Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom (Japanese: バック・ロジャース：プラネット・オブ・ズーム, Hepburn: Bakku Rojāsu: Puranetto obu Zūmu) is a pseudo 3D video game released in arcades by Sega in 1982. Buck is never seen; the only connection to the license is the outer space setting. The game is a forward-scrolling rail shooter where the player controls a spaceship in a third-person perspective.[1]

Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
Publisher(s)Sega
Platform(s)Arcade
Release1982

In Japan, the game is known as Zoom 909 (Japanese: ズーム909, Hepburn: Zūmu kyū-maru-kyū), a title shared by the SG-1000 conversion.[2]

Ports were released for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, Coleco Adam, ColecoVision, Intellivision, MSX, SG-1000, Commodore 64, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, Apple II, and ZX Spectrum. An IBM PC version uses CGA graphics.[3][4][5]

Reception

Michael Blanchet for Electronic Fun with Computers & Games said "After playing Buck Rogers a scant fifty times, I noticed an ever-increasing number of on-screen glitches. I can only presume they were caused by tape wear."[6]

Dan Hallassey for Ahoy! said "Graphics and gameplay combine to make this an excellent and absorbing – though admittedly one-note – space game."[7]

Game Machine listed Zoom 909 on their June 1, 1985 issue as being the thirteenth most-successful upright arcade unit of the year.[8]

Reviews

Legacy

Planet of Zoom went on to influence the 1985 Sega game, Space Harrier, which in turn influenced Nintendo's 1993 game, Star Fox.[11]

References
  1. Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom at the Killer List of Videogames
  2. "IGN Presents the History of SEGA". IGN. p. 2. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
  3. "Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom - World of Spectrum". www.worldofspectrum.org. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  4. "Atari Age: Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom Standard label". Archived from the original on September 17, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  5. "Lemon64.com - all about Commodore 64". Lemon64. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  6. "Electronic Fun with Computer & Games - Vol 02 No 05 (1984-03)(Fun & Games Publishing)(US)". March 16, 1984 – via Internet Archive.
  7. "Ahoy! Magazine Issue 03". March 16, 1984 – via Internet Archive.
  8. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - アップライト, コックピット型TVゲーム機 (Upright/Cockpit Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 261. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 June 1985. p. 23.
  9. "Tilt 005". May 16, 1983 – via Internet Archive.
  10. "TeleMatch.N08.1984.01" (PDF). TeleMatch Verlag – via Internet Archive.
  11. Star Fox at AllGame
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.