woman. It was a commercial success in Japan, where it was among the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1979.

<i>Space Fever</i> 1979 arcade game

Space Fever is a 1979 arcade game by Nintendo R&D2. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did programming work on Space Fever. It was released in both monochrome and color versions. The gameplay is similar to Space Invaders, which had been released by Taito in 1978. In America, the game was distributed by Far East Video.

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the Kong family of apes. Donkey Kong games include the original arcade game trilogy by Nintendo R&D1; the Donkey Kong Country series by Rare and Retro Studios; and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series by Nintendo Software Technology. Various studios have developed spin-offs in genres such as edutainment, puzzle, racing, and rhythm. The franchise also incorporates animation, printed media, theme parks, and merchandise.

<i>Heli Fire</i> 1980 video game

Heli Fire is a video game developed by Nintendo, and released in arcades in September 1980 by Nintendo. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Heli Fire. Similar to Taito's Polaris (1980), players control a submarine and must survive as long as possible against a barrage of enemy attacks from the sea and above.

<i>Monkey Magic</i> (video game) 1979 video game

Monkey Magic (1979) is a video game released in arcades by Nintendo in exclusively in Japan in 1979. It is a Breakout clone and one of Nintendo's earliest arcade games. Some sources claim that Ikegami Tsushinki also did design work on Monkey Magic. Players control a paddle to hit the ball at a large number of blocks shaping a monkey's face. To earn a victory the user must destroy the entire face of the monkey. Players can also earn different numbers of points by catching blocks that fall, as well as hitting the ball in different places.

References

  1. ↑ McFerran, Damien (February 26, 2018). "Feature: Shining A Light On Ikegami Tsushinki, The Company That Developed Donkey Kong". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Game Machine" (1981/07/15), page 3 (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "exA-Arcadia Supports Release of Sky Skipper on Nintendo Switch". exA-Arcadia. March 24, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Sky Skipper - Videogame by Nintendo". The International Arcade Museum. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Wales, Matt (June 14, 2018). "Nintendo's lost arcade oddity Sky Skipper is coming to Switch". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Retroradar: Discovering Sky Skipper". Retro Gamer. No. 170. July 2017. pp. 6–7.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Berube, Justin (July 26, 2018). "Arcade Archives Sky Skipper Review - Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Sky Skipper". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017.
  9. ↑ Glagowski, Peter (June 14, 2018). "Unreleased Nintendo arcade game Sky Skipper is coming to Switch". Destructoid. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Kohler, Chris (June 14, 2018). "Two Long-Lost Nintendo Arcade Games Are Heading To Switch". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  11. 1 2 McWhertor, Michael (June 14, 2018). "Donkey Kong, Sky Skipper come to Nintendo Switch Arcade Archives". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  12. ↑ Humphries, Matthew (June 15, 2018). "Nintendo's Lost Arcade Game Sky Skipper Heads to Switch". PCMAG. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  13. ↑ Horowitz, Jeremy (June 14, 2018). "Nintendo releases arcade Donkey Kong for Switch, slates Sky Skipper for July". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Calvert, Darren (October 31, 2016). "Nintendo Of America Shows Off Its Unreleased Sky Skipper Arcade Cabinet". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  15. 1 2 3 Iida, Keita. "AGH Atari 2600 Review: Sky Skipper". Atari HQ. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  16. ↑ Kohler, Chris (May 13, 2011). "Weekend Thrifting: Sky Skipper, 'Adult' Atari Games and Other Oddities". Wired. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Frear, Dave (July 25, 2018). "Review: Arcade Archives Sky Skipper (Switch eShop)". Nintendo Life. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  18. ↑ MGC 2019 - Howard Phillips and Frank Cifaldi Interview. Hair of the Dogcast. May 1, 2019. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2019– via YouTube.
  19. ↑ Whitehead, Thomas (September 19, 2016). "Sky Skipper Project Aims to Revive a Rare Nintendo Arcade Game". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  20. 1 2 Calvert, Darren (June 12, 2017). "Sky Skipper Arcade Restoration Revealed To The World". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on November 22, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.