Difference between revisions of "Blog:Ode to Air Raid"

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(Created page with '<small>~~~~ [permalink] [comments]</small> Good Friday indeed...for two reasons! The first I might get into later here…')
 
 
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<small>[[User:CRV|CRV]] 14:13, 2 April 2010 (UTC) [[Blog:Ode to Air Raid|[permalink]]] [[Blog:Ode to Air Raid#Comments|[comments]]]</small>
 
<small>[[User:CRV|CRV]] 14:13, 2 April 2010 (UTC) [[Blog:Ode to Air Raid|[permalink]]] [[Blog:Ode to Air Raid#Comments|[comments]]]</small>
  
Good Friday indeed...for two reasons! The first I might get into later here and/or [http://twitter.com/gdri on Twitter]. The other is Air Raid for the Atari 2600. That is, someone found the ultra-rare box for what is already one of the rarest games on the system (only 13 copies are known to exist) and is now selling it and the cartridge [http://cgi.ebay.com/AIR-RAID-CARTRIDGE-W-BOX-VERY-RARE-ATARI-2600-GAME-R10_W0QQitemZ110514343174QQihZ001QQcategoryZ139973QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem on eBay].
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Good Friday indeed...for two reasons! The first I won't get into here. The second is Air Raid for the Atari 2600. That is, someone found the ultra-rare box for what is already one of the rarest games on the system and is now selling it and the cartridge [http://cgi.ebay.com/AIR-RAID-CARTRIDGE-W-BOX-VERY-RARE-ATARI-2600-GAME-R10_W0QQitemZ110514343174QQihZ001QQcategoryZ139973QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem on eBay].
  
<includeonly>[[Blog:RIP Fukio Mitsuji|(more...)]]</includeonly>
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<includeonly>[[Blog:Ode to Air Raid|(more...)]]</includeonly>
  
<noinclude>Thanks to the timing of all this, there was rampant speculation that this was an April Fools' joke. Though April Fools' Day has now passed us by, there is still skepticism as of this writing. We'll see after the auction ends, I guess.
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<noinclude>Thanks to the timing of all this, there was rampant speculation that this was an April Fools' joke, even after Albert of [http://www.atariage.com/ AtariAge] verified in-person that the box is real (not to mention all the photos that were taken). [http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/146312-is-there-a-2600-holy-grail/page__st__25__p__1784393#entry1784393 It's not as if a box has never been seen before.]
  
With its baby blue cartridge and "T-handle," Air Raid is shrouded in mystery. According to the box, assuming it's real, publisher Men-A-Vision was based in Los Angeles, but you'll be hard-pressed to find any news articles or any other record of it. Who programmed the game? Was Men-A-Vision planning on releasing more games? Why so rare?
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With its baby blue cartridge and "T-handle," Air Raid is shrouded in mystery. According to the box, publisher Men-A-Vision was based in Los Angeles, but you'll be hard-pressed to find any news articles or any other record of it. Who programmed the game? Was Men-A-Vision planning on releasing more games? Why so rare?
  
As for the game itself, Air Raid is, at its core, a hack of the more well-known Space Jockey. But whereas the enemies in Space Jockey scroll from right to left, the aircraft in Air Raid come hurtling down from the top of the screen. And you're not just shooting the bad guys (as in Space Jockey). You're also defending two buildings that scroll beneath the player. If they're destroyed (which is pretty much inevitable), you lose.
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As for the game itself, Air Raid is, at its core, a hack of the more well-known Space Jockey. But whereas the enemies in Space Jockey scroll from right to left, the aircraft in Air Raid come hurtling down from the top of the screen. And you're not just shooting the bad guys (as in Space Jockey). You're also defending two buildings that scroll beneath the player. If they're destroyed, you lose. It's an interesting twist that adds a bit of challenge.
  
Air Raid has eight variations of gameplay. (Space Jockey has 16.) Since there are no instructions, I'm not totally sure what the difference between each of them is. I can say that they are similar to the ones in Space Jockey - some allow the player to control their missiles and/or have the enemy ships move randomly.
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Air Raid has eight variations of gameplay. (Space Jockey has 16.) There are no instructions to clarify what the difference between each of them is, but they are similar to the ones in Space Jockey. Some allow the player to control their missiles and/or have the enemies move randomly.
  
With all the recent hoopla, I finally decided to take Air Raid for a whirl. There are two obvious issues. First of all, there's no good way to defend the buildings other than sacrificing yourself. That being said, I can't think of a "good way," and such a way could make the game too easy. You could just shoot the ships before they come down too far, but that leads us to our next problem - the collision detection is out of whack! Many times, your shots will go right through the enemy. Still, I enjoyed myself.
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With all the recent hoopla, I finally decided to take Air Raid for a whirl. Quite simply, I liked it. There is one glaring problem, however - the collision detection. It's not uncommon for bullets to pass right through your foes. The enemy must have more advanced technology than we anticipated.
  
  

Latest revision as of 14:07, 18 April 2010

CRV 14:13, 2 April 2010 (UTC) [permalink] [comments]

Good Friday indeed...for two reasons! The first I won't get into here. The second is Air Raid for the Atari 2600. That is, someone found the ultra-rare box for what is already one of the rarest games on the system and is now selling it and the cartridge on eBay.


Thanks to the timing of all this, there was rampant speculation that this was an April Fools' joke, even after Albert of AtariAge verified in-person that the box is real (not to mention all the photos that were taken). It's not as if a box has never been seen before.

With its baby blue cartridge and "T-handle," Air Raid is shrouded in mystery. According to the box, publisher Men-A-Vision was based in Los Angeles, but you'll be hard-pressed to find any news articles or any other record of it. Who programmed the game? Was Men-A-Vision planning on releasing more games? Why so rare?

As for the game itself, Air Raid is, at its core, a hack of the more well-known Space Jockey. But whereas the enemies in Space Jockey scroll from right to left, the aircraft in Air Raid come hurtling down from the top of the screen. And you're not just shooting the bad guys (as in Space Jockey). You're also defending two buildings that scroll beneath the player. If they're destroyed, you lose. It's an interesting twist that adds a bit of challenge.

Air Raid has eight variations of gameplay. (Space Jockey has 16.) There are no instructions to clarify what the difference between each of them is, but they are similar to the ones in Space Jockey. Some allow the player to control their missiles and/or have the enemies move randomly.

With all the recent hoopla, I finally decided to take Air Raid for a whirl. Quite simply, I liked it. There is one glaring problem, however - the collision detection. It's not uncommon for bullets to pass right through your foes. The enemy must have more advanced technology than we anticipated.


Video of Air Raid:


For comparison purposes, Space Jockey:

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