Skydiver

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Skydiver

Skydiver - ARC - USA - Cabinet.jpg

Arcade - USA - Babinet.

Developer Atari Games, Atari
Publisher Atari Games, Atari, Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Published 1978-06-??
Platforms Arcade, Atari 2600
Genres Action, Sports
Themes Extreme sports, Sports
Multiplayer Simultaneous versus
Distribution Commercial

Skydiver is an action video game with a skydiving theme developed and published by Atari Games for the arcade in June, 1978. It was later ported to the Atari 2600 in 1979. In the game, the player must safely guide their skydiver from an airplane down to a landing pad on the ground while successfully navigating the ever-changing wind. The game features mechanics similar to the much earlier title, Lunar Lander, but with a different theme and competitive head-to-head game play.

The arcade cabinet uses several interesting tricks to make it more interesting. It has a specialized control panel with ripcord handles that can be pulled to open the skydiver's chute, and then the player can "steer" their skydiver by moving the handle left or right. The arcade game's designer, Owen Rubin, added the ability to light up letters of the game's marquee title, an element common to pinball machines which he loved. The lights flicker off and on over time, and, if the player successfully lands on a pad while a light is on, the light remains on for the rest of their game. If the player is able to light up all the letters in the word "Skydiver," they're given bonus points. The cabinet also features cloud overlays on the screen to obscure portions of the play field. The monitor is an unusual monochrome display that supports three shades: black, gray, and white, and a blue gel was placed over it to make it look like black, dark blue, and light blue.

The Atari 2600 port naturally uses the Atari 2600 Joystick and lacks various features of the arcade, but it adds better color and alternate game modes like moving landing pads. While the arcade game gives the player a set number of attempts, the 2600 game gives the player a set length of time to amass a high score. Both games can be played as a single-player game, or as a two-player simultaneous competition.

Personal

Own?No.
Won?No. This is a two-player game only.

My family had Sky Diver for the Atari 2600, and my siblings and I would often play the game competitively in the mid-1980s. We liked the flailing animation the skydiving stick men make as they fall and the sound that is heard when they embed themselves into the ground. Like most games from the 1970s, it didn't have much depth, so it got boring fast, but it was enjoyable for a few minutes.

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
3 3 2 1 2

Best Version: Arcade

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • Having to pull and direct the ripcord handle really adds a level of verisimilitude to the game.
  • Using the cabinet's marquee to display potential bonus points was a clever design decision.
  • The ambulance that peels your skydiver off the ground when you fail to open your chute is pretty funny.
  • The moving platforms in the 2600 port are a welcome addition.
  • The arcade game has built-in translations to French, Spanish, and German.

Bad

  • There is bad sprite flickering on the falling skydivers in the arcade game.
  • The 2600 port loses the ambulance animation and bonus score system.

Ugly

  • The game is too primitive to play for very long. Pretty much everything the game has to offer can be seen in the attract animation.
  • The game is media-challenged. The graphics and sound are very weak, and the 2600 port is even worse.

Media

Arcade Art

Box Art

Documentation

Font

See Video game font collection.

Screenshots

Videos

Review - Atari 2600.
Game play - Arcade.

Play Online

Atari 2600

Representation

Strong female character?FailThere are no clearly female characters.
Bechdel test?FailThere are no clearly female characters.
Strong person of color character?FailThe arcade game has an all-black character, but this was a hardware limit.
Queer character?FailThere are no queer characters.

Credits

Roles Staff
Arcade Game Owen Rubin
2600 Game Jim Huether
2600 Cover Art Greg Vance

Titles

Language Native Transliteration Translation
English (2600) Sky Diver
English (arcade) Skydiver
English (Telegames) Dare Diver
German Vom Himmel durch die Hölle Vom Himmel durch die Holle From Heaven Through Hell
  • MAME code: skydiver

Links

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