 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2011) |
| Star Fox | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bruce de Graaf |
| Publisher(s) | Mythicon |
| Designer(s) | Bruce de Graaf [1] |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | 1983 (USA) |
| Genre(s) | Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Star Fox is a video game written by Bruce de Graaf for the Atari 2600 console and published by Mythicon in 1983. [1]
The game takes place in the year AD 4024. The story begins as a robot freighter carrying a cargo of extremely valuable trimetalisium energy crystals crash lands on the planetoid Beta-7. An enemy star cruiser, escorted by a squadron of fighter drones, is en route to the planetoid to seize the crystals.
The player's objective is to recover the crystals before the enemy while doing battle with the fighter drones.
In a Digital Press article on the worst games for the Atari 2600, Star Fox was ranked nineteenth: [2]
[...] you control a spaceship on a mission to extract gems beneath the ocean depths. Your ship is defenseless at the bottom of the screen, and amazingly the gems become intelligent and avoid your efforts while taking advantage of the fact that your ship cannot move sideways while at the bottom. Only one enemy and one gem per screen. The playfield and difficulty never change.
— Kevin Oleniacz, Digital Press
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 and based on the film of the same name. The game's objective is to guide the eponymous character through various screens to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone that will allow him to contact his home planet.
Solaris is a space combat video game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari. The game involves a player seeking out the planet Solaris via their starship. To accomplish this, the player must navigate the galactic scanner to explore quadrants of a map. Doing so allows them to explore Federation planets to refuel their ship, and engage in combat with hostile aliens known as the Zylons.
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Crystal Castles is an arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1983. The player controls Bentley Bear who has to collect gems located throughout trimetric-projected rendered castles while avoiding enemies, some of whom are after the gems as well.
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Sinistar is a 1983 multidirectional shooter arcade game developed and manufactured by Williams Electronics. It was created by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical, Python Anghelo, and Richard Witt. Players control a space pilot who battles the eponymous Sinistar, a giant, anthropomorphic spacecraft. The game is known for its use of digitized speech and high difficulty level.
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Amidar is a video game developed by Konami and released in arcades in 1981 by Stern. The format is similar to that of Pac-Man: the player moves around a fixed rectilinear lattice, attempting to visit each location on the board while avoiding the enemies. When each spot has been visited, the player moves to the next level. The game and its name have their roots in the Japanese lot drawing game Amidakuji. The bonus level in Amidar is a nearly exact replication of an Amidakuji game and the way the enemies move conform to the Amidakuji rules; this is referred to in the attract mode as "Amidar movement."
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 enemy tankers, helicopters, fuel depots and bridges without running out of fuel or crashing.
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Karate is a video game for the Atari 2600 originally published by Ultravision in 1982 for NTSC systems, then re-released in the latter half of the 1980s by Froggo. Supposedly the game was designed by black belt Joseph Amelio. In 1991, Digital Press chose Karate as one of the worst Atari 2600 games of all time.
Omega Race is a shoot 'em up arcade video game designed by Ron Haliburton and released in 1981 by Midway. It is the only arcade game with vector graphics that Midway created.
Megamania is a fixed shooter video game developed by Steve Cartwright for the Atari 2600. It was published by Activision in 1982. A pilot of an intergalactic space cruiser has a nightmare where his ship is being attacked by food and household objects. Using the missile launcher from their space cruiser, the pilot fends of the attackers. The game was later released for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers.
Assault is a 1983 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Bomb for the Atari 2600. Controlling a spaceship fixated at the bottom of the screen, gameplay involves the player shooting projectiles towards an enemy mothership that deploys smaller ships to attack the player. The player must also prevent enough projectiles from touching the bottom of the screen.
Data Age was a California-based video game company that developed and published titles for the Atari 2600 platform in the mid-1980s. Among their more well-known titles were Journey Escape and Frankenstein's Monster, both published in 1982. The company was founded by Martin Meeker and four other designers. The employed 35 people by December 1982.
Dishaster is an action game released for the Atari 2600 in 1983 by Zimag. Another version of the game was released by Bit Corporation under the name Dancing Plates which features oriental-themed graphics and adds eight game variations.
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