Street Racer (1977 video game)

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Street Racer
Street Racer Box Art.jpg
Developer(s) Atari, Inc.
Publisher(s) Atari, Inc.
Designer(s) Larry Kaplan [1]
Platform(s) Atari 2600
Release
  • NA: September 11, 1977
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer (up to four players)

Street Racer is a racing video game developed for the Atari Video Computer System, later known as the Atari 2600. It was programmed by Larry Kaplan [1] and released by Atari, Inc. in September 1977 as one of the nine Atari VCS launch titles. [2] [3] The game was also published by Sears for their Tele-Games product line as Speedway II. [4]

Contents

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot Street Racer Atari 2600 game 21.png
Gameplay screenshot

Street Racer was one of the two launch titles programmed by Kaplan; Air-Sea Battle was the other. Street Racer offered 27 game variations, grouped into the following sub-games: [4]

Each of the sub-games has roughly the same gameplay: the player controls a vehicle that must avoid or collect certain objects as they scroll down the screen. Between one and four players can compete simultaneously by using the paddle controllers, [5] which allow the vehicle to move left and right along the bottom of the screen. If a one-player game is selected, the player competes with a static computer opponent that allows objects to collide with it or pass by.[ citation needed ]

Development

As one of the earliest games written for the platform, Street Racer suffered from unattractive, blocky graphics.[ citation needed ] According to Kaplan himself, later racing games released for the Atari, such as Activision's 1982 games Barnstorming and Grand Prix , were able to offer improved graphics and gameplay. [6] In a 2007 interview with Digital Press, Kaplan was asked what he would change about any of the games he had written:

Street Racer is the game that lacks good game play. I took out the moving playfield because it didn't flow right (it tended to flicker). If I could change the game to have a smooth-scrolling playfield, it would make the game play better [7]

Kaplan went on to become one of the founders of Activision where he developed Kaboom! , one of the 10 top-selling games for the Atari 2600. [8]

Reception

Street Racer was reviewed in Video magazine as part of a general review of the Atari VCS where it was given a review score of 5.5 out of 10. [9] : 33  The game did not age well and modern critics have given it poor reviews as well. Gamasutra have described the "Number cruncher" sub-game as a highlight of the game. [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  2. ↑ Yarusso, Albert. "Atari 2600 - Atari - Text # Label Variation". AtariAge . Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  3. ↑ Bogost, Ian; Montfort, Nick (2009). Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. MIT Press. pp. 123, 163. ISBN   978-0-262-01257-7.
  4. 1 2 Yarusso, Albert. "Atari 2600 - Street Racer (Atari)". AtariAge . Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  5. ↑ "AtariAge - Atari 2600 Manuals - Street Racer (Atari)".
  6. ↑ "Larry Kaplan forum post on AtariAge". August 6, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  7. ↑ Stilphen, Scott. "Larry Kaplan interview". Digital Press. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  8. ↑ Buchanan, Levi (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN . Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  9. ↑ Kaplan, Deeny, ed. (Winter 1979). "VideoTest Report Number 18: Atari Video Computer". Video . Reese Communications. 1 (5): 30–34. ISSN   0147-8907.
  10. ↑ Fulton, Steve (November 6, 2007). "The History of Atari: 1971-1977". Gamasutra . Retrieved December 5, 2010.
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