River Raid

River Raid

Atari 2600 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Activision Publisher Activision Published 1982-??-?? Platforms Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Intellivision, MSX, PCjr, ZX Spectrum Genres Scrolling shooter, Shooter Themes Action Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

River Raid is a scrolling shooter designed by Carol Shaw and published by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It was later ported to many different platforms.

In the game, you pilot a jet and must fly it safely through a canyon over a river. Enemy ships obstruct your path and you must destroy them while taking care not to shoot stations which replenish your fuel. Each time you destroy a bridge, the game's difficulty increases.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	No.

River Raid is the very first memory I have of ever seeing a video game being played. I don't remember if my family had bought a used Atari 2600, or was borrowing it, but it was around 1985. I thought the game was really cool, and I remember my brother and his friend from across the street trying to figure out how to play the game, and learning that you shouldn't shoot the fuel tanks, because you needed them to keep flying, but you had to shoot the bridges, or you'd crash into them. I don't remember if I had a chance to play the game then or not, but it certainly left a lasting impression on me. I have since played the game a little and found it to be rather lacking.

The game doesn't really have a win condition, however, when you max out the score at 999,999, it has a planned game over where the score becomes all exclamation points.

Review

2	4	2	2	3

Best Version: Atari 8-bit

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• This game is technically impressive for the Atari 2600. It has a lot of independently moving objects and decent graphics for a 2600 game.
• Having to avoid shooting your fuel tanks, while still hitting the enemy, is a nice mechanic that adds complexity.
• Difficulty is increased by a number of different factors, increasing the number of enemy ships, decreasing fuel tanks, narrowing the canyon, and making enemies more active.
• The Atari 5200/8-bit release adds a more realistic river canyon, a balloon enemy, and tanks crossing the bridges.

Bad

• You've seen pretty much everything the game has to offer after the third bridge.

Ugly

• Later in the game, fuel tanks become so rare that there is no guarantee you'll make it to the next one. You either have to be extremely lucky, or so good at shooting enemies that you earn free guys faster than you run out of fuel.

Media

Box Art

• 

  This is the original 2600 box art. It follows the Activision rainbow theme and accurately depicts the action and graphic style.

• 

  The 5200 box art was also used on the 8-bit Atari, ColecoVision, European disk releases for the Commodore 64, Intellivision, MSX, and UK ZX Spextrum art. It's far more realistic, and competently painted. I love the art, but it's not a very accurate representation of the game you'll be playing.

• 

  A higher resolution and more color saturated version of the Atari 8-bit cover.

• 

  This version features a tilted version of the previous art, which gives it a more aerial feel, and uses a better lettering. It was used on the PCjr and US Commodore 64 releases.

• 

  This new art is very energetic with explosions and firing missiles. It's well-painted, but gives even less of an idea of what the game is like. This box art was used for European releases on the ZX Spectrum and European cartridge releases for the Commodore 64.

Documentation

• 

  2600 manual.

• 

  5200 manual.

• 

  The River Raider's patch.

• 

  Atari 5200 advertisement with Kaboom!

Screenshots

• 

  Exceeding 999,999 points triggers a planned game over.

Videos

Longplay - 2600, elapsed score.

Game play - ColecoVision.

Game play - Intellivision.

Play Online

Atari 2600, MSX

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no characters.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no characters.

Download

Thomas Jentzsch has disassembled and commented the source code of River Raid.

• Download (Info)

Credits

Role	Staff
Entire Game	Carol Shaw

Link