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]
Gameplay
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]
1–6: Street racer
7–12: Slalom
13–16: Dodgem
17–20: Jet shooter
21–24: Number cruncher
25–27: Scoop ball
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]
