Space Jockey is a horizontally scrolling shooter designed by Garry Kitchen of James Wickstead Design Associates for the Atari VCS (renamed to the Atari 2600 later in the year). It was published under the Vidtec brand of U.S. Games in 1982 as the initial release from the company.[3] The game shipped on a 2K cartridge at a time when most VCS games were 4K.[4] There are 16 game variations.
| Space Jockey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | James Wickstead Design Associates[1] |
| Publisher(s) | U.S. Games[2] |
| Designer(s) | Garry Kitchen |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | January 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter[2] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Space Jockey was the first video game designed by Garry Kitchen. He went on to program the 2600 port of Donkey Kong.[1]
Gameplay
edit
The player controls an "attack saucer" that flies to the right over scrolling, undulating terrain. The saucer only moves vertically and stops just before it hits the ground. The goal is to shoot ground-based tanks and flying enemies: jet planes, propeller planes, helicopters, and hot air balloons.[5]Trees and houses appear on the ground as obstacles which can also be destroyed.
Development
editSpace Jockey was developed by Gary Kitchen and was his first game for the Atari 2600. It was created during a six-month effort to reverse engineer the console while working at James Wickstead Design Associates.[1][6] Kitchen later described Space Jockey as "just a modestly fun game."
Release and reception
edit| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame | 2.5/5[2] |
| Electronic Fun with Computers and Games | 3/4[7] |
Space Jockey was released in January 1982.[3] According to a 2013 interview with Kitchen, Space Jockey sold over a million copies, but he believes most of those were at a discount.[6] A February 1983 Billboard article on retailers lowering game prices mentioned, "US Games recently sold off one of its older hits, the 2K Space Jockey, at rock bottom prices through its distributors."[8][9]
Dan Gutman reviewed Space Jockey in the December 1982 issue of Electronic Fun with Computers & Games. Gutman compared the game to Defender (1981) and Chopper Command (1982) saying that "there is nothing meaty here [...] but that doesn't mean it's bad" and that the game was "a pure test of your reaction time and doesn't pretend to be anything more."[7] Electronic Games found the game to be easy on the default difficulty setting: "the saucer can race through the first 20,000 points of what is intended to be a low-scoring game by just sticking to the lower-left corner of the playfield."[10] Space Jockey was one of three runners-up for the "Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Videogame" category in the 1983 Arcade Awards.[11]
In a retrospective review, Brett Alan Weiss of online game database AllGame declared the game to be "a simplistic but enjoyable shooter."[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c Hickey, Jr. 2020, p. 25.
- ^ a b c d Weiss.
- ^ a b Bloom 1982, p. 16.
- ^ Retro Gamer 2014.
- ^ U.S. Games Coproration 1982.
- ^ a b Fisher 2013, p. 92.
- ^ a b Gutman 1982, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Sweeting 1983, p. 3.
- ^ Sweeting 1983, p. 60.
- ^ Katz, Arnie; Kunkel, Bill (September 1982). "Space Jockey". Electronic Games. p. 84.
- ^ "The 1983 Arcade Awards". Arcade Express. 1 (7). November 7, 1982.
Sources
edit- Space Jockey Instructions. U.S. Games Corporation. 1982.
- "Garry Kitchen". Retro Gamer. March 24, 2014. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
- Bloom, Steve, ed. (October 1982). "Software Update: Eight's Company". Video Games. Vol. 1, no. 2. Pumpkin Press.
- Fisher, Andrew (2013). "In the Chair With...Garry Kitchen". Retro Gamer. No. 123. Imagine Publishing. ISSN 1742-3155.
- Gutman, Dan (December 1982). "Attack of the Digital Apes". Electronic Fun with Computers & Games. Vol. 1, no. 2. Fun & Games Publishing.
- Hickey, Jr., Patrick (2020). The Mind Behind Adventure Games: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4766-7966-2.
- Sweeting, Paul (February 26, 1983). "Using Low Prices to Build Traffic". Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 8. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ISSN 0006-2510.
- Weiss, Brett Alan. "Space Jockey". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2024.